INVESTIGATING DIFFICULTIES OF ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS IN WRITING ACADEMIC ESSAYS

Autori

  • Truong Vinh Duy School of Foreign Languages, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • Bui Thi Thu Trang School of Foreign Languages, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejfl.v6i3.4512

Parole chiave:

difficulties, English-majored students, writing, academic essays

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties faced by English-majored students in writing academic essays. To collect the data for the investigation, the sample involved was twenty-seven English-majored students who have been studying English as their specialization at a public university in Vietnam. The instruments of this study conducted a mix-method as a qualitative and quantitative approach. To achieve the purpose of this study, the questionnaire was administered as the quantitative data collection and the semi-structured interview as the qualitative data collection. Then, five of the total participants were randomly interviewed to gain insight ideas of the difficulties that they face when writing academic essays in their writing course. The results of this study demonstrated that the majority of students had obstacles related to insufficient linguistic knowledge namely, lexicon-grammar, vocabulary, and the structure of sentences. The findings from the interviews also indicated that the participants had encountered linguistic knowledge difficulties. Based on the findings, both some recommendations and implications are presented.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

Riferimenti bibliografici

Alisha, F., Safitri, N., & Santoso, I. (2019). Students' difficulties in writing EFL. Professional Journal of English Education, 2(1), 20-25.

Alfaki, I. M. (2015). University Students’ English writing problems: Diagnosis and remedy. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 3(3), 40-52.

Anwar, M. N., & Ahmed, N. (2016). Students’ difficulties in learning writing skills in a second language. Sci. Int. (Lahore), 28(4), 735-739.

Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017). EFL students’ difficulties and needs in essay writing. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), 158, 111–121.

Bulqiyah, S., Mahbub, M. A., & Nugraheni, D. A. (2021). Investigating writing difficulties in essay writing: Tertiary students’ perspectives. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 4(1), 61-73. 10.12928/eltej.v4i1.2371.

Ceylan, O. N. (2019). Student perceptions of difficulties in second language writing. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 15(1), 151-157. Doi:10.17263/jlls.547683.

Dalsky, D., & Tajino, A. (2007). Students’ perceptions of difficulties with academic writing: A report from Kyoto University academic writing courses. Kyoto University Researches in Higher Education, 13, 45- 50.

Farooq, M. S., Uzair-Ul-Hassan, M., & Wahid, S. (2012). Opinion of second Language learners about writing difficulties in English Language. A Research Journal of South Asian Studies, 27(1), 183-194.

Hajeid, M. R. (2018). Developing students’ essay writing. Canadian Center of Science and Education, 11(12), 101–105. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v11n12p101.

Jebreila, N., Azizifara, A., & Gowharya, H. (2015). Investigating the effect of anxiety of Male and Female Iranian EFL learners on their writing performance. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 185, 190 – 196. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.03.360.

Mohammed, M. Q. (2018). Difficulties of Iraqi EFL learners with substance errors in writing. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 5(3), 131-147.

Nasser, S. M. (2019). Iraqi EFL students’ difficulties in writing composition: An experimental study. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(1), 178–184.

Rahmatunisa, W. (2014). Problems faced by EFL learners in writing an argumentative essay. English Review: Journal of English Education, 3(1), 41-49.

Toba, R., Noor, W. N., & Sanu, L. O. (2019). The current issues of Indonesian EFL students’ writing skills: Ability, problem, and reason in writing comparison and contrast essay. Dinamika Ilmu, 19(1), 57–73. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506.

Dowloads

Pubblicato

2022-10-31

Fascicolo

V. 6 N. 3 (2022)

Sezione

Articles

Licenza

Authors who publish with this journal 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 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. 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 acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

 

  1. 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 (See The Effect of Open Access).