EDLE 4203

TEACHING WRITING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

SHORT ESSAY
DIFFICULTIES WHEN LEARNING HOW TO WRITE IN
ENGLISH LANGUAGE DURING HIGH SCHOOL

INSTRUCTOR’S NAME
DR. ZAINURIN BIN ABD RAHMAN

STUDENT’S NAME
NURUL NAJIBAH BINTI MUSAMEH (1813842)

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………… 3
PROBLEM 1 - POOR VOCABULARY
i. The nature of the problem………………………………………..3
ii. The source of the problem……………………………………….3-4
iii. The coping strategies ……………………………………………4
PROBLEM 2 - LACK OF FEEDBACK
i. The nature of the problem………………………………………...4
ii. The source of the problem……………………………………….5
iii. The coping strategies ……………………………………………5
PROBLEM 3 - TOPICS ARE HARD AND UNFAMILIAR
i. The nature of the problem………………………………………...5
ii. The source of the problem……………………………………….6
iii. The coping strategies ……………………………………………6
PROBLEM 4 - TIME MANAGEMENT
i. The nature of the problem………………………………………...7
ii. The source of the problem………………………………………..7
iii. The coping strategies …………………………………………….7
PROBLEM 5 - REDUNDANT ASPECTS
i. The nature of the problem………………………………………...8
ii. The source of the problem………………………………………..8
iii. The coping strategies ……………………………………………8-9
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………..9

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 I studied at a religious boarding school in Kuala Terengganu. The school is
considered as an elite school in that state. However, in terms of English language
proficiency, most of the students are at the average level. Same goes for me, I
always find it difficult either to speak or write in English because of the nature and
environment which does not really promote the culture of conversing in English
language. Therefore, some difficulties arise in the journey of learning this language.
Based on my experiences, I highlighted some of the difficulties that I had to face
when learning to write in English during high school.

PROBLEM 1: POOR VOCABULARY

i. The nature of the problem
It is common that in learning, there must be some parts where the students
will have to face some sort of difficulties to adapt to those particular elements. Based
on my experiences in English subject, one of the difficulties while learning to write in
English during high school is poor vocabulary. I had a hard time trying to recall the
vocabulary intended to be included in my essay writing. There are certain words that
I translated directly from Malay to English since I could not think of a proper
translation of those words due to time constraint and limited vocabulary. Thus, it
made my essay less interesting and consisted of many errors since the words did
not suit the context as there are some words that are not meant to be translated
directly. In writing, we have to choose good and right words and phrases, and
must follow proper structure so that our writing would be more meaningful.

ii. The source of the problems

I did not get exposed to vocabulary as much since my surroundings do not

really use English in daily conversation. They preferably use native language, with
Terengganu slang since my school consists of Terengganu students solely. In
addition, there is some kind of misperception towards those who always talk in
English. They are often being labeled as arrogant or trying to show off. That is why
they choose to not use English as much as they talk with outsiders. At the same
time, some English teachers also teach us using their mother tongue. Therefore, I
feel the lack of motivation and not being able to build up adequate vocabulary

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competency while in the classroom. It leads me to having difficulties writing certain
words, phrases, and sentences. I may also not be good at all in these skills of
the language. In short, I faced a lot of native language interference and it made
writing in English a bit challenging.

iii. The coping strategies that you take/that your teacher recommends to solve
the problems/difficulties

Some of the coping strategies that the teacher suggested for me include
reading and doing writing exercises a lot. Sometimes, the teacher prompts us by
giving some tasks in regards to vocabulary and we will be having a short session to
discuss that task during that lesson. I also read a lot of examples of essay books,
highlighted the important keywords and wrote down new vocabulary and idioms that
I have found in a book so I can use them in my writing later on. Besides, I also read
the dictionary everyday so I can be familiar with new words along with their meaning.

PROBLEM 2: LACK OF FEEDBACK

i. The nature of the problem

The second problem that I have faced back then was due to lack of feedback
from the teachers. Whenever I get writing tasks from the teacher, I will do it earnestly
and submit it on time because I want to know which part I am lacking and which
requires improvement. However, sometimes it feels like my efforts went in vain
because most of the time, I did not get the feedback as expected. So, I just try to
figure out any errors I have made in my writing but it was hard since I was not that
proficient in English. Plus, I cannot deny the fact that I am the kind of student that
requires assistance from teachers in pointing out any errors that I have made. Thus,
I felt a bit lost and not confident to write essays during examinations because of the
fear of repeating the same mistakes.

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ii. The source of the problems

Teachers do not have enough time to go thoroughly into each section of the
errors and sometimes only mark the errors and ask the students to figure out
themselves without giving further follow-up feedback. They were paying insufficient
attention in regards to feedback’s engagement with the students since the teachers
are thinking we are students from elite schools, so we should be able to explore
things on our own. This would be inconvenient for those who are less proficient in
English or do not have interest in learning English because they will not do it by
themselves.

iii. The coping strategies that you take/that your teacher recommends to solve
the problems/difficulties

The coping strategies that I took were forming a study group consisting of
students who are good in English and we go through our essays altogether and try to
detect the errors and discuss the corrections. If there are errors that all of us do not
know the correct answer to, a representative will go and see the teacher for
consultation. Apart from that, if I was having a hard time while writing in the hostel, I
would ask my roommates, who are the seniors since I believed that they know better
than me and they did help me a lot. I did all those things because I am aware that
the teacher does not teach me alone, so I must take some precautionary measures
that would be convenient for both the teacher and me. I am the student who needs
the knowledge, so instead of waiting for it, I should go for it.

