Assessing The Academic Writing Proficiency of EFL Learners at Qassim University Honing The Skills of Young Writers

British Journal of English Linguistics
Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016

___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org)
ASSESSING THE ACADEMIC WRITING PROFICIENCY OF EFL LEARNERS AT
QASSIM UNIVERSITY: HONING THE SKILLS OF YOUNG WRITERS
Paiker Fatima Mazhar Hameed
Assistant Professor of English, College of Science and Arts, Methnab, Qassim University,
Saudi Arabia
ABSTRACT: Four language skills, academic writing is the one most at casualty at the post
intermediate level in KSA. Syntax, organization of materials and expression, all are severely
affected so far as the EFL learners are concerned. This paper proposes to evaluate the problem
from the pedagogical perspective by comparing the current teaching practices in teaching EFL
writing with world trends. It highlights recent studies in EFL apart from showcasing the
teaching community’s viewpoint. Finally, it presents recommendations aimed at attaining the
desired learning outcomes.
KEYWORDS: Academic, Proficiency, University, Writers, Language, Skill
INTRODUCTION
According to Vygotsky, ‘Foreign language acquisition is conscious and deliberate from the
start’. Further, the language researcher must be attentive to the relation that exists between
speech and inner speech on the one hand, and written language and inner speech on the other.
It is imperative that the written language follows the inner speech. In fact written language is
translation of inner speech and therefore, (especially so for the L2 learner) even minimal
proficiency is a factor of the learner’s ability for abstraction, i.e removing oneself from the
immediate, as writing is distanced from the dynamic situation which governs a speech situation.
Unlike speech, writing requires the learner to elucidate the situation in full in order to be
intelligible. Thus writing is a higher order skill than listening, speaking and reading and its
acquisition is a bigger challenge for the L2 learner.
Of the plethora of foreign languages that one can learn for various reasons, English has been a
language that has had a steady, rather increasing, number of learners. Since the times that
England ruled much of the world, English and English language skills have remained at the
focus of societies: in fact, the focus has been to use the language as close to the ‘native
speakers’ as possible as this ability is believed to lend a certain amount of legitimacy to the
‘education’ of the users. This aspiration has become even more pronounced in modern times
when economic and technological compulsions have played an active part in placing English
at the centre of communication. Thus, from being a vestige of imperialism, English has re-
invented itself to be the language of global communication. Current figures also support the
theory that English takes the lead as a language of communication across continents and
cultures.
In this perspective, the English proficiency of our students becomes all the more a matter of
concern for academicians, business community and the government agencies. Whereas a good
command over the language will directly translate to progress for all of these, a handicap in the
same will mean stagnated or stunted growth for each of them as no community can survive in
this global village in isolation: development of part is directly proportional to the development
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ISSN 2055-6063(Print), ISSN 2055-6071(Online)
Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
of the whole. Our pilot studies have concluded that the students entering university education
in Saudi Arabia possess below average proficiency in English. Of the four language skills,
writing is the one most severely affected among them: they find even writing the assignments
a serious challenge and sitting for the examinations is a veritable uphill climb for them. A
majority is forced to go in for re-exams which traps them in a vicious circle of avoidable stress,
demotivation and demoralisation. Even if they undergo all this grind, they lose out on precious
academic years making repeated attempts to complete the programme.
Why Writing is a Challenge for the L2 learner?

