Writing, an Old-New Problem for Arab Learners in King Faisal University English Major Program

(Hussein unique bouquet)

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Abstract

Research on writing of Arabic-speaking learners of English has mainly focused on errors, rhetorical features and needs of small groups of learners. The present study investigates writing in a sample of 874 participants in a major English program at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. The first group consisted of (525) undergraduates who took five courses of writing. The second group was made of (225) applicants who took the Department Admission Test (Proficiency and Writing). The third group included (40) graduates who took advanced proficiency and advanced writing tests. The fourth and fifth groups are experimental groups of (50) second-year and 34 third-year students. First, a comparison of the relative achievement in the writing courses of the English major program and the writing skill of department graduates applying to specialize in English and candidates for Teaching Assistants was carried out. Second, the researcher investigated general writing, content, and structure in second-year composition and third-year essay of two experimental groups. The results show that all groups except major program students suffer from weakness in writing, and that among the writing components grammatical structure presents a particular problem. The homogeneity of the major program scores is seen as mainly due to pedagogical pressure on the instructors and the question types used in the examination. The paper recommends that there is a need to review pedagogical settings, develop better teaching/learning method, minimize the dependency on recognition and multiple-choice questions in teaching/testing, and emphasize communicative language production. Key Words: English language skills, Language program evaluation, Teaching English as a foreign language, Writing skill.
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