INVESTIGATING PROBLEMS OF EFL STUDENTS’WRITING SKILLS: THE CASE OF GRADE 11 STUDENTS AT ASEKO PREPARATORY SCHOOL

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.