ACADEMIC WRITING AT JSC LEVEL 1

Academic Writing at JSC Level: Effectiveness of Paragraph Writing

Name: Farjana Akter Eity (171013006)

Supervisor’s Name: Sheikh Nahiyan
Department: DEH
Institution: University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh
Date: 28.09.21
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Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Background to the Study 2

Problem Statement 4

Objective of the Study 4

Research Questions 6

Literature Review 6

Key concepts, theories and studies 6

Fundamentals of Academic Writing 7

Academic Problems that the Students Face in Their Junior High School Level 9

Non-academic Difficulties that the Students Face in Their Junior High School Level 9

Methodology 11

Introduction 11

Data Collection Procedure 12

Conclusion 13

References 15
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Introduction

Background to the Study

Among all the free forms of communication, writing is one of the most important skills to

express thoughts and views. To be more specific, academic writing becomes an integral part from

the early stage of a student. In order to portray knowledge about any particular topic, this skill

plays a key role to earn him a good grade as well. Also, from an early phase of student life,

students need to write paragraphs to reflect their knowledge and thoughts on any given topic. To

demonstrate their ideas in an organized, structured, and meaningful way, it is very important for

them that they know how to write paragraphs properly. Thus, teaching students to write

paragraphs effectively has been a crucial part. In this regard, Alrouji (2020) states that it will help

students to enhance their skills in communicating their ideas, thoughts, and emotions clearly and

precisely (p. 72). When it comes to the context of the education system of Bangladesh which

consists of mainly three segments, students often face difficulties in terms of both academic and

non-academic issues (Hossain, 2016, p. 200). In a country where the first language is not English,

studies conducted by Akter (2019) shows that both the students and teachers feel the necessity of

having such a learning pattern that will be helpful for the students to build a solid foundation for

writing and speaking effectively in English (p. 42). Moreover, interestingly, Akter (2019)

mentions that the introduction of another board examination recently which is known as the

Junior School Certificate (JSC) examination, is moderately helping the students to improve their

writing skills (p. 34). However, it is important that enough effort should be paid at this study

level so that the students gain valuable skills before entering the next education level. This study

will investigate the current scenario of the effectiveness of academic writing at the early
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level of the education system. Moreover, it will provide a focus to determine the types of the

problems and difficulties that the students at their Junior level of education face. This study

might be interesting for the teachers and the policymakers at the national level as it will explore

from a different perspective what are the main problems that the students are facing. Also, this

study will focus on how much the students are learning in their own classrooms and what gaps

should be filled. Thus, this research will be a helpful one to know the output of the Junior level

education system and to determine where to put the required amount of emphasis.

Problem Statement

Firstly, in order to support the students to provide themselves with an educational curriculum

and learning environment that is helpful to develop necessary writing skills, it is very important

to know how much effort is being put on in that particular area. Secondly, it is also crucial to

know what are the outcomes and how the students are being benefited. Through this research, it

will be determined how the education system is playing its role, and what the learning

environment feels like for the students. Furthermore, to improve the existing condition of Junior

level education, it is also necessary to identify the problems that the students often face in their

day-to-day lives. This study will also shed light on that particular field to find out the gaps.

Lastly, this paper also aims to find out any possible solutions if any can be identified.

Objective of the Study

The main goal of this paper is to address the issues of the current education system that have

become ineffective in achieving the desired goals. In terms of academic writing, students are

often required to compose different sorts of paper. When they do not know the basics of

writing a paragraph, they fail to demonstrate their thoughts. If they are not provided with the
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tools that are required at the early stage, they will struggle in the long run. In the context of

Bangladesh, this is what is happening. This study will contribute to shed light on these areas

where the focus is needed. Also, in order to enable the students to overcome the difficulties

that they face, new policies might be required to be formulated. Thus, in short, the main

objectives of the study are -

1. To provide an overview of the fundamentals that are needed to compose a paragraph

effectively and their main purposes.

2. To identify the gaps in the national curriculum or the educational policy, and also,

figuring out to what extent, the teachers are able to help the students to teach the basics of

paragraph writing before they appear for the JSC examination.