Whereas a user acquires listening and speaking skills, reading and writing have to be ‘learned’.
This is the first challenge for the learner as well as the teacher in an L2 writing classroom. We
also know that a large number of languages in the world exist only in the spoken form and
those that do have a writing system, developed it fairly recently. Moreover, the non-native
learner of English is required to bring to a meeting point the inherent dichotomy of the
language: its written form often varies drastically from the spoken form (for illustration,
consider the question of the ‘silent’ letters as in island and knee). In any language, the process
of writing is a complex one. It calls for the integration of several strategies which result in the
reproduction of a text.
Broadly speaking, writing involves planning, goal setting, organizing information, language
selection, several revisions, editing and constant reviewing. However, each L2 writer is an
individual, and while the processes involved in writing remain more or less as these, their
ordering may vary from one learner to the other. Therefore, a teaching methodology that strives
to guide students into an assembly line sequence of planning, drafting, revising may not achieve
much with the L2 learner.
In a majority of learning situations, pressures of time and curriculum often relegate writing
tasks to home assignments: a situation where the L2 learner is on his/her own without the
support of the teacher or peers. This is especially disastrous for poor writers who struggle with
the writing piece and whose confidence gets a further setback when they realise they are unable
to deliver. At the same time, better writers miss out on opportunities for innovative ideas and
structures which they may have been exposed to in a classroom setting. Besides, writing being
a complex process, L2 learners need to be intensively guided through the various steps that will
get them to the final production of the piece. Writing, to put it in few words, is thinking with
the pen and the most difficult task in any writing assignment is getting started.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In an early study, Murray (1973) says that writing is a skill which is important in colleges and
even in other activities or interactions after college in a complex and changing society. In the
present society, more people are needed who can write, who have the capability to order,
communicate information, and possess experience in having done so at the required minimum
proficiency level. Writing, for many students, is the skill which can unlock the language arts.
Discussing the significant place of writing in academics, Raimes (1984) opines that teaching
writing helps to reinforce the grammatical structures, idioms, vocabulary, etc., which are taught
to learners. Teaching writing also helps the learners to be adventurous and creative.
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
She lists the following as important components of the writing process: (i) Grammar; (ii)
Purpose, (iii) Audience, (iv) Writer’s Process, (v) Mechanics of writing, (vi) Content, (vii)
Organisation, and (viii) Word-choice. She elaborates that for producing a piece of writing that
involves clear, fluent, and effective communication of ideas, the writer must know grammar –
like rules for verbs, agreement, articles, pronouns, syntax, sentence boundaries, stylistic
choices, and sentence structure etc. As writing is purpose-oriented, the purpose of writing must
be clear: the target readers must be kept in focus.
Sommer (1989) says that writing is a way of learning other subjects. It can be used in every
discipline as a strategy for teaching and learning.
According to Silva (1993) Academic Writing is different from both the populations, viz. native
and non-native speakers who learn or use the language.
According to Greene (2001) the process approach to writing is a multi-dimensional activity in
which students are in continual contact of the instructor and peers while going through the steps
of planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
In various studies, Bacha (2002), Olivas and Li (2006) and Fadda (2012) state that English as
Foreign Language (EFL) students have an exceptionally difficult and stressful task at hand
when it comes to Academic Writing mainly because of their level of language competency.
EFL students encounter additional cognitive burden for Academic Writing. To counter this,
Bacha (2002) advocates a Structural Process Approach to writing to enable learners develop
their writing skills.
The Process-based writing instruction for EFL students has been supported by Arslan & Şahin-
Kızıl (2010) and Wang et al. (2013) in their studies.
Storch (2011) advocates ‘collaborative writing’. Collaborative writing provides writers with
opportunities for peer interaction during the writing process. Here, students benefit by directly
interacting with peers to assemble, revise, and produce a shared piece of writing that can be
categorized as having ‘joint ownership’. Amongst the benefits of Collaborative Writing is the
unique interaction it affords in the form of peer conversations which require writers to use and
filter language. He says that collaborative writing avails learners with opportunities to
deliberate about their own and their peers’ language use as they attempt to ‘create meaning’.
This echoes the findings of an earlier study by Yung Fung (2010) who says that the most
prominent defining feature of collaborative writing is the social interactions among the
members (p.19). Through collaboration, he says, the teachers can guide writers to articulate
real-life conversations with their peers, and psychologically, peer-level interactions are
uninhibited, frank and fearless and hence, more productive.
Wright et al (2013) discuss the use of electronic reading systems for digital contents. An
electronic device such as the e-reader has the potential for aiding students in the process of
writing. These are portable and contain a built-in dictionary, and also tools for annotation and
information browsing. However, few studies have examined the effect of adopting e-readers as
an aiding device in academic writing for EFL students.
Research Objectives
The study will have the following reference points as its aims:
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
1. Identifying the features prevalent in the writing classroom in KSA.
2. Working out the possibility of adopting a process approach.
3. Encourage learners in successful writing strategies.
4. Help learners become aware of organizing their written materials.
Significance of the Study