PROBLEM 3: TOPICS ARE HARD AND UNFAMILIAR

i. The nature of the problem

The third issue is regarding the topics which are quite hard and unfamiliar to
me. Whenever I had to face a topic that is really different from what I had come
across or had done before, I would become totally blank and had no idea on what to

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do. I also cannot think of the points that are necessary for that essay. So, it takes
longer and sometimes exceeds the time limits.

ii. The source of the problems

Less practice on formative types of essays. Students are allowed to choose

any topic of essay during examination, so I always go with a narrative type of essay
regardless of the topic since I am not that confident to write formative essays as I
was afraid that I missed out any format that may be resulting in deduction of marks
even though the topic for the formative essay would be much easier than those of
the narratives.

iii. The coping strategies that you take/that your teacher recommends to solve
the problems/difficulties
The coping strategies that the teacher implemented to curb the problems was
by having some activities known as prewriting activities which help us to brainstorm
the ideas on what to say on paper. This kind of activity did spark ideas and assist us
in determining what are the do’s and don'ts in writing essays. The teacher would
outline the points on the whiteboard and ask us to read and give some elaborations.
This method is quite effective to enhance my fluency because it allows me to think,
write and even speak at the same time. After that, we will be given more exercises
on formative essays to familiarize us with the formats for formal and informal letter,
argumentative, persuasive or report. Usually, the teacher will only ask for the format
and main points with a little bit of elaboration instead of the whole essay because it
would take time for the teacher to go through all the essays from each student and to
give feedback Besides, I have always read essay books since I was in Form 3 in
order to build my own confidence in writing essays and to make it easy for me to
come out with the main points since I have read many essays from various topics.

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 PROBLEM 4: TIME MANAGEMENT
i. The nature of the problem
The fourth problem that I encountered while learning to write in English during
high school is time management. I find it difficult to distribute time wisely between
thinking of the contents and the elaboration of the writing itself. I always spent a lot of
time figuring out points that suit my essay without realizing that the time has run out.
Thus, it leads to a lesser time for the elaboration part and I did not have ample time
to re-check my writings for any errors.

ii. The source of the problems

The reason why such things happened would be due to lack of exercises on
how to generate points systematically once we have been given the topic. For me,
we are not really exposed to writing exercises and getting extensive feedback except
during examinations. In addition, the learning process is a bit boring without any
engaging activities so we as students did not focus well. This is why I tend to
consume more time into thinking what I should write rather than sparing the time for
writing. Sometimes, it took longer for me to get the ideas which was why I always
had to deal with insufficient time and not being able to finish the essay on time
especially if it was done in the classroom as a classroom activity.

iii. The coping strategies that you take/that your teacher recommends to solve
the problems/difficulties

Teacher gave homeworks or samples of essays as references before class

time and informed us earlier if the lesson for that day would be regarding writing
tasks so we can be prepared mentally and physically and do some early preparation
such as read some books beforehand. Besides, the most important way that I did to
overcome this difficulty is that I went to have a consultation with the teacher on how
to distribute the time fairly on each part of writing so I can still be on track despite
having some difficulties in generating ideas. I also read books constantly and wrote
down some of the main points so that when I was in the midst of writing an essay,
the ideas on what to write will appear and I do not have to spend too much time
thinking and outlining the ideas

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 PROBLEM 5: REDUNDANT ASPECTS

i. The nature of the problem

The last difficulties in writing English that I had to deal with were related to
redundant aspects that made the essay writing poorly constructed because the
points were repeated. Most of the time, I did not realize that I actually wrote the
same things but in different forms except if I had ample time after I had done and
went through the essay again. Unfortunately, I barely had enough time to complete
the writing which made me have to submit the essay without re-check if any
redundancy had occurred. This problem should not be neglected because it will
cause anyone who reads my writing to be distracted by the flow or even feels bored.

ii. The source of the problems

This problem takes place since I did not plan well during the planning stage by
doing a proper outlining or mind mapping while generating the ideas. Thus, I tend to
elaborate the same thing for the other points even though the sentence structure
was totally different. Besides, I think I am lacking knowledge in the functions of each
word. I kept on using different words that served the same meaning that made the
writing more lengthy rather than focusing on accuracy and clarity of the writing itself.
My teacher also did not emphasize much on this aspect because we were focusing
more on grammar instead of sentence structure. On top of that, the teacher rarely
pointed out these kinds of errors so I was unaware of the errors most of the time.

iii. The coping strategies that you take/that your teacher recommends to solve
the problems/difficulties

Some of the things I did to overcome this problem is by making a proper

outline of the points that I already covered. I tried to distribute time wisely so that it
would be enough to outline the ideas and to write the essay. Besides, my teacher
also gave some tips on the “more is less” rule. It is true that sometimes we need to
make the essay longer to achieve the minimum word count. However, the teacher
said that we need to bear in mind that clarity is more important. Instead of making
the writing lengthy by including unnecessary words that are just a filler, it is better to

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try using other important facts that might add up to some interesting points for that
writing. In such a way, my essay will look more informative.

In conclusion, it cannot be denied that learning to write in English is

challenging as it involves many stages and requires extra effort and time. Especially
when it comes to those students who live in rural or even suburban areas, the
difficulties might be doubled as the environment there differs from those who are
from urban areas. However, that should not be an excuse for us to not learn at all.
We must make efforts to cope with the difficulties rather than whining and refusing to
learn.On top of that, English is not our first language, so it will take some time to
excel in that language. And for us future teachers, we must do our best to ensure
that we carry out our duties to deliver the knowledge in the most righteous manner
so the students will learn what they should have learned.