3. To reveal the current classroom learning scenario that the students are going through.

4. To formulate the necessary solutions that are needed to wipe out the problems existing in

the current educational practice and enable students to produce their best
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Research Questions

The research questions that will be answered in this paper are:

1. How effective are existing materials according to JSC and tertiary level students?

2. What kind of supporting materials are suitable/ effective/ appropriate for paragraph

writing?

Literature Review

Key concepts, theories and studies

Education, being the most powerful driving force, was at the heart of each and every civilization

that the world has ever seen. It has drastically changed the scenario of the earth over the

centuries. Since the moment people have started to engage themselves in educating, the

development started. All of the developed nations have put greater emphasis on ensuring quality

education more than anything else to convert their population into assets. Khan et al. (2014)

mention that for a country that has gained its independence not more than 50 years back,

Bangladesh also intends to take the same route to guide herself at the peak of its development (p.

1). In this regard, Rahman et al. (2010) describe that being oppressed by the foreign powers for a

long period of time, it took a lot of years for the country to look into its education sector only

after repairing all the basic infrastructures for the people, however, since the post-2000s, the

country has been able to make wonderful progress in terms of the overall development of the

nation (p. 116). As a result, throughout the recent decades, the country has gone through several

major and in some cases unprecedented—changes in her education sector, sometimes which were

distinct from both the regional and global perspective. Prodhan (2016) reports that the National

Education Commissions have been formed seven times since its independence, and according to
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the current education policy which is also known as the National Education Policy 2010, the

entire education system works as a whole to achieve the optimum result (p. 13). According to

Hossain (2016), the entire education system is segmented into different stages, and he further

claims that students studying at class 8 in Bangladesh need to prepare and attend the Junior

School Certificate (JSC) exam in order to get promoted to the second level of secondary

education (p. 203). At this stage, a lot of practical and theoretical knowledge on different

academic areas is imparted to the students, at the same time, academic writing is one of the key

areas where the focus is given. Although academic writing skills such as paragraph writing

consists of so many fundamental elements to represent ideas properly in a paper, the students at

the junior high school level face a number of academic difficulties including memorization, lack

of proper practice in the classroom that hinders their writing abilities. Apart from these, the

students also face non-academic issues that overall play a role to demotivate them.

Fundamentals of Academic Writing

Language is a very useful tool to establish effective communication. Essentially, there are four

forms of language including reading, writing, speaking, and listening through which someone can

express their views. For the listeners or readers to understand what is conveyed to them, ideas

should be delivered in an organized way. Firstly, when it comes to writing, there are several

categories as well, and paragraphs are one of the categories. According to Kartawijaya (2018), a

paragraph can be further broken down into three different parts such as topic sentence, supporting

sentence, and concluding sentence (p. 152). While writing any paragraph, a student should

organize the sentences accordingly so that the reader can understand what the topic is, how the

ideas are organized, and also what the author feels about the topic. Furthermore, Coxhead (2012)

claims that one of the key concerns while writing is to put lexical resources in a proper way
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which often needs enough experience and knowledge (p. 143). For instance, if a student doesn’t

know enough word meanings, he may not be able to select proper words to describe his views,

and as a result, the readers may get wrong ideas. Also, for the students who don’t have English as

their first language, it may get difficult to express their views properly. Thus, the selection of

lexical resources is a very important aspect to express the ideas properly. Additionally,

organizing and presenting ideas in an ordered way is another crucial aspect. In this regard,

Kartawijaya (2018) describes that using an outline while writing will make sure that the ideas

remain orderly, and relevant topics are included (p. 155). This means that the outline which is

like a blueprint formed before writing any paper helps to arrange the ideas properly as it divides

the paper into different headings and subheadings. At the same time, it can be helpful in tracing

relevant and irrelevant topics since all the subjects are written clearly. Consequently, if any

irrelevant topic gets included, that can be identified easily and removed from the paper. In this

way, using an outline can be helpful to produce effective academic writings.