 Acquisition of any language is meaningful only when one is well trained in all of the
four skills. This is even more relevant for English which is proven to be the language
of global communication.
 English has four main skills and many sub skills. However, none of them are totally
isolated from each other: they are complementary in their relationship, hence making it
essential for one to learn all of them to master even one of them.
 Economic and trade opportunities can be best harnessed only when the Saudi youth are
armed with the ability to write well in English: needless to say, business proposals,
project reports, even global tenders, all are composed in English.
 In an increasingly technologically advanced world environment, dealings with overseas
clients, employers and employees can be effectively done in English with the use of
tools such as, Email, Whattsapp, Hangouts, and SMS.
 Global job opportunities demand an above average proficiency in all the four and more
skills in English as the workforce comprises of people from diverse cultures and
languages: the only way they can work together is by being able to conduct themselves
in English.
 Teacher training aimed at imparting the right curriculum in the right manner is the
pressing need of the hour because English is, after all, a foreign language for the Saudi
learners.
 The curriculum and academic input available to the teachers of English in Saudi Arabia
need to be carefully evaluated because the teaching community is bound by the natural
compulsions of syllabus, study material and time.
Research Questions
The proposed research would attempt to answer the following questions:
1. What is the pedagogy employed for teaching Academic English Writing to
college students in KSA?
2. What is the learners’ proficiency in Academic Writing?
3. What specific methods are applied to develop English writing skills in the class
room?
4. Does the system encourage peer/group learning?
5. Is communication in the classroom being done in English?
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
6. Does the teacher encourage writing exercises in the class or relegates them to
home?
METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted in three phases. In phase 1 we sought the permission of four
undergraduate English teaching peers to observe their lessons to isolate the pedagogical aspects
of the EFL writing classrooms. This was undertaken over a period of three months, comprising
one full term. At the end of this period, we requested them to write out the problems that,
according to them, plague the teaching-learning situation of EFL in KSA. Phase 2 aimed at
evaluating the writing proficiency of the learner group. We administered a writing test to eighty
undergraduate level students of English at the College of Science and Arts, Methnab, Qassim
University. The test was composed of two sections: One a free writing exercise that required
of them to describe their partner in a biographical write up. The other section asked them to
reproduce a short essay based upon cues given to them. Based upon Hedge: Writing, page 148
as quoted in Hedge (2000), the responses were marked in the following way:
i. Content organization (with special reference to clarity, coherence, and development
of the essay). 20 Marks
ii. Range of Grammar and vocabulary applied
15
iii. Sentence structure (with higher marks being allotted for complex structures)
15
iv. Accuracy of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation
30
v. Fluency 20
Total 100
Under Phase 3 a frequency scale was used to gather data for a twelve item questionnaire
administered to the participants to assess the learners’ perception and expectations of the
writing classroom.
FINDINGS
The following tables illustrate the findings of the study:
Phase 1: Pedagogy Applied in EFL writing classroom

Note: i. ‘P’ represents Peer observed
ii. All values are representative of the approximate percentage of class time spent spread over
one term.
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
Dictati Translatio Brainstor Peer Collaborat Home Process
on n ming Interaction ive writing Task Approac
h
P1 30 45 0 0 0 25 0
P2 30 35 0 0 0 30 5
P3 35 40 5 0 0 20 0
P4 45 25 0 0 0 30 0
Graphically:
Pedagogy Applied in EFL writing classroom

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Approach
Dictation Translation Brainstorming Peer Collaborative Home Task Process
Interaction writing
P1 P2 P3 P4
Phase 2: Outcomes of Writing Proficiency Test
S. No. Assessment Parameter Mean Score

i. Content Organization 12
ii. Range of Grammar and Vocabulary 20
iii. Sentence Structure 10
iv. Accuracy of Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling, 8
Punctuation
v. Fluency 10
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
Representing the outcomes graphically:
Outcomes of Writing Proficiency Test
Fluency
v.
Accuracy of Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling,

iv.
Punctuation
iii.
Sentence Structure
Range of Grammar and Vocabulary

ii.
Content Organization
i.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Phase 3: Outcomes of Students’ Questionnaire

