AN INVESTIGATING OF YEMEN EFL LEARNERS’ WRITING PROBLEMS

Authors

  • Yahya Mohammed Al-Marrani Sana'a University, Yemen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30863/ijretal.v4i2.5489

Keywords:

an essay, a paragraph, EFL, problems, writing

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the writing problems encountered by Yemeni EFL learners. The sample of the study comprised 70 undergraduate students from Sana’a University. The data were collected using a questionnaire to identify Yemeni EFL Learners’ Writing Problems. The results of the study indicated that students have some crucial problems when writing a paragraph or an essay. The results showed that the participants faced difficulty in planning or outlining the points before writing a paragraph or an essay. Furthermore, they faced difficulties in developing a good topic sentence for a paragraph and a thesis statement for an essay, writing supporting sentences to support the topic sentence, organizing ideas together in a unified and coherent manner, and writing a concluding sentence/concluding paragraph that summarizes the points of a paragraph or an essay. The study proposed some recommendations and suggestions to help Yemeni EFL learners to overcome their writing problems.

Author Biography

Yahya Mohammed Al-Marrani, Sana'a University

Sana'a University

English Department 

Associate professor

References

Alfaki, I. (2015). University students’ English wriying proplems: Diagnosis and remedy. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 3 (3), 40-52

Alharthi.K (2011). The Impact of Writing Strategies on the Written Product of EFL Saudi Male Students at King Abdul-Aziz University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Newcastle University, UK.

Al-Owdi, W. (2003). A Process-Product Approach: Teaching writing composition to third secondary school students. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Aden, Yemen.

Banlomchon, J. (2006). An error analysis of free composition in writing English by Thai high school students. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, CUT, Thailand.

Brown, D. (2000). Principle in language learning and teaching. 4th ed. New York: Long Man.

Burton, J. (2009). Reflecting Writing: Getting to the heart of teaching and learning. In J.

Byrne, D. (1988). Teaching writing skills. London: Longman Press.

Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.). 2001. Teaching English as a second or foreign language (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle puplications.

Cohen, A.D. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

Cohen, A.D., and Dornyei, Z. (2002). Focus on the language learner: Motivation, Styles and Strategies. In N. Schmitt (ed.), An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. London: Arnold, pp. 170–90.

Corder, S. P. (1981). Error analysis and interlanguage.1st ed.: Oxford University Press, (p.p. 10).

Corder, S.P. (1971). Idiosyncratic Dialects and Error Analysis. IRAL 117.3.81.246.

Croll, J and E, Willson. (1995). Acts of Teaching. How to Teach Writing. Englewood: Teacher Idea Express.

Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sedly, D. (1981). College Writer’s Workbook, (Ohio: Bell and Howell Company (p. 2).

Ehrman, M.E., Leaver, B.L., and Oxford, R.L. (2003). A Brief Overview of Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. System, 31, 313–30.

Flower, L., & Hayes, J. R. (1981). A cognition process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365–387.

Gebhardt, R.C. and Rodrigues, D. (1989). Writing: Processes and Strategies. Toronto: D.C. Heath and Company.

Gower et al, (1995). Teaching practice handbook. Oxford, UK: Heinemann

Harmer, J. (2004). How to teach writing. England: Pearson Education Limited.

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom, Oxford: Oxford University press.

Hedge, T. (1988). Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ibnian, S. (2017). Writing difficulties encountered by Jordanian EFL learners. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies. 5 (3), 197- 206.

Klein, P.D., Piacente-Cimini, S. and Williams, L.A. (2007). The role of writing in learning from analogies. Learning and Instruction, 17, 595-611.

Kroll, B. (1990). Second language writing: Research Insights for Classroom. Cambridge: CUP.

Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics across cultures. Applied Linguistics for Language teachers. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, MI, US.

Leki, I. (1991). The preferences of ESL students for error correction in college- level writing classes. Foreign Language Annals, 24 (3), 203-218.

Mandal, R.R. (2009) Cooperative Learning Strategies to Enhance Writing Skill. The Modern Journal of Applied Linguistics. 1 (2). 95-102.