Academic Problems that the Students Face in Their Junior High School Level

In terms of the high school level education system of Bangladesh, the main focus remains on

shaping the students in such a way so that they can think and analyze about something critically,

and develop essential creative skills to create effective compositions. On the basis of that, the

entire secondary education system is formulated. However, the actual scenario doesn’t match

with the initial objective. As for the academic writing skills at the junior high school level,

according to Wali and Madani (2020), a student should be able to look for ideas on his own and

evaluate them. On the contrary, in reality, it is found that at this level, students are encouraged to
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memorize essays, paragraphs, and so on (p. 48). As a result, they do not get enough opportunity

to think on their own and showcase their own analytical and writing skills. Consequently, further,

it hampers their abilities to create effective composition. Apart from this, Akter (2019) shows that

a percent of the teachers feel the necessity of practicing speaking and listening in English in class

(p. 26). This means that if a student can get a good grip on his ability of speaking and listening,

he will not feel nervous while communicating in english. Moreover, it will help him to boost his

confidence when it comes to writing in English. Thus, it will be helpful for someone to get a

good grip on the English language overall.

Non-academic Difficulties that the Students Face in Their Junior High School

Level

To create a suitable learning environment and ensure proper mental development of the students,

implementing an effective education policy plays a significant role. In terms of Bangladesh, the

National Education Commission has taken several initiatives for the students. However, still a

large number of students studying at the secondary level are facing a number of difficulties.

While board exams are essential to evaluate the learnings of a student, the introduction of the

Junior School Certificate (JSC) exam has generated mixed reactions across the country. For

example, Rahman (2019) showcases that compelling the students to attend another board exam is

making both the parents nervous and anxious, and also, he further claims that students are getting

deprived of joy and not getting spare time (p. 160). This shows that students and guardians feel

the JSC exam as an extra pressure as they have to prepare for an additional board examination.

Moreover, since students remain busy preparing for the exam, they do not get extra free time to

involve themselves in any creative things or sports which is essential for both mental growth and
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physical growth. Thus, the extra pressure is hindering their development process. Besides, the

result of the board exams also plays a crucial role in how the students will be treated in the

following academic journey. In this regard, Biswas (2020) reveals that based on the board results,

the students are treated in both the academic arena and society (p. 129). For instance, if a student

can not secure A+ in JSC examination, he will not be treated accordingly as a student with A+ be

treated. Furthermore, he will be categorized as a weak student. This will not only make the

student mentally feel low but also demotivate him. As a result, he might get away from study and

will not work hard to bounce back in the next board exam. Thus, the result of the board exam can

bring negative impacts for the students if they are not handled carefully.

To conclude, certainly, composing academic papers includes so many basic skills including

organizing the ideas and resources properly, and also, to some extent, practice is highly required

which is missing in the context of junior high school level. On the contrary, at such a level, the

students have to go through other non-academic issues. Although this research talks about the

effectiveness of academic writing at the JSC level, specific problems related to that particular

topic could not be discussed here as there are not enough academic articles on this specific issue.

However, since, for effective writing, having the lexical resource, and the ability to organize

ideas are important, students need to be taught that from an early stage such as before they take

the JSC examination. Also, it should be made sure that there should be enough opportunities so

that the students can practice speaking and listening in English. Most importantly, to ease the

burdens for the students attending the JSC examination, the authority should redesign the

syllabus in such a way so that the students have enough spare time. Also, whatever the result of

an individual be, he or she should be encouraged and motivated to do well in the future. Finally,
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the students should be constantly guided to be better human beings. Thus, they will be able to

fulfill the desires of the nation to make it a better place

Methodology

Introduction

This research will investigate the areas related to academic writing at the JSC level in the context

of the Bangladesh education system. At first, it will break down the segments of the paragraph

writing that are required, and figure out the failings of the existing education system. Then, it will

try to highlight possible solutions that will be helpful to overcome the difficulties. In order to

conduct the research, I mainly will be focusing on the qualitative method. To evaluate the

learning outcomes and know how the students and teachers react to the current educational

system at Junior level, this is the best method of the study. The observations of this study will go

on for four weeks. With a view to knowing what and how much the students know about

paragraph writing, how they are learning in the classrooms, what the learning environment looks

like, and what are some difficulties that they face at the JSC education level, a number of

students from attending class 8 and teachers teaching at Junior high school level will be asked for

interviews. Since the study focuses on the writing ability of the students at JSC level, students

from class 8 are chosen. In the interview, they will be asked some open and close-ended

questions. Also, alongside the interviews, the students will need to attend a test where evaluation

is based on the skill of using vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, and overall capability to draft

academic papers. Also, some data from the previous studies will be collected in order to get the

information of the past years and to compare them with the data of this new study. Thus, the data

will be collected for the study.