Question 1: I feel excited and glad to attend the EFL writing class?
Question 2: When asked to write something, I feel confident of being able to communicate the
right message to the reader.
Question 3: At the start of a writing activity, my teacher engages us in a brainstorming session
to generate ideas.
Question 4: I feel more comfortable when asked to collaborate with my partner in a writing
exercise.
Question 5: I prefer to go all the way alone in completing a writing task.
Question 6: It is better if the teacher allows me to take the writing assignment to finish back
home.
Question 7: I feel confident that I learn writing better when the teacher dictates the things to
me.
Question 8: As a group, we are highly motivated in the writing class.
Question 9: I feel that I know sufficient grammar to be able to write in English.
Question 10: My language class gives me a large number of English vocabulary to use.
Phase 3:Tabulated responses to Students’ Questionnaire
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10
Always 1 2 0 55 0 2 0 3 19 23
Quite often 3 6 0 12 1 1 0 5 41 37
Sometimes 1 37 0 7 9 4 3 20 17 13
Almost never 65 20 0 4 53 44 49 29 2 5
Never 10 15 80 2 17 29 28 23 1 2
INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The findings clearly indicate that modern approach and pedagogy to teaching writing in EFL
situations is not being followed in the environment under study. Translation and dictation take
the lead as classroom activities: they neither encourage creative and lateral thinking among the
EFL learners, nor place them at the centre of the learning universe. Clearly, the teaching
community’s approach is a far cry from communicative methods advocated all over the world
today.
Following closely on the heels of these is relegation of writing tasks to home assignments. At
home, these learners lose out on precious peer interaction which could be a big boost to their
learning experience. In fact, being at sea at home leads to demotivation among them which is
a serious impediment to learning of any type.
The outcomes of this study are also an eye opener for the policy makers and educational
planners in KSA: Constraints of time, syllabus and overpopulated classrooms leave little scope
for the teachers to undertake communicative language teaching on a major scale. This
conclusion was also arrived at from the feedback sought from the teachers in Phase 1 of this
study. Further, the study highlighted the fact that only one out of the four teachers who
participated in the study had some idea of what is known as Process Approach to writing.
Sixty five of the eighty respondents reported not being in a positive mental state to attend the
EFL writing class. That their learning is poor is clear from the response to the next question
which asks their opinion about their ability to communicate a written message clearly, is
heavily inclined towards the negative as well. Question 3 enquired of them whether
brainstorming was encouraged before undertaking a writing task, to which all of eighty replied
in the negative whereas a substantial majority of fifty five responded in favour of collaborative
work. Fifty three respondents disliked working alone on writing work. Similarly, a thumping
large number showed a preference not to take writing assignments back home to finish. Forty
nine of the eighty subjects are conscious that their writing proficiency is not improved if the
teacher dictates to them. On being questioned about their motivation level, not surprisingly, a
large number reported in the negative. All of these responses (to questions one to eight) point
towards serious lacunae in the teaching methodology adopted. However, the only positive
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
outcomes of traditional pedagogical approach is in the perceived development of the learners’
grammar and vocabulary.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Although task representation may not be directly taught since it can be influenced by a variety
of factors, teachers can promote students’ awareness of their own task representation and of
the context for writing, as suggested in Flower (1990), Greene (1995) & Zhu (2005). For
instance, teachers can ask students to share and to reflect on their representation of each
assignment in class discussion.
Teachers of EFL in the field of this study were largely ignorant of recent research and
development in the teaching of writing. INSET programmes directed at creating awareness
among these teachers is a pressing need of the hour.
Teachers can also help their students to analyse the features of each writing context in order to
enhance their awareness. In addition, students need to be taught how to read source articles
purposefully and strategically for different types of information. It may help to tell the students
that they should try to “find where a writer works or doesn’t work in interesting ways with your
own view” or “to play ideas off one another”. L2 writing instructors can consult Hirvela’s book
(2004), Connecting reading and writing in second language writing instruction, for more
teaching tips on reading-to-write pedagogy.
Writing assignments should be carried out in the class environment and learners must be
encouraged to take these activities as peer activities where they will be rewarded (and not
penalised) for helping each other. Instead of being ‘instructed’ how to go about a writing
assignment, the L2 learners of English must be made to ‘write’, so that, rather than informing
the learners that the first stage of writing can be ‘planning’, they should be lead to planning.
Brainstorming on how they would like to compose their piece can be a good idea at this stage.
The teacher in this classroom bears the responsibility to help students get their ideas together.
In addition to these, not fearing the obvious noise it would lead to, peer interaction and
collaborative writing should be encouraged.
