Perspectives of Students in EFL Writing

Abstract

This research paper aims to describe students' difficulties in writing. It was conducted in a public higher education institute in Riobamba, Ecuador. To answer the research questions of this descriptive study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The survey, which was applied through Google forms to 52 students, had two sections. The first one was designed to collect demographics about participants while the second part was addressed to find out about students’ challenges in writing. In the second part, Likert scales and open questions served as means to obtain information; the results were uploaded in an Excel sheet. The findings showed that what prevents students from writing is the little knowledge of verb tenses, vocabulary words and spelling. Furthermore, not following a writing process grants students little ability to develop a text composition. Additionally, the findings show that students prefer collaborative writing due to its benefits to strengthen social practice, develop learning skills, and to work towards the same purpose. This study contributes to future research on English as a Foreign Language students’ difficulties to develop writing skills.