ACADEMIC WRITING DEFICIENCIES OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

STUDENTS: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS

Samiullah Sarwar, Nawaz Ahmad, Syed Irfan Hyder
Institute of Business Management (PAKISTAN)

Abstract
This study aimed at shedding light on the importance of expression and diction in the English
language in terms of writing academic text. Thirty-eight assignments and forty-four final reports
submitted by the different business management students enrolled in different semesters were
analysed to describe the causes, effects and solutions for the academic writing deficiencies of
business management students. It also analysed the different most frequently occurred grammatical
errors. Based on the findings, the study recommended a 5-step criterion to measure the adequacy of
academic writing of business students. Based on its general applicability to the business students, the
criterion is acceptable by any business school offers academic courses in English as a second
language. Different demographic variables should be used for the use of this criterion in practice to
explore the differences found based on gender, race, ethnicity, background etc. However, the most
important use of this 5-step criterion is to evaluate the academic writing deficiencies experienced by a
particular group of business students. Therefore, the scope of this study is applicable, but not limited
to the business schools professors, business school students, and business schools course
designers/developers.
Keywords: Academic Writing Deficiencies, Appropriate Content, Business Management Students,
Clear Syntax and Correct Grammar.

1 INTRODUCTION
Producing scholarly text by most of the Business Management students in the countries in which
English is used as second and/or foreign language can be stated as a difficult task, as it requires
enhanced written communicative skills and comprehensive linguistic background [2]. A large number
of Business Management students do not have the comprehensive linguistic background and thus
lack the enhanced written communicative skills. Business writings use scholarly text based on sound
and comprehensive academic principles. Nordquist points out that the term “Business Writing” is
defined as the organisational communication used in organisations for the purpose of both internal
and external communication [8]. Business writing refers to the professional communication that is also
known as professional writing and business communication. According to Nordquist, some of the
examples of business writing include proposals, reports, memorandums, and emails [8]. Smith argues
for the clear and succinct written material to be produced by the business people, as it is very
important to understand both the desired and potential impact on the readers in the organisation [12].
Smith further advise that business communication should be written using plain English yet effective
words for the convenience of readers to take required actions appropriately. Furthermore, the
communicators must take due care of the grammar, punctuation, sentence structuring, and other
mechanisms used to make writing more educated and precise [12].
Nathan figures out that the increased demand for the English language in organisations and
companies lead the business management institutions, all around the world, to pay more attention to
the enhanced written skills of business students [7]. A wide range of strategies has been utilised to
assist the business for the improvement of their academic writing skills. For example, Pittenger, Miller,
and Allison put “greater emphasis on topics such as topic sentence, effective sentence structure and
length, parallel structure, vocabulary, efficient use of words, and audience analysis” (p. 260) [10]. With
the incorporation of such strategies in classroom instruction, the performance of business students
regarding the written assignments can be improved noticeably.
Universities have been introducing various reforms, both short-term and long-term reforms, to promote
research activity by the induction of well-qualified academic staff as well as other means such as the
implementation of e-rater Engine. The e-rater Engine is online software integrated into the Turnitin (the
online plagiarism checker) that scores the written assignments submitted by students. Nevertheless,
published research appears limited to explore the solutions for the business students displaying

Proceedings of ICERI2017 Conference ISBN: 978-84-697-6957-7

16th-18th November 2017, Seville, Spain 9024
Academic Writing Deficiencies while submitting their assignments. From this perspective, the present
study aimed at developing an all-inclusive criterion that not only assists the business students to
explore causes but also affects and the solutions for their Academic Writing Deficiencies.

1.1 Importance of Academic Writing

Increased number of business students being taught in English language (EL) has emphasised the
requirement of developing EL competence as academic writing in particular and EL proficiency in
general. “Effective communication is the key to success. No matter how good your selling techniques
are, or how good your marketing proposal is, poor language skills inevitably destroy all your efforts”
(p.n.d) [5]. Therefore, success in business can be stated as a centre to the word “communication” that
usually takes place in the English language globally. From this perspective, it is quite logical for
business students to be competent and proficient in the English language, particularly the written one,
as their ultimate goal is to be a business professional.
Among various classification of errors such as audience awareness, appropriate content, content
logically categorized, content logically sequenced, and clear syntax and correct grammar, expression
(written style) and diction (use of vocabulary contextually) are the distinctive features of the present
study. The 5-steps criterion suggested by the present study will illustrate how to improve expression
using proper diction, writing with conciseness, and avoiding verbosity.

