Exploring Students’ Poor Essay Writing Skills: A Case Study of Yendi Senior High School in the Northern Region of Ghana
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study were to:
- Determine methods teachers use in teaching essay writing
- Investigate Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing
- Establish strategies students employ in learning essay writing
CHAPTER TWO
LITERTAURE REVIEW
The role of writing in academics
Writing is considered the most important language skill that students require for their personal development and academic success (Mukulu et al. 2006).Similarly, Rao (2007) points out that writing strengthens students’ learning, thinking and reflecting on the English language in their academics. In addition, Ahmed (2010) notes that competence in writing helps students perform well in their academic programmes. Moreover, being proficient in writing in English will enable students to be professionals and action researchers in the future. However, it has been noted that learning to master writing skills is a problem students face at all levels of the education system. Ong’ondo (2001) notes that writing skills are of major importance to students at all levels of the education system. This is because most examinations and assignments learners do at schools are mainly assessed through writing. It is probably because of this crucial role in assessment that writing has been considered the most important skill that students require for their academic advancement. This implies that learners should be helped to acquire skills that will enable them to express their ideas clearly and effectively in writing. Kroll (2003) notes that improving the writing abilities of students has both academic and social implications. He observes that helping students to write clearly, logically and coherently about ideas, knowledge and views will expand their access to higher education and give them an opportunity for advancement in the work force. He further observes that the current trends of globalization and internet revolution have come to require proficiency in English language that goes beyond the spoken language embracing a variety of uses of the written language. Among such uses include; writing of business letters, memos and telephone messages. This further underscores the importance of learning writing skills. However, there has been a considerable concern that majority of the students do not develop the competence in writing they need to be successful in school, workplace, or their personal lives (Graham and Perin, 2007). It is against this observation that the study investigated Exploring Students’ Poor L2 essay writing skills at secondary school level and it is hoped that the recommendations from the study will serve as a basis of improving the learning of writing skills among students.
Writing integrated with other language skills
There are four basic language skills namely: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Ouma (2005) observes that the development of the four language skills is very important in every language classroom and that any inquiry into writing endeavours among students presupposes effective understanding of the other three skills. Similarly, Cope and Kalantzis (2000) point out that for learners to become proficient L2 writers they require explicit mastery of the other language skills of listening, speaking and reading. Ikeguchi (1997) presented a lesson plan combining the teaching of writing with reading, speaking and listening. The lesson was presented in three phases. In the first phase students were allowed to choose any one topic that they were most interested in, and something that they wanted to know more about. Then, they were asked to look for a short passage from a magazine or a newspaper article, and read thoroughly until they understood the content, and make a copy to bring to class. The second phase was the interactive phase in which students who had chosen the same topic were called to sit together and form a group. They were then asked to take turns in reading each of their articles to the group members, while everybody else listened and then asked questions to clarify points that were unclear. The third phase was the writing stage. Students were asked to get back to their seats and write about the topic they had chosen to read. The findings indicated that students were able to write freely and expressed themselves meaningfully in L2 writing.
CHAPTER THREE
REASERCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter deals with the procedures and methods that were used to collect and analyze data. It describes the research design, location of the study, target population, sampling techniques and sample size, research instruments, pilot study, validity and reliability of the research instruments as well as data collection procedures, data analysis and finally logistical and ethical considerations.
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Research design
This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. According to Orodho (2004) a descriptive survey research design enables the researcher to collect information about people’s opinions, attitude or any of the variety of education or social issues that affect them. This research design was considered appropriate because it enabled the researcher to gather information from the respondents on Exploring Students’ Poor L2 essay writing skills in secondary schools. Kothari (2004) states that survey design allows for the use of multiple sources of data collection (triangulation). The design was, therefore, deemed suitable for the study because of its strengths as it enabled the researcher to gather information from the sampled respondents by use of questionnaire, interview schedule and an essay writing test. This design was also chosen because it allowed the researcher obtain both quantitative and qualitative data with regard to Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing skills in English language.
Research variables
The three main variables for the study were:
Independent variable: Challenges in learning essay writing skills.
Intervening variable: Adoption of the integrated approach to the teaching and learning of writing skills
Dependent variable: Learning of essay writing skills.
Target population
The target population consisted of 52 teachers of English language and 8,727 students in the public Yendi Senior High School. The district has 26 public secondary schools comprising 23 mixed, 2 boys’ and 1 girls’ school. (DEO’s office Manga district, 2012). The target respondents included form three students and their English language teachers. Form three students were considered appropriate for this study because they had more exposure to essay writing at secondary school level unlike their form one and two counterparts. Form four students were not selected although they equally had more exposure to essay writing because they were preparing for their National examinations. By the time of the study, there were 1,800 form three students in the three categories of public Yendi Senior High School.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS, INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION
Introduction
This chapter presents the findings, interpretation and discussion according to the objectives of the study. The aim of the study was to investigate Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing skills in English language in Yendi Senior High School, Northern Region, Ghana. The chapter is organized into four sections. The first section of the chapter presents demographic information of the respondents. Section two contains data on objective one of the study which was to determine methods teachers use in teaching essay writing skills. Section three covers data on objective two of the study which investigated Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing skills. Finally, section four presents data on the last objective of the study which was to establish strategies students employ in learning essay writing skills. Data is presented using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, tables and graphs.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of the findings, conclusions, recommendations of the study and suggestions for further research.
