Problems and Factors affecting students English writing skills at elementary level

Abstract

The present study was conducted with the aim to investigate elementary students’ writing problems and factors that hamper their English writing skills. It also illustrates some supportive suggestions on how to improve elementary students’ English writing skills. Writing is regarded as one of the most prolific skills which sometimes seem very difficult for the learners to develop; it is considered an important skill for good language production. Writing well is professed as a significant art for students’ successful academic achievement. Students’ writing problems in English language have become a major issue for English teachers and learners. Writing in English is considered a very complex skill particularly in elementary classrooms where students encounter numerous challenges regarding this skill. In the study writing samples were randomly collected from 155 students of grade eight to find out the most recurrent writing problems in their English subjects. 32 English teachers were also interviewed in order to know their perceptions about students’ writing difficulties and factors that hamper their English writing development. SPSS software was applied to
compute and analyze the outcomes of the research. The results of the study indicate that the majority of the students at elementary level are unable to write grammatically precise English paragraphs. The findings of the study disclose that the main problems of students’ English writing are due to poor command over English tenses, grammar, syntax and insufficient vocabulary. Lack of creative ideas, writing anxiety, weak structural organization and dependence on L1 are also the major cause of learners’ poor writing in English.