1.2 Recent Development in Writing

Writing can be stated as a fundamental skill of scholars and plays a significant role in academic, even
from the elementary grades [1]. From this perspective, assessors are increasingly using the
technological embedded automated writing assessments systems. ETS, integrated in Turnitin, is one
of the most commonly used Automated Essay Rater to assess the scholarly texts produced by the
business students [4]. Nevertheless, the scoring of ETS is more based on Clear Syntax and Correct
Grammar rather than the other aspects of the scholarly aspects such as audience awareness,
appropriate content, content logically categorized, and content logically sequenced.

2 METHODOLOGY
The present study applied the research methodology based on Error Analysis (EA) including the
following features of language:
− Grammar
− Mechanics
− Style
− Usage
− Spelling
The mentioned above of the EA aspects measured the use of appropriate context, clear syntax and
correct grammar.

2.1 Source and Types of Data

In order to describe the causes, effects and solutions for the academic writing deficiencies of business
management students, it was important to have in-depth assessment of the written sample of
business students. From this perspective, the present study used thirty-eight assignments and forty-
four final reports submitted by the different business management students enrolled in different
semesters.

2.2 Instrument
For Error Analysis, the automated scoring system, named as “ETS” available as built-in Turnitin for
submission, was used to access the scores of submitted assignments and projects of business
students written for academic purposes. As per the scoring criteria of ETS, each Error Analysis
contained further features, as mentioned following table:

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 Table 1. Sub-Features Used in the Study for Error Analysis

Feature Description
Grammar Grammar was measured based on the rates of errors related to subject-verb agreement, word
error, proofread error, garbled sentence, fragment error, run-on sentence, missing possessives,
verb error, and pronoun error
Mechanics Mechanics used in the written work were measured based on the rates of errors related to
hyphen error, proper noun error, duplicate word, missing comma, sentence capitalization, missing
punctuation, compound, missing apostrophe, fused, missing question mark
Style Style of the language used was measured based on the rates of errors related to the overly used
of passive voice sentences, sentences started with the coordinated conjunctions, very long and/or
very short sentences used, inappropriate use of phrases or words (tone)
Usage Usage of the written language was measured based on the rates of errors related to confused
words, missing or wrongly used articles, wrong form of words, preposition errors, faulty
comparison, use of nonstandard words, and wrong use of negation
Spelling Spelling errors

All of the characteristics of the mentioned above errors have been adopted from ETS e-rater used for
the electronic scoring of the submitted manuscripts written by students. According to Sajid and
Siddiqui, ETS e-rater is applied by educators as a tool to mark and annotate the written texts
submitted electronically by students [11]. Statistical Package (SPSS) was applied to draw the tables
displaying frequency of errors, percentage of errors, comparisons as well as other concerned
indicators.

3 RESULTS AND FINDINGS

In order to measure the most frequent errors in each feature as well as the sub-features, the following
tables describe the statistical description in line with each feature and its sub-features:

Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Grammatical Errors

N Range Sum Mean

S/V 82 19 384 4.68
Word Error 82 10 42 .51
proofread 82 14 259 3.16
Garbled 82 3 72 .88
Frag. 82 4 55 .67
Run-on 82 9 42 .51
Possessive 82 5 90 1.10
verb 82 9 172 2.10
pronoun 82 4 43 .52
Valid N (list wise) 82

Table 2 shows the most frequently occurred grammatical error is subject-verb agreement i.e. sum=384
with mean=4.68 and the maximum range of occurrence is 19. Nevertheless, the less frequently
occurred grammatical error is Word Error with sum=42, mean=.51 and the maximum range of
occurrence is 10.

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 Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Mechanical Errors

N Range Sum Mean

hyphen 82 14 117 1.43
proper Nouns 82 2 23 .28
Dup 82 17 86 1.05
Missing “,” 82 38 773 9.43
Sentence Cap 82 6 70 .85
Missing punctuation 82 1 4 .05
Compound 82 11 52 .63
Missing Apostrophe. 82 22 53 .65
Fused 82 1 4 .05
Missing “?” 82 1 8 .10
Valid N (list wise) 82

Table 3 shows the most frequently occurred mechanical error is Missing “,” i.e. sum=773 with
mean=9.43 and the maximum range of occurrence is 38. Nevertheless, the less frequently occurred
grammatical errors are Missing punctuation and Fused Words with sum=4, mean=.05 and the
maximum range of occurrence is 1.

