Exploring Factors Linked to Difficulties with Pakistani English Language Learners' English Essay Writing Skills

Abstract

Writing in English is critical for academic and professional success around the world, and despite years of training, Pakistani students, like other foreign language students, experience difficulty in this area. Essay writing is one of the most difficult obstacles they face in their writing. The aim of the current study is to investigate the difficulties encountered by Pakistani undergraduates in writing English essays. It sought to ascertain the factors, internal as well as external, behind these difficulties. It also attempted to determine which factors were contributing more to the essay writing problems, internal or external. Qualitative methodology was used for the study. An open-ended questionnaire was administered to 10 students, and semi-structured individual in-depth interviews of 10 students and 10 essay-writing teachers were conducted. The data were analyzed qualitatively using exploratory content analysis. The results drawn from the current study reveal that Pakistani undergraduates are facing a lot of difficulties in essay writing such shortage of ideas, lack of vocabulary, poor grammar, weak spellings etc. due to a number of internal and external factors like writing anxiety, L1 interference, large classes and lack of motivation. The data also show that external factors were more dominant than internal ones. Hence, the situation needs considerable attention and improvement. The study had academic and pedagogical implications.