Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World

Realities and Challenges

Abdelhamid Ahmed, Hassan Abouabdelkader, Abdelhamid Ahmed, Hassan Abouabdelkader

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781137467256
• eBook ISBN: 9781137467263
• Topic: Éducation
• Subtopic: Éducation comparative

Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World addresses a range of issues related to researching and teaching EFL writing in different countries in the Arab World including Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. Both theoretically and practically grounded, chapters  within discuss the different contexts in which EFL writing is taught, from primary school to university. The book sheds light on how EFL writing is learned and taught at each educational stage, exposing the different challenges encountered in the teaching and learning. The focus on EFL writing in the Arab World makes this a unique and long overdue contribution to the field of research around EFL writing and will be an invaluable resource for researchers, curriculum designers and students.

© The Author(s) 2016

Abdelhamid Ahmed and Hassan Abouabdelkader (eds.)Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World10.1057/978-1-137-46726-3_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Abdelhamid Ahmed¹  and Hassan Abouabdelkader²

(1)

Core Curriculum Program (CCP), Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

(2)

École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers, Moulay Ismail University, Meknès, Morocco

 

End Abstract

This co-authored book is a compilation of eight research-based chapters written by ten English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing specialists, including the editors, working at university level in seven Arab countries. It presents different facets of the state of EFL writing in a number of Arab countries. The samples described in the book are amply representative of the Arab world, as many of them are part of this regional agglomeration and share several cultural and linguistic features. The book’s authors range in their academic ranks from a full professor in EFL writing to a doctoral candidate at a prestigious university.

The chapters of this book are critical attempts to examine different EFL writing practices, realities, problems and challenges in this part of the world, and the contributors’ views are based on evidence and supported by their respective teaching experience. They minutely present different research-based perspectives on EFL writing of Arab students from different proficiency levels, at different educational stages, and on a wide range of issues. The value of the chapters included in this volume lies in the unity within their diversity, as most of the people involved in the studies have the same language, the same religion, and therefore several common beliefs and attitudes toward other cultures.

Each of the studies included in this volume portrays the reality of students’ writing abilities and handicaps in the Arab country under investigation. What makes this collection of studies unique is its originality, objectivity, and sense of responsibility. The chapter authors tackle the issue of EFL writing based on their research findings. It is hoped that the issues raised in the book will give the reader a clear view of the prevailing concerns and trends of current research in the field of EFL instruction.

The order of the content of the volume is organized by country. It is divided into eight chapters along with an introduction and a conclusion, addressing significant issues about EFL writing instruction and practices in the Arab world. All the contributions draw from a broad body of research in EFL writing to elucidate the different issues investigated and provide some practical implications for teaching EFL writing in the Arab world context.

What is unique about this collection of research studies is that it is unconventional in its unity of purpose, as all the studies reported address important aspects of EFL writing instruction in seven Arab countries: namely Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In addition, this volume tackles EFL writing from different perspectives, using different research methodologies and reaching original findings about EFL writing instruction and learning in the Arab world. Six research studies shed light on important EFL writing issues at the university level and two research studies highlight important issues in pre-university EFL writing practices.

In Egypt, the author explores the focuses of EFL writing instruction at a public university and highlights how writing teachers and their students perceive current teaching practices. The findings of the study reveal three main focuses of EFL writing instruction: mechanics (i.e., grammar and punctuation); content (i.e., topics of writing, idioms, and model paragraphs); and structure (i.e., essay structure, essay types, and coherence). Teachers and students voice their concerns in the interviews about the different teaching practices used and observed in class in terms of planning, teaching, feedback, and assessment.

In the chapter on Morocco, the authors extensively review EFL writing at secondary schools. They trace the major milestones which describe the various trends adopted in the teaching of writing throughout the last four decades at the secondary school level. In order to isolate clearly the various facets of EFL writing learning and teaching, the authors analyze, evaluate, and elaborate upon the features and problems at stake.

In the case of Oman, the chapter author explores the effects of Shared Writing practice in developing children’s writing skills in relation to fluency, accuracy, independence, and confidence levels when writing in English. The findings reveal that Shared Writing practice has helped develop children’s speed in writing, their spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation levels, as well as their handwriting. The findings of this study also show some improvement in children’s confidence at having a go at writing and editing their own work, as well as some improvement in their ability to write independently.

In the Palestinian context, the author examines Palestinian EFL university students’ essay writing problems as perceived by the students themselves and their instructors. Results of the writing test, interviews, and the questionnaire show that students’ English essay writing problems included lack of linguistic knowledge, word-for-word translation, cohesion errors, and lack of academic style.

