LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:1 January 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Common Errors in the Basic Writing Skill with Reference to Native
Speakers of Arabic Students in Collegiate Level

Dr. Kesavan Vadakalur Elumalai & Dr. Roseline Nirmala Jesudas


Common Problems of Writing Skill

A number of studies have been examined in the field of English Productive Skills to pinpoint the common problems of students’ writing skill. Writing is not only a mirror of one’s thought but it contributes newness to established information (Weigle, 2002). Brooks and Grundy (1998) define writing as a tool to communicate ideas in a target language. Hyland (2003) considers writing as a visual print coherently knitted into structured language. The writing skill course focuses on switch from simple sentence writing to more complex and stylish explanation were prepared according to the direct quotations and in-text citation. In general, the writing skills courses are intended to provide students with the composition/essays and grammar/vocabulary skills .These skills were essential that to explore to the freshmen in the collegiate. Tarnopolsky (2005) advocated that academic writing is the most creative writing which needs critical thinking to develop ideas in the target language. Fujioka (2001) surveyed how Asian ESL students acquired academic writing skills. She found Asian students lack critical thinking rather than the lexical problems in writing. Another researcher Izzo (2001) also reported that Japanese students at university level lack organizational feature in their academic writing and these difficulties were due to their translating habit from Japanese to English language in their writing discourses (Hirose, 1998).

Writing Skill in English in Arab Countries

In Arab countries, several authors have viewed the weaknesses of Arabic students that reflected in foreign language writing as a major cause for their failure to reach the set goals of writing. Al Khuweileh & Al Shoumali, 2000; Al Hazmi & Schofield 2007; Fitze & Glasgow, 2009, El Sadig (2010) advocated that the old educational policies were the main factors for students’ problems. It has been realized that students of EFL classes were unable to adopt a professional style of writing. Silva, 1992 expressed essay writing from first draft to final draft is a stressful task for nonnative learners. These problems led several other authors to suggest that academic writing needs to be more focused on the organization part of the discourse (Hirayanagi, 1998; Takaji, 2001).

Practical Problems

Cherednichenko (2003) believed a diverse composition of learners created practical problems for both teachers and learners. It is not an easy composition to deal with since most classes have students of two or more levels of ability and to cater to the needs of everyone is a challenge for teachers. Bauer and Shea (1999) viewed increased problems in multi-ability classes when both native speakers and beginners studied together. Diversity led to engagement and management problem on both ends. They further suggested different methods to solve the problems in writing skills classes still many other aspects were left to be explored.


This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Dr.Kesavan Vadakalur Elumalai M.A,M.Phil,P.hD (Corresponding Author)
Department of English
College of Arts
King Saud University
Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
drkesh4eng@gmail.com

Dr. Roseline Nirmala Jesudas
roselinejesudas@gmail.com

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