Factors Constraining Writing Skills In Senior Secondary School Students

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Writing is one of the productive language skills that might be a complex problem for all teachers and students, since there are several aspects that should be gained. According to Heaton (2005), the writing skill is a complex skill and sometimes difficult to be learned, the learners should require not only mastery grammar but also sharing the information and writing elements. In addition, Richard and Renandya (2010) explain that “writing is the most difficult skill for learners to master”. The difficulty is not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translation the ideas into readable text. In short, writing seems hard to be implemented because of some considerations.

Referring to the writing curriculum and syllabus of English Education Department, it is clearly stated that writing is one of language skill that should be possessed by the students after finishing the lesson. It describes that the course gives learning experience in writing paragraph and essay of good and correct English using various types of writing or genre and of the role of genre study in writing. For more clarification, the syllabus described that students have to be able to write paragraph and essay writing in various sentence forms such as classification, analysis, definition, process analysis, composition and contrast, exemplification, and combination of them in particular topics.

Having a good writing skill is not easily attained. There are two aspects that should be applied, they are coherent and cohesion. Firstly coherent is about the sequence of ideas compiled to organize paragraph and essay so that the readers do not miss the idea and they easily understand the ideas. Furthermore, topics given must be well developed. To start developing the topic students should generate topic sentence. Then, students decide the supporting ideas and supporting details. As the final work, students decide the conclusion. Thus, reader can identify the purpose, and message implied in a good organization. Cohesion aspect relates to the grammatical pattern of the sentences. This refers to writer’s orientation to arrange sentences, phrase, punctuation, and even word choice. One should realize that writing needs a long process.

There is a common agreement that writing is the most complex and difficult skill for it requires a lot of training. Like all learning problems, difficulties in producing a good piece of writing can be devastating to the learners’ education, self-esteem, self-confidence, and motivation to write. Many researchers (Harmer 2007, & Richards & Renandya, 2003) agreed that writing is the most complex and difficult skill. This difficulty lays not only in generating and organizing ideas, but also in translating these ideas into readable text. Hence this research will determine the factors constraining the writing skills of secondary school students especially among senior secondary school students.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Writing skills are crucial for successful learning in higher education work (Kellogg & Raulerson, 2007; Prior, 2012), and the society (Prior, 2012). In this era of globalization, the ability to write in English is essential for students. Accordingly, equipping students with English writing skills is necessary in this competitive era.

Despite the significance of writing in secondary education for skilful communication, academic performance, and student achievement, including success, students in Nigerian secondary schools have problems writing effectively in English. Although, majority the students speak fluently, they face difficulties in writing. In a study that was carried out to explore students’ quality of writing in English, it was found that the standards of students’ writing fell far below the standards (Tale, 2006). Similarly, Choeda et al. (2020) found in their study that students have poor writing skill. They make numerous grammatical errors and are unable to express and convey their messages. As a whole, the students’ writing standards are poor, and they do not align with the standard required. Therefore, this study seek to investigate the factors constraining the writing skills of secondary school students.

1.3 Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is focused on an investigation of the factors constraining writing skills in senior secondary school students.

Other specific objectives includes;

Ascertain the school based factors affecting students writing skills in senior secondary schools.

Ascertain the teacher based factors affecting students writing skills in senior secondary schools.

Ascertain the students based factors affecting their writing skills in senior secondary schools.

1.4 Research Questions

The study will be guided by the following questions;

What are the school based factors affecting students writing skills in senior secondary schools?

What are the teacher based factors affecting students writing skills in senior secondary schools?

What are the students based factors affecting their writing skills in senior secondary schools?

1.5 Research Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant difference on the factors affecting the writing skills of male and female secondary school students in Nigeria.

Ha: There is a significant difference on the factors affecting the writing skills of male and female secondary school students in Nigeria.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The hope is that this study will yield data that will be useful for proper planning and for a framework of action into the improvement of writing skills of students. The findings, conclusions and recommendations will hopefully benefit teachers, students, syllabus designers, education policy makers, academics and opinion leaders to base their decisions and actions on concrete knowledge of issues supported by research other than subjective judgments. The researcher also hopes that the study will form the basis for further research into writing skills and academic performance.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study borders on the factors constraining writing skills in senior secondary school students. Geographically, this study will be conducted in some selected secondary schools in Osisioma local government area of Abia State.

1.8 Limitation of the Study

The researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that electoral violence discourse is vast thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only residents of Lagos State. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other states within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Writing:

This is creating graphic symbols or using images by arranging terms and words to form phrases according to certain conventions or to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form.

Skills:

Is the ability to do something expertly and well.

Writing Skills:

These are simply manifestations of writing proficiency characterized by grammatical accuracy, essay planning and structuring, paragraphing sentence structuring and transition, writing coherence and consistency among other capabilities of writing in English language.

1.10 Organization of the Studies

The study is categorized into five chapters. The first chapter presents the background of the study, statement of the problem, objective of the study, research questions and hypothesis, the significance of the study, scope/limitations of the study, and definition of terms. The chapter two covers the review of literature with emphasis on conceptual framework, theoretical framework, and empirical review. Likewise, the chapter three which is the research methodology, specifically covers the research design, population of the study, sample size determination, sample size, and selection technique and procedure, research instrument and administration, method of data collection, method of data analysis, validity and reliability of the study, and ethical consideration. The second to last chapter being the chapter four presents the data presentation and analysis, while the last chapter(chapter five) contains the summary, conclusion and recommendation.