Challenges for College Students in Paragraph Writing at a Public Sector College in Pakistan: A Case Study
Keywords:
challenges, college students, paragraph writing, pedagogy, teacher feedbackAbstract
Writing in English is extremely important language skill especially when it comes to academic and professional success. As a result, writing in English has received attention around the world including Pakistan. Like all other non-native English language learners across the world, Pakistani students struggle to write well-organized paragraphs which are a key component of secondary and higher secondary exams. Under qualitative research paradigm, the current study was, therefore, conducted to explore the challenges for college students in paragraph writing at a public sector college in Pakistan. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with four purposively sampled female participants. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that students faced problems related to pedagogy, assessment, feedback, and revision. More specifically, the majority of the participants shared that they reproduced paragraphs rather than writing on their own; the assessment was grammar-focused; there was a lack of constructive feedback on paragraphs; also, there were very limited opportunities for revision. Although the study is an addition to the literature on writing skills in the Pakistani context, its significance lies in highlighting females’ voices in the literature. The study will have implications for teachers teaching English in public sector colleges.
References
Adeoye‐Olatunde, O. A., & Olenik, N. L. (2021). Research and scholarly methods: Semi‐structured interviews. Journal of the american college of clinical pharmacy, 4(10), 1358-1367.
Afrin, S. (2016). Writing problems of non-English major undergraduate students in Bangladesh: An observation. Open journal of social sciences, 4(03), 104.
Akbar, M., Pathan, H., & Ali Shah, S. W. (2018). Problems Affecting L2 Learners' English Writing Skills: A Study of Public Sector Colleges Hyderabad City, Sindh, Pakistan. Language in India, 18(5).
Alenoush Saroyan, C. A. (2004). Assumptions Underlying Workshop Activities. In Rethinking Teaching in Higher Education: From a Course Design Workshop to a Faculty Development Framework (pp. 17-18). Virginia: Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Alfaki, I. M. (2015). University students’ English writing problems: diagnosis and remedy. International Journal of English Language Teaching, 3(3), 40-52.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative research in sport, exercise and health, 11(4), 589-597.
Cakir, M. (2008). Constructivist approaches to learning in science and their implications for science pedagogy: A literature review. International journal of environmental and science education, 3(4), 193-206.
Carless, D. (2022). From teacher transmission of information to student feedback literacy: Activating the learner role in feedback processes. Active Learning in Higher Education, 23(2), 143-153.
Denscombe, M. (2014). The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects: McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Emig, J. (2020). Writing as a mode of learning. In Landmark essays on writing across the curriculum (pp. 89-96). Routledge.
Etikan, I., Musa, S. A., & Alkassim, R. S. (2016). Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. American journal of theoretical and applied statistics, 5(1), 1-4.
Fareed, M., Ashraf, A., & Bilal, M. (2016). ESL learners’ writing skills: Problems, factors and suggestions. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 4(2), 81-92.
Farooq, M. S., Uzair-Ul-Hassan, M., & Wahid, S. (2012). Opinion of Second Language Learners about Writing Difficulties in English Language. South Asian Studies (1026-678X), 27(1).
Grabe, W., & Kaplan, R. B. (2014). Theory and practice of writing: An applied linguistic perspective: Routledge.
Hammad, A. (2012). Teaching and learning English reading in Gaza prep schools: A Descriptive study. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Cairo University. Egypt.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.
Iswandari, Y., & Jiang, Y. (2020). Peer feedback in college EFL writing: A review of empirical research. LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 23(2), 399-413.
Jamil, S., Majoka, M. I., & Kamran, U. (2016). Analyzing Common Errors in English Composition at Postgraduate Level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan). Bulletin of Education and Research, 38(2).
Javed, M., Juan, W. X., & Nazli, S. (2013). A Study of Students' Assessment in Writing Skills of the English Language. Online Submission, 6(2), 129-144.
Kemper, D., Meyer, V., Van Rys, J., & Sebranek, P. (2018). Fusion: Integrated reading and writing: Cengage Learning.
Langan, J. (2010). Exploring writing: Sentences and paragraphs. McGraw-Hill Education.
Lee, I. (2005). Error correction in the L2 writing classroom: What do students think? TESL Canada Journal, 22(2), 1-16.
Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. AISHE-J: The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 9(3).
Mahboob, A. (2014). Epilogue: Understanding language variation: Implications for EIL pedagogy. The pedagogy of English as an international language: Perspectives from scholars, teachers, and students, 257-265.
Mahboob, A. (2020). Has English medium instruction failed in Pakistan?. Functional variations in English: Theoretical considerations and practical challenges, 261-276.
Mascolo, M. F. (2009). Beyond student-centered and teacher-centered pedagogy: Teaching and learning as guided participation. Pedagogy and the Human Sciences, 1(1), 3-27.
McGrath, A. L., Taylor, A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2011). Writing helpful feedback: The influence of feedback type on students’ perceptions and writing performance. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and learning, 2(2), 5.
Narciss, S. (2008). Feedback strategies for interactive learning tasks. Handbook of research on educational communications and technology, 3, 125-144.
Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English language teaching: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary.
Rahman, A. F., & Susanti, Y. (2022). Paragraph organization and ideas development in paragraphs writing made by efl students. ELTT, 8(1), 11-19.
Rao, P. S. (2019). The role of English as a global language. Research journal of English, 4(1), 65-79.
Rass, R. A. (2015). Challenges face Arab students in writing well-developed paragraphs in English. English Language Teaching, 8(10), 49.
Ruegg, R. (2015). The relative effects of peer and teacher feedback on improvement in EFL students’ writing ability. Linguistics and Education, 29, 73-82.
Sajid, M., & Siddiqui, J. A. (2015). Lack of academic writing skills in English language at higher education level in Pakistan: causes, effects and remedies. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(4), 174-186.
Sattayatham, A., & Ratanapinyowong, P. (2008). Analysis of errors in paragraph writing in English by first year medical students from the four medical schools at Mahidol University. Silpakorn University International Journal, 8, 17-38.
Susanti, R. (2013). Students' perceptions towards the effective feedback practices in the large EFL writing class based on participants, gender, and English proficiency level.
Wu, H.-p., & Garza, E. V. (2014). Types and attributes of English writing errors in the EFL context-A study of error analysis. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 5(6), 1256.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.