As enumerated earlier, listening and speaking are acquired skills and reading and writing are
‘learned’. By their very nature the latter two are more complex and follow only after the L2
learner is reasonably established in the former two skills. This brings us to the issue of
bilingualism or second language acquisition, children learn a second or a third language for
that matter as naturally and are able to use it as accurately and fluently as they do the mother
tongue given they are sufficiently exposed to its ‘sounds’ early, as frequently and as naturally.
This is so for two reasons: one, the universal grammar equips them to acquire an additional
language easily; and two, there are no prejudices to interfere or inhibit the learning of a
language other than the mother tongue. These very factors become impediments as they grow
older and have to develop proficiency in a language other than the native. It is observed that in
Saudi Arabia, English is introduced in the sixth grade, by which time they are well past the
‘Critical Age’ for language acquisition.
American psycholinguist Eric Lenneberg put forward the ‘Critical Age Hypothesis’ for
language acquisition in adults. This draws from what the biologists studying the origin of
species-specific behaviour proposed: if a fledgling was to develop normally, there were periods
when a specific type of stimulus was needed. The critical age hypothesis states that ‘changes
in language acquisition ability are linked to stages in brain maturation’. Studies have shown
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Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016
that starting at about two years, language skills begin to be limited in the left hemisphere of the
brain. This process, known as lateralization, seems to be completed at about the time of puberty.
Thus for some reason, puberty seems to mark the point in time when a young adult’s ability to
acquire a new language will wane!
No EFL classroom can achieve its objective without motivating the learners to the optimum.
For this, it is important to impart to them early the reasons why they should strive to be
proficient writers in English. The benefits that are likely to accrue to them with the mastery of
this skill should also be clearly illustrated to them at the outset. Knowing the learner’s socio-
economic and cultural background can prove to be an asset to the teacher.
To conclude, the researcher takes the liberty to point out that the present study is limited in its
generalizability as a result of the exclusiveness of the group of students (they were all students
enrolled for BAs programme of English and hence can be assumed to be more proficient in the
language as compared to students of other subjects). Therefore, the findings cannot be
generalized beyond such a group. Thus, replication of the present study should be conducted
to examine task representation of EFL students at different levels and in different educational
settings. This line of research will contribute to our understanding of L2 writers’ task
representation and its subsequent influences on task construction as a legitimate reference
group will be created.
REFERENCES
Al Fadda, H. (2012). Difficulties in academic writing: From the perspective of King Saud
University postgraduate students. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 123–130.
Arslan, R. Ş., & Şahin-Kızıl, A. (2010). How can the use of blog software facilitate the writing
process of English language learners? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(3),
183-197.
Bacha, N. N. (2002). Developing learners’ academic writing skills in higher education: A study
for educational reform. Language and Education, 16, 161 – 177.
Greene, B. B. (2001). Testing reading comprehension of theoretical discourse with cloze.
Journal of Research in Reading, 24(1), 82-98.
Hedge, Tricia. (2000). Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
Murray, D. (1978). Internal revision: A process of discovery. In C. R. Cooper & L. Odell (Eds.),
Research on composing (pp. 85-103). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of
English.
Olivas, M., & Li, C. (2006). Understanding stressors of international students in higher
education: What college counselors and personnel need to know. Journal of Instructional
Psychology, 33, 217-222.
Raimes, A. (1990). The TOEFL Test of Written English: Causes for concern. TESOL
Quarterly, 24, 427-442.
Silva, T. (1993). Toward an understanding of the distinct nature of second language writing:
The ESL research and its implications. TESOL Quarterly, 27, 657 – 677.
Vygotsky, Lev S. 1978 Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes.
Trans. Eugenia Hanfmann and Gertrude Vakar. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
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Wang, Y. S., Young, S. S. -C., & Jang, J. S. -R. (2013). Using tangible companions for
enhancing learning English conversation. Educational Technology & Society, 16(2), 296-
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Wright, S., Fugett, A., & Caputa, F. (2013). Using E-readers and Internet resources to support
comprehension. Educational Technology & Society, 16 (1), 367–379.
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British Journal of English Linguistics

Vol.4, No.4, pp.1-11, July 2016

Why Writing is a Challenge for the L2 learner?

Significance of the Study

Phase 1: Pedagogy Applied in EFL writing classroom

Pedagogy Applied in EFL writing classroom

Phase 2: Outcomes of Writing Proficiency Test

S. No. Assessment Parameter Mean Score

Outcomes of Writing Proficiency Test

Accuracy of Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling,

Range of Grammar and Vocabulary

Phase 3: Outcomes of Students’ Questionnaire

Phase 3:Tabulated responses to Students’ Questionnaire

INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

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