“A study of Arabic Students' Writing Difficulties during the Summer Course”

Abstract

In recent years, studies in second language teaching have tended to focus on learner's errors since they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a second language. In this sense, teachers will be aware of the difficult areas that are encountered by their students and will give special care and emphasis to them. There are different language difficulties that the present study focuses on such as lack of specific vocabulary related to the student's academic area, essay writing organising and writing techniques. Thus the main objective of this study is to investigate the academic English writing difficulties for a number of Arabic students during a summer course. The difficulties experienced by European learners of English whose mother tongues have similar features to the English system, have been researched extensively. However, the problems faced by Arabic learners of English whose mother tongue features a system dissimilar to the English system, have been studied less. It is found that the commonest problem for Arabic students is misuse of the definite system for generic reference. The strongest possibility for committing these errors is caused by L1 transfer, rather than a bilingual developmental order.

Acknowledgement

First of all, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my parents, brothers and sisters for their time and encouragement for study. Also, I would like to warmly thank my supervisor, for his patience, support and guidance to identify the key requirements to write this dissertation. Thanks go to the group of students who participated in this study for the information they provided which greatly contributed to the achievement of my work. My deep gratitude goes to the team of Modern Languages Department of X University for their advice and assistance. Above all, I am fully grateful to God, the Almighty and Glorious for all the endless blessing.

List of Abbreviations

ELLs: English language learners in school

ESL: English as a Second Language

ELT: English language teaching

GSL: General Service List

L1:First language

L2:Second language

NAEP: National Assessment of Educational Progress

NCELA: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition

NPs: Noun phrases

SLA: Second language acquisition

EAP: English for Academic purposes

ELT: English language teaching

Table of Content

ABSTRACTI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1) Background to the Study1

1.2) Importance of Writing within the Arab Culture2

1.3) Arabic Writing Instruction4

1.4) English Writing Instruction in the Arabic Countries6

1.5) Statement of the Problem9

1.6 Research Questions10

1.7) Purpose of the Study10

1.8) Significance of the Study11

1.9) Limitations of the Study11

1.10) Summary12

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW13

2.1) Research on First Language (L1) Writing14

2.2) Research on Second Language (L2) Writing17

2.3) Models of Teaching Writing20

2.4) Similarities in First Language and Second Language Writing22

2.5) Differences in First Language and Second Language Writing22

2.6) Research Studies On the Effectiveness of the Writing Process Approach23

2.7) Status of Transfer Studies25

2.8) Learning Ability26

2.9) Summary27

CHAPTER 3: PRIMARY RESEARCH29

Observations about the Summer Course32

Aims of the Course:33

General View to EAP Courses33

Informed Consent34

CHAPTER 04: FINDINGS35

Analysis of Handouts35

Analysis of Homework Sheets35

Analysis37

Classroom Observations37

Comments on the materials used in the classroom (Appendix 2)40

Comments on the written samples of the 3 students' homework (Appendix 3)41

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