An Investigation Of The Influencing Factors Affecting Students’ writing Skill: The Case Of Hawas Preparatory School.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the influencing factors affecting students’ writing skill and how these factors affect the practices and development of learners’ writing skill. The population of the study was all grade 11 students of Hawas preparatory school enrolled in 2009 E.C which are 1460 in number and all grade 11 English teachers of the school which are 7 in number. Out of the total population, 10 % (146) students were selected for the purpose of questionnaire using simple random sampling technique and all grade 11 English teachers were chosen for the purpose of interview. From the sample students, 10 students were again randomly chosen for the purpose of interview and five classes were randomly selected for the purpose of classroom observation. The study employed a descriptive research design involving mixed research method that incorporates both qualitative and quantitative forms. Accordingly, data were collected through multiple data collection instruments including classroom observation, students’ questionnaire, students’ and teachers’ interview. In order analyze the collected data; the study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis. The findings of the study reveal that many high school graduate students are not capable of expressing their ideas freely in writing as they lack the basic literacy skills to meet the growing demands of the high school curriculum. The findings of the study also indicate that writing problems of students seems to be caused by a number of prevailing factors such as lack of interest, less concentration on writing and the wrong perception of looking writing as the most difficult and least important skill among others. Moreover, the lack of adequate time to practice writing, the lack of appropriate techniques to teach or learn writing, and lack of teachers help can be seen as causes for writing problems. Thus, based on the implications of these findings, the researcher recommended that students ought to use various techniques which are important for the development of writing skill and teachers should also motivate their students to use varieties of strategy and techniques to practice and develop writing skill so as to minimize the problem.