Summary of the findings
This sub-section gives a summary of the study findings in relation to the objectives of the study. It addresses teaching methods, challenges in learning essay writing skills and learning strategies.
Methods used in teaching essay writing skills
The first objective of the study was to determine methods teachers use in teaching essay writing skills. It was established that that most frequently used methods in teaching essay writing skills include lecture, demonstration and question and answer. Use of these methods encourages rote learning which does not develop students’ creativity. They also limit students’ participation in the learning process. Thus, process based methods which are considered effective to teaching L2 writing skills such as group work, role play, debate, peer, teaching and oral presentations are not frequently used by teachers and this may pose challenges to students in learning essay writing skills. The findings of this study concur with those of Ahmed (2010) which shows that challenges students face in L2 essay writing are partly attributed to teachers’ use of traditional teaching techniques such as lecturing, reading aloud and teacher demonstrations which are frequently indifferent to students’ needs.
Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing skills
The second objective of the study was to investigate Exploring Students’ Poor essay writing skills. The study results show that content mastery, use of correct grammar and L1 interference are the greatest challenges students’ face in learning essay writing skills. Other common challenges revealed include: limited vocabulary which leads to strained expression in L2 writing, in adequate teaching and learning resources and lack of adequate practice in essay writing. These findings partially concur with those of a study by Farood (2012) on students’ difficulties in L2 writing which established that students face difficulties in L2 writing due to a number of factors involved in the learning process such as lack of vocabulary, L1 interference, poor grasp of grammatical structures, incorrect spelling and illogical sequence of ideas.
Strategies employed by students in learning essay writing skills
The third objective of the study was to establish strategies students employ in learning essay writing skills. The study findings reveal that students employ a variety of LLS. However, they have a limited knowledge about the use of the range of LLS available to them and thus they tend to depend on individualized LLS such as making and taking notes. They also depend on their teachers a great deal for guidance. Interactive LLS such as group discussions are given a low deal. This creates a situation where learners do not share knowledge and experiences as noted by Richards and Lockhart (2006) who argues that interactive LLS provide constructive knowledge that promotes use the target language efficiently and clearly and on the other hand, absence of appropriate strategies results in low achievement in language.
Conclusions
This study has resulted into three main conclusions as follows:
Firstly, based on the findings of this study, it is established that lecture, teacher demonstration and question and answer are the common methods used in teaching L2 essay writing skills. According to Badger and White (2000) these methods lead to rote learning since teachers tend to stress on the importance of correct use of grammar, syntax and mechanics rather than developing students’ writing competence. Process based approaches such as: group discussion, role play and debate are given relatively little attention in as much as they are effective approaches to teaching L2 writing skills. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that teaching methods teachers use influence the learning of essay writing skills among students.
Secondly, the study results shows that content mastery, use of correct grammar and L1 interference are the greatest challenges students’ face in learning essay writing skills. These challenges among others lead to students’ low achievement in essay writing. This would be partly attributed to expository teaching methods employed by teachers which limit students’ participation in the learning process as noted by Ahmed (2010).
Finally, the study findings reveal that students employ a variety of LLS. However, they do not fully exploit these strategies when learning L2 essay writing skills. They tend to depend on individualized LLS rather than interactive LLS which promote the sharing of knowledge and experiences as noted by Richards and Lockhart (2006). On the other hand, the study established that a considerable proportion of teachers do not frequently train students on the use of LLS and this could likely bring about challenges in learning L2 essay writing skills. It is, therefore, imperative to note that LLS have a bearing on students’ learning of essay writing skills.
Recommendations
The researcher found it necessary to make some recommendations following the summary, findings of the present research and the conclusions reached. These recommendations could be used to enhance the teaching and learning of L2 essay writing skills in secondary schools. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:
- Teachers of English should lay emphasis on enhancing communicative competence in essay writing among students. This could be done through exposingstudents to good samples of writing using process based approaches such as group discussion, role play, brainstorming, peer editing and debates in the teaching of writing skills. These have been proven to enhance writing among other Teachers should also be acquainted with the use of ICT in essay writing lessons in order to help students with different learning abilities learn L2 essay writing skills efficiently and rapidly.
- Workshopsshould be regularly organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoEST) and Ghana Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to equip English Language teachers with skills of coping with students’ challenges in second language
- Teachers of English should train students on the use of classroom interactivelearning strategies such as group work, peer review and peer teaching and any other related strategies. Consequently, students will learn more about the range of LLS available to them and put them into use in order to make the learning of essay writing skills effective. Similarly, assessment in essay writing should be regular, insightful and guiding in order to help students improve on their learning of L2 essay writing
- School management committees should strive to purchase adequate learning Teachers should also make efforts of encouraging students to read widely on a variety of written materials such as newspapers, story books and among others. This will enhance reading which will serve as a basis of promoting the development of writing skills among students.
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