Table 4. Descriptive Statistics of Style Errors

N Range Sum Mean

P/V 82 13 275 3.35
Coordination Conjunction 82 12 38 .46
Tone 82 2 6 .07
Short 82 9 20 .24
Long 82 2 4 .05
Valid N (list wise) 82

Table 4 shows the most frequently occurred language style error is Passive Voice i.e. sum=275 with
mean=3.35 and the maximum range of occurrence is 13. Nevertheless, the less frequently occurred
grammatical error is Long Sentences with sum=4, mean=.05 and the maximum range of occurrence is
2.

Table 5. Descriptive Statistics of Usage Errors

N Range Sum Mean

Prep. 82 22 446 5.44
Confused 82 13 207 2.52
Article Error 82 108 3685 44.94
Faulty Comparison 82 4 12 .15
Nonstandard 82 3 6 .07
Negation 82 13 36 .44
Wrong Form 82 7 62 .76
Wrong Article 82 12 210 2.56
Valid N (list wise) 82

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Table 5 shows the most frequently occurred language usage error is Article Error i.e. sum=3685 with
mean=44.94 and the maximum range of occurrence is 108. Nevertheless, the less frequently occurred
grammatical error is Nonstandard with sum=6, mean=.07 and the maximum range of occurrence is 3.

Table 6. Descriptive Statistics of Spelling Errors

N Range Sum Mean

Sp. 82 76 683 8.33
Valid N (list wise) 82

Table 6 shows the frequency of spelling error as sum=683 with mean=8.33 and the maximum range of
occurrence 76.

Table 7. Summary of all Features

N Sum Std Mean

Grammar 82 1159 9.46 14.13
Mechanics 82 1190 10.62 14.51
Style 82 343 4.99 4.18
Usage 82 4664 33.76 56.88
Spelling 82 683 11.99 8.33
Valid N (list wise) 82

Table 7 represents the summary of errors found in all features. From this perspective, spelling and
usage errors of business students were found as high frequently occurred error.
3.1 Causes
In the present study, the term “causes” refers to the factors lead the majority of the business students
to show their incompetency in the academic writing (production of scholarly text). Business schools
are more concerned with the production of empirical studies rather than teaching and developing the
fundamentals of English language. Considering this factor the following table 8 shows the mean
numbers and sum numbers along with their ranges of occurrence for the top 5 most frequent errors
made by the business students.

Table 8. Top 5 Most Frequent Errors Made By Business Students

No. Features Range Features Sum Features Mean

1 Article Error 108 Article Error 3685 Article Error 44.94
2 Missing “,” 38 Missing “,” 773 Missing “,” 9.43
3 Preposition 22 Preposition 446 Preposition 5.44
4 Missing Apostrophe 22 S/V 384 S/V 4.68
5 S/V 19 P/V 275 P/V 3.35

All of the mentioned errors including Article Error, Missing “,”, Preposition, S/V, and P/V are taught in
the elementary grades in almost every country where English is used as second language [9], [6], [3].

3.2 Impacts
In the present study, impacts are the negative effects on the educational performance of business
students that lead them to show the same performance at their workplaces.

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 4 RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings as well as the reviewed literature, the study recommended a 5-step criterion to
measure the adequacy of academic writing of business students. Based on its general applicability to
the business students, the criterion is acceptable by any business school offers academic courses in
English as a second language. From this perspective, the 5-Steps Criterion includes the following
steps:
− Audience Awareness
− Appropriate Content
− Content logically Categorized
− Content logically Sequenced
− Clear Syntax and Correct Grammar
Different demographic variables should be used for the use of this criterion in practice to explore the
differences found based on gender, race, ethnicity, background etc. However, the most important use
of this 5-step criterion is to evaluate the academic writing deficiencies experienced by a particular
group of business students. Therefore, the scope of this study is applicable, but not limited to the
business schools professors, business school students, and business schools course
designers/developers.

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[4] Futagi, Y., Deane, P., Chodorow, M., & Tetreault, J. (2008). A computational approach to
detecting collocation errors in the writing of non-native speakers of English. Computer Assisted
Language Learning, 21(4), 353-367.
[5] ITS Corporate Training. (2017). The Importance of Business English in Hong
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https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-business-writing-1689188.
[9] Osmond, A. (2015). Academic writing and grammar for students. Sage.
[10] Pittenger, K. K., Miller, M. C., & Allison, J. (2006). Can we succeed in teaching business
students to write effectively?. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(3), 257-263.
[11] Sajid, M., & Siddiqui, J. A. (2015). Lack of Academic Writing Skills in English Language at
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