Freshmen's Difficulties with IELTS Writing Task 2
Main Article Content
Abstract
IELTS Writing Task 2 is crucial for assessing students' academic writing skills, focusing on their ability to construct and communicate arguments. The study was conducted to examine the difficulties faced by first-year engineering students in Vietnam in writing IELTS Task 2, based on four criteria: Task Response, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy. An online survey of 120 students revealed significant struggles with Lexical Resource and Coherence & Cohesion, with Lexical Resource being the most challenging. Students often rely on common vocabulary and incorrect word forms. For Coherence & Cohesion, the incorrect use and underuse of linking words are major issues. While Task Response and Grammatical Range & Accuracy are less problematic, students still face challenges with background knowledge, idea development, sentence structure, articles, and word order. Higher TOEIC scores correlate with fewer difficulties in Task 2, suggesting a link between language proficiency and writing performance. The study is believed to contribute to a clearer understanding of the specific difficulties that Vietnamese EFL learners face when writing IELTS Task 2 and enable IELTS instructors at the university to adapt their teaching methods to better support students in overcoming these challenges.
Keywords:
Essay writing, writing assessment, IELTS Writing Task 2, engineering students, scoring criteria.
References
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[2] H. H. Uysal, A critical review of the IELTS writing test. ELT Journal, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 314-320, 2009, https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccp026
[3] P. Cullen, The key to IELTS success, 2017, https://ieltsweekly.com/product/ielts-teacher-the-key-to-ielts-success/
[4] O. Tikupasang, S. Hardiyanti and Arman, EFL student's difficulties toward IELTS writing task 2. AMCA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION AND BEHAVIORAL CHANGE, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 28-31, 2022, https://doi.org/10.51773/ajeb.v2i1.141
[5] R. Panahi and M. Mohammaditabar, The Strengths and Weaknesses of Iranian IELTS Candidates in Academic Writing Task 2. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 957-967, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0505.10
[6] W. T. Petty and J. M. Jensen, Developing children’s language. Boston: Allyn and Bocon, 1980.
[7] [R. Murray and S. Moore, The Handbook of Academic Writing – A Fresh Approach. McGraw-Hill, 2006.
[8] H.D. Brown, Teaching by principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Longman, 2001.
[9] R. Gower, D. Phillips and S. Walters, Teaching Practice, A Handbook for Teachers in Training, Oxford: Macmillan, 2008.
[10] E. Van Geyte, Writing: Learn to write better academic essays, 1st ed, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2013.
[11] A. Oshima and A. Hogue, Writing academic English, 4th ed, London: Pearson Longman, 2006.
[12] C. Jimenez, D. Mira and G. Rodriguez, An Analaysis of the Writing Skill Difficulties of the English Composition I Students at the Foreign Language Department of the University of Rl Salvador. Psychology, 2013.
[13] A. Annab, Investigating EFL Students' writing difficulties and common errors in writing: a case study of 3rd year LMD of English at the university of Bejaia, Doctoral dissertation, 2016.
[14] M. J. Curry and A. Hewings, Approaches to teaching writing, pp. 19-45, Teaching academic writing, Routledge, 2005.
[15] H. L. Jacobs, D.R. Wormuth, S.A. Zinkgraf and V. F. Hearfiel, Testing ESL Composition: A Practical Approach, Massachuset: Newbury House, 1981.
[16] IELTS, The IELTS Handbook. Cambridge: UCLES, The British Council, IDP Australia, 2007.
[17] H. T. Nguyen and A. K. Le, Second -Year English Majored Students’ Perception of Possible Problems in Writing Essays. International Journal of Social Science And Human Research, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 3284-3291, 2021.
[18] L. Bolsunovskaya and I. Rymanova, Academic Writing: Difficulties and Possible Solutions for Engineering Students, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 77-85. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia, 2020, https://doi.org/10.31992/0869-3617-2020-29-10-77-85
[19] S. M. Alavi, M. Nemati and J. Dorri Kafrani, Error gravity analysis of IELTS students’ academic writing task 2, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 141-154, International Journal of Language Studies, 2020.
[20] F. Liu and Z. Deng. Production-oriented approach to IELTS writing task 2. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 1200-1211, 2019.
[21] N. Nartiningrum, P. Rayuningtya and D. Fatima, Error analysis of undergraduate students’ writing performances: IELTS-based activities. Journal of Educational Management and Instruction (JEMIN), vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 19-27, 2021.
[22] R. R. Wicaksono, N, Nurhamdah, K, Kalsum, Analysis of IAIN PAREPARE students’ academic writing levels on IELTS preparation class. Al-Irsyad Journal of Education Science, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 132-146, 2023.
[23] A. Farid and M. Saifuddin, Designing IELTS writing material for learners with low level of English proficiency based on needs analysis, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 49-61, Journal of Research in Foreign Language Teaching, 2018.
[24] M. T. Bagheri and M. J. Riasati, EFL Graduate Students’ IELTS Writing Problems and Students’ and Teachers’ Beliefs and Suggestions Regarding Writing Skill Improvement, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 198-209, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.0701.23
[25] S. Ahmed and U. I. Mohammed. Tense as a Grammatical Cohesive Device in the Performance //8Iraqi EFL University Students in the Area of Narrative Texts, 2015.
[26] B. S. Ahmed and U. I. Mohammed. Tense as a Grammatical Cohesive Device in the Performance of Iraqi EFL University Students in the Area of Narrative Texts, 2015.
[27] T. B. T. Nguyen, T. T. B. Nguyen and N. Q. Phan, Vietnamese IELTS learners’ perceptions of IELTS Writing Task 2 and their performance-based lexical resource. IELTS Research Reports Online Series 2022/5. British Council, Cambridge Assessment English and IDP: IELTS Australia, 2022, https://www.ielts.org/teaching-and-research/research-reports
[28] F. Mustafa, M. Kirana and S. Bahri, Errors in EFL writing by junior high students in Indonesia. International Jourmmnal of Research Studies in Language Learning, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 38-52, 2017.
[29] A. Arjan, N. H. Abdullah and N. Roslim, A Corpus-Based Study on English Prepositions of Place, in and on, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 167-174, English Language Teaching, 2013http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n12p167
[30] T.T. Tran and D. M. D. Truong, The Influence of Single-Clause Sentences on IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Score. International Journal of TESOL & Education, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 23-29, 2021, https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte2202012
[31] L. Jackson, Error Analysis: The Main Writing Errors of EFL Learners Task 2 IELTS Academic Essay, 2020, 10.22492/issn.2186-229X.2020.15
[32] D. Muijs, Doing quantitative research in Education. SAGE, 2004.
[33] D. Tamul, et al, Moral Foundations’ methodological foundations: a systematic analysis of reliability in research using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire. Preprint, 2020.
[34] C. Wang, et al, Statistical methods and computing for big data. Statistics and Its Interface, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 399-414, 2016, https://doi.org/10.4310/sii.2016.v9.n4.a1
[35] T. T. D. Le, Grammatical Error Analysis of EFL Learners’ English Writing Samples: The Case of Vietnamese Pre-intermediate Students. International Journal of TESOL & Education, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 1-14, 2023, https://doi.org/10.54855/ijte.2334
[36] A. Belkhir and R. Benyelles, Identifying EFL Learners Essay Writing Difficulties and Sources: A Move toward Solution the Case of Second Year EFL Learners at Tlemcen University, vol. 16, pp. 80-88. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 2017.
[37] A. Ariyanti and R, Firtriana, ELF Students' Difficulties and Needs in Essay Writing, vol. 158, no. 28, pp. 111-121, Atlantis Press, 2017.
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