INVESTIGATING PROBLEMS OF PARAGRAPH WRITING AMONG GIMBICHU SECONDARY AND PREPARATORY SCHOOL: GRADE TEN STUDENTS IN FOCUS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate problems of paragraph writing among Gimbichu secondary school in Gimbichu Town Administration. The researcher employed descriptive survey design. To achieve the stated objective, systematic random sampling technique was used to identify the targeted group from grade ten classrooms. The data was gathered through document analysis, classroom observation and open-ended questionnaire. The finding of the study indicated that the major problems were organizing problem, mixing number of ideas in a single paragraph, problem of stating adequate topic sentence etc. There were also other Problems which related to the students’ difficulty to write effective paragraphs like unity, coherence and adequate development. All data which collected from the four tools were analyzed in both quantitatively and qualitatively. The researcher identified the major problematic area of students in paragraph writing. The first problem related to family background, such as not creating suitable environment for their children learning, not giving materials and moral supports. The second problem also related to students themselves like over exadrating complexity of writing skill, inability to state adequate topic sentence were some of the problems to not produce good paragraphs. The researcher used grade 10 section B students and six EFL teachers of the school as a sample of the study. Researcher has considered the number of English language teachers of the selected grade has been taken present because it manageable for the study and can forward various types of responses. Additionally there was content based problems like vocabulary, grammar spelling. The third problem related to EFL teachers such as teaching style, ways of feedback giving for students’ written work, not giving attention for writing skill lessons. As a result of these, if students are not given adequate written feedback for their writing tasks, they could not understand their problems. Thus, EFL teachers had to give for their students’ constructive written feedback. The researcher has forwarded the following recommendation depending up on finding of the study. These were further studies should be conducted to minimize paragraph writing problems, students’ should identify their writing problems to improve their writing skill, English language teachers should give more attention for their students to produce effective paragraphs,