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Data Collection Procedure

In order to collect the data, at first, 50 students will be asked for the interview. From 5

different divisions, the students will be picked for the interview to measure the learning

atmosphere of both the urban and village areas. In the interview, they will be asked questions

regarding different aspects. Once the interview is over, after a short break, they will have to

take a short test. In this test, they will be instructed to write a medium paragraph in English

about the topic they know best. As for the teachers, there will separate interview sessions

where they will reflect on their experiences of teaching in the classroom. Also, they will be

asked to reveal how they create the learning atmosphere in the classroom. As a part of the

interview, they might be given any problems related to their own teaching background, and

then be asked to show their own approach to solve it for the students. In this way, the

observations will be made. Lastly, once the interview and tests for the students are over, they

will be provided with necessary feedback and be asked about their experiences of facing the

interview.

Conclusion

After all the interviews and tests are done, I will analyze the data and try to draw a relevant

picture of observations. Based on a specific criteria, the data collected from the interview

sessions will be compared to each other in order to identify any particular problem. Thus, the

data analysis process will lead to finding out significant details about the main study.

Activities Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8

1. Developing the ✓
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consent form

2. Developing ✓

interview

questions

3. Selecting the ✓

participants

4. Set ✓

appointments

5. Taking signs in ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

the consent

form and

conducting

survey and

interview

6. Conducting ✓

Sessions

7. Preparing ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

progress

reports

8. Submit the

final research

report
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References

Akter, M. (2019). The JSC English language examination in Bangladesh: Is it actually

testing learners’ language skills [Doctoral dissertation, Brac University]. Retrieved from

http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/12421

Alrouji, O. O. (2020). The effectiveness of blended learning in enhancing Saudi

students' competence in paragraph writing. English Language Teaching, 13(9), 72-

82. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v13n9p72

Biswas, M. (2020). Board examinations in Bangladesh: Some social stereotypes

and their negative effects on students. Ideas, 6,123-134. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/download/65346386/Ideas_Journal_Vol_6.pdf#page=135

Coxhead, A. (2012). Academic vocabulary, writing and English for academic

purposes: Perspectives from second language learners. RELC Journal, 43(1), 137-145.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688212439323

Hossain, M. A. (2016). Education system and result of PSC, JSC, Ebtedayee, and

JDC examination: A case study of Bangladesh. Journal of Education and Training,

3(1), 199-215. Retrieved from

http://www.ease.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/educational_system_of_psc_jsc_ebt

adayee__jdc_exam_published_by_macrothink_institute_usa.pdf

Kartawijaya, S. (2018). Improving Students’ Writing Skill in Writing Paragraph through

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an Outline Technique. CURRICULA: JOURNAL OF TEACHING AND LEARNING,

3(3), 152-158. Retrieved from

http://ejournal.lldikti10.id/index.php/curricula/article/view/3429/0

Khan, M., Uddin, N., Rana, E. A., & Haque, M. (2014). Reforming the education

system in Bangladesh: Reckoning a knowledge-based society. World Journal of

Education, 4(4), 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/wje.v4n4p1

Prodhan, M. (2016). The educational system in Bangladesh and scope for improvement.

Journal of International Social Issues, 4(1), 11-23. Retrieved from shorturl.at/jsuyA

Rahman, M. (2019). Secondary school students attitude towards Junior School Certificate

(JSC) examination in Bangladesh. International Journal of Education, 11(2), 158-168.

Retrieved from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/208994/article_208994.pdf Rahman, M.,

Hamzah, M. I. M., Meerah, T., & Rahman, M. (2010). Historical development of

secondary education in Bangladesh: Colonial period to 21st century. International

education studies, 3(1), 114-125. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1066070 Wali,

O., & Madani, A. Q. (2020). The Importance of paragraph writing: An introduction.

International Journal of Latest Research in Humanities and Social Science (IJLRHSS),

3(7), 44-50. Retrieved from

http://www.ijlrhss.com/paper/volume-3-issue-7/7-HSS-704.pdf