Mohammed, A. (2019). Investigating EFL students' problems in writing skill at secondary levelA case Study of EFL Students at Secondary Schools - Gezira State – Hasaheisa Researcher. Journal of the College of Basic Education for Educational and Human Sciences / University of Babylon, 42, 594-607

McArther, T. (1992). The Oxford companion to the English language. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

McCrindle, A.R., and Christensen, C.A. (1995). The Impact of Learning Journals on Metacognitive and Cognitive Processes and Learning Performance. Learning and Instruction, 5, 167–85.

Norrish, J. (1983). Language learners and their errors. London: Modern English Publications.

Nystrand, M. (1986). Learning to Write by Talking About Writing: A Summary of Research on Intensive Peer Review in Expository Writing at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In M. Nystrand (ed.), The Structure of Written Communication. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, pp. 79–211.

Oshima, A. Hogue, A. (1997). Introduction to Academic Writing. 2nd ed., Addison Wesley Longman.

Othman, S.A. (2006). Reorienting Yemeni University Level EFL Writing Instruction to Meet Professional Challenges: An Exploratory Study. Ph.D. Thesis, Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad.

Oxford, R.L. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House/Harper and Row, New Boston: Heinle and Heinle publications.

Oxford. and K. Schramm.(2007). Bridging the gap between psychological sociocultural perspectives on L2 learner strategies. In Language learner strategies, ed. A.D. Cohen and E. Macaro, 47-68. Oxford: Oxford Applied Linguistics.

Pincas, A. (1982). Teaching English Writing. London: MacMillan.

Raimes, A. (1983). Technique in teaching writing. London: Oxford American English.

Raimes, A. (1983). Anguish as a second language: Remedies for composition teachers. In A, Freedman; I. Pingle and J. Yalden (Eds). Learning to Write: First Language/ Second Language (p.258-272). London and New York: Longman.

Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in teaching writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Raimes, A. (1985). What Unskilled ESL Students Do as They Write: A Classroom Study of Composing. TESOL Quarterly, 19(2), p.13.

Raimes, A. (1991). Out of the Woods: Emerging Traditions in the Teaching of Writing. TESOL Quarterly, 25 (3). 407-430.

Rao, T. (2007). Training in brainstorming and developing writing skills. ELT Journal, 61(2).100-106.

Reid, J. (1993). Teaching ESL Writing. USA: Prentice-Hall Regents.

Richards, J. C., and Schmidth, R. C (2000, p.184). Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (3rd Ed). Pearson Education Limited. London: Longman.

Lois, R. (1986). Guided writing and free writing. New York: Harper and Row.

Sasaki, M. (2004). A multiple-data analysis of the 3.5-year development of EFL student writers. Language Learning Journal, 54(3), 82–525.

Selinker. L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 209-241.

Shahhoseiny, H. (2015). A Study of errors in the paragraph writing of EFL learners: A case study of first year translation students at University of Applied Science and Technology in Bushehr, Iran. Theory and Practice in Language Studies. 5 (6), 1307-1312.

Shapira, A., and Lazarowitz, R.H. (2005). Opening Windows on Arab and Jewish Children’s Strategies as Writers. Language Culture and Curriculum, 18(1), 72–90.

Tyner, E. (1987). College writing basics: A Progressive Approach. Belmont. Wands worth Publishing Company.

Weinstein, C.E., and Mayer, R.E. (1986). The Teaching of Learning Strategies. In M. Wittrock (ed.), Handbook of Research on Teaching. New York: Macmillan, pp. 315–27.

Wiles, W. (1997). Metacognitive Strategy Programming for Adult Upgrading Students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Wong, A.T.Y. (2005). Writers’ Mental Representations of the Intended Audience and of the Rhetorical Purpose for Writing and the Strategies that they employed when they Composed. System 33, 29–47.

Zamel, V. (1982) Writing: The Process of Discovering Meaning. TESOL Quarterly, 16, (2). 195-209.

Zamel, V. (1983). Teaching those missing links in writing. ELT Journal, 37(1), 22-29.

Downloads

Published

2024-03-02

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Authors who publish with International Journal of Research on English Teaching and Applied Linguistics agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.