Abstract:
This study was mainly a descriptive research intended to analyze problems affecting
the writings of EFL students. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of both the
problems and the reasons behind the problems of students’ writings. Questionnaire
was used to obtain data from 31 grade 11 students learning in the academic year
2014-15 at Aseko preparatory school. From these students, 20 of them participated in
providing data by writing paragraph. Additional data were generated through
interview from 3 English language teachers who taught the students. The data
gathered through the three tools were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The
findings indicated that the development of the writing skills of EFL students were not
to the expected levels due to mechanical and grammatical problems, problems of
cohesion and coherence, and problem of generating and organizing ideas
meaningfully. The study also showed that backwash of exams (national and class
room) and the insufficient time allotted to cover the textbooks (4 periods per week)
made teachers to give least emphasis to writing sections. It was also showed that,
students waste many periods at the beginnings of the two semesters and after religious
festivals which create additional burdens in the appropriate coverage of the text books
and hence forced the teachers to pass over mainly writing lessons.
