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Palestinian University Students’ Problems with EFL Essay Writing in an Instructional Setting

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Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World

Abstract

Very little attention has been paid to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ writing problems in the Palestinian context. Hence, the current study aimed to examine Palestinian EFL university students’ essay writing problems as perceived by the students themselves and their instructors. To collect the study data, the researcher utilized three researcher-made instruments: an EFL essay writing test, an open-question questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. While the EFL essay writing test and the open-question questionnaire were administered to 60 Palestinian university students, the semi-structured interviews were conducted with three English writing instructors. Results showed that the students’ English essay writing problems included lack of linguistic knowledge, word-for-word translation, cohesion errors, and lack of academic style. In light of the results, implications were provided.

The chapter is based on an article written by the author and published by Journal of Second and Multiple Language Acquisition in March 2014.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Methods of Teaching English, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza Strip, Palestine

    Enas Abdullah Hammad

Authors
  1. Enas Abdullah Hammad
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Core Curriculum Program, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Abdelhamid Ahmed

  2. Rte Agourai, Hay Al Mansour 903, Moulay Ismail University, Meknès, Morocco

    Hassan Abouabdelkader

Appendices

Appendix A: The Essay Test

Write an English essay within seventy minutes about your favourite hobbies. Your essay should include an introductory paragraph, at least two supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.

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Appendix B: The Interview Questions

  1. 1.

    Do your students’ EFL compositions lack content knowledge? If yes, why do you think they lack content knowledge?

  2. 2.

    Is your students’ EFL vocabulary knowledge limited? If yes, why do you think it is limited?

  3. 3.

    Do your students’ EFL compositions lack grammatical accuracy? If yes, give examples, please.

  4. 4.

    Does your students’ EFL essay writing lack cohesion and coherence? If yes, how?

  5. 5.

    Are your students’ compositions often proofread? If no, why do you think they are not proofread?

Appendix C: The Open-Ended Questionnaire

What problems do you encounter with essay writing, i.e., limited vocabulary, lack of grammar, organizational problems, unfamiliarity with EFL writing topics, etc.?

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Hammad, E.A. (2016). Palestinian University Students’ Problems with EFL Essay Writing in an Instructional Setting. In: Ahmed, A., Abouabdelkader, H. (eds) Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46726-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46726-3_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-46725-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46726-3

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