An Assessment Of Students‟ Paragraph Writing Errors And Its Causes: The Case Of Grade 11 Students At Alibo Secondary School

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess grade 11 students’ paragraph writing errors and its causes at Alibo Secondary School. In the view of descriptive research design three English teachers and 102 students were selected through comprehensive/simple random sampling technique by using lottery method respectively. In order to achieve the objectives, the study employed three data gathering tools: document analysis, questionnaire and classrooms observation. Questionnaire was used to assess students’ paragraph writing difficulties. Furthermore, classroom observation was employed to identify English language teachers activities in teaching paragraph writing, the classrooms environment and students’ reaction to learn paragraph writing. Document analysis was employed to identify how well the designed activities/ tasks fit with students’ interests, ability and background knowledge of the students in relation to paragraph writing. All data which were collected using these tools were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively using SPSS version 23. The study identified the major problems causing difficulties to students’ paragraph writing. The main errors students face in writing paragraphs were grammar problems such as subject verb agreement, active instead of passive, simple present tense instead of simple past, capitalization, punctuation, spelling errors etc. The major factors that cause difficulties to students’ paragraph writings were categorized into: students’ related factors; teachers’ related factors and classrooms related factors