The Tunisia chapter is an investigation of the linguistic and discursive characteristics of essays written in English by 45 advanced Tunisian EFL learners and the effects of the writing task (argumentative vs expository) on their essay features. The results of analyzing 87 essays indicate that the texts manifested global-level grammatical problems; there were trade-offs between fluency, accuracy, and complexity; the participants produced assertive, non-threatening texts; the texts manifested features of the spoken register; and the two tasks did not affect the textual features of the participants’ essays significantly.

The chapters dealing with writing in the United Arab Emirates are very informative as well. The two studies reported in this volume address two different aspects of EFL academic writing at the university level. The first one deals with the effect of Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) on improving students’ academic essays, using a quasi-experimental research design with two groups receiving grammatically- and orthographically-oriented WCF and two groups of the same level not receiving such treatment. The results show that more advanced, better motivated students improved their grammatical accuracy of writing, and lower level, less motivated students failed to improve their writing. Very useful implications have been drawn on the issue under investigation.

The second chapter in the Emirati context tackles EFL academic writing from a critical perspective. Based on Using Critical Action Research, the authors of the current study an agenda in an EFL academic writing context in which students’ critical thinking skills were explored. This was followed by an intervention in the form of an academic writing assignment. The findings reveal that students’ critical thinking was developed as they questioned their social, cultural, or political experiences. The study highlights the significance of allowing students to choose their own situation-relevant essay topics to help them acquire a sense of social justice and agency.

Finally, the chapter on Yemen is an exploration of the current context of teaching and learning writing skills in the EFL programme. The findings of this enquiry show that the participants underscored their dissatisfaction with progress rates in writing and highlights how the EFL programme did not meet students’ developmental needs in various domains. The participants associated these shortcomings with the lack of a coherent programme, admissions policies, the quality of teaching, facilities, and deficiencies in materials development. The author concludes by underscoring the need for a systemic review of the EFL programme goals, instructional processes and outcomes in Yemen.

Thanks to the efforts made by all the authors, this book, with its journey through the different Arab countries, is surely an opportunity for researchers and educators to get an overview of EFL writing in different parts of the Arab world. These chapters are not based on speculation, but rather on a mix of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method research designs, the purpose of which is to provide a sound picture of the state of EFL writing in this region and a set of implications for those involved in the teaching profession, namely researchers, teachers, and practitioners in these countries.

© The Author(s) 2016

Abdelhamid Ahmed and Hassan Abouabdelkader (eds.)Teaching EFL Writing in the 21st Century Arab World10.1057/978-1-137-46726-3_2

Begin Abstract

2. EFL Writing Instruction in an Egyptian University Classroom: An Emic View

Abdelhamid Ahmed¹

(1)

Core Curriculum Program (CCP), Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

End Abstract

2.1 Introduction & Background

Many teachers of English indicate that acquiring writing skills seems to be more demanding than acquiring the other three language skills (Zheng, 1999). Moreover, producing a coherent piece of writing is an enormous challenge, especially in one’s second language (Nunan, 1999). In addition, the rhetorical conventions of English texts—the structure, style, and organization—often differ from those in other languages (Leki, 1991), as they require great effort to recognize and manage the differences. This difference in rhetorical conventions justifies some of the challenges that EFL/ESL students encounter in learning how to write in English. This is particularly true of the rhetorical conventions of the Arabic language.

Writing in English as Foreign Language (EFL) is important and multidimensional. Students’ writing in the EFL classroom context needs to show their awareness of the communicative goals, the reader, and the writing context. Despite numerous approaches to the teaching of writing having evolved from different teaching methods—i.e., the product approach (e.g., Silva, 1990; Matsuda, 1999; Kroll, 2001); the process approach (e.g., Matsuda, 2003); the genre process approach (e.g., Badger & White, 2000); and the post-process approach (e.g., Atkinson, 2003; Matsuda, 2003)—tackling EFL writing is still one of the most challenging areas for teachers and students. Egyptian student teachers of English at a pioneering faculty of education are no exception, as they have to pass many academic courses in English. Nevertheless, these students still experience many difficulties in their essay writing (Ahmed, 2010; Ahmed, 2011).

A growing challenge in education is to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for student teachers of English to write essays effectively in English. Mastering essay writing skills will help student teachers in their future careers as teachers. This is underlined by Grabe and Kaplan (1996, pp. 24–25), who highlighted that “students in EFL contexts will need English writing skills ranging from simple paragraph writing and summary skills to the ability to write essays and professional articles.” In addition, students need to write formal letters, research reports, lesson plans, and translations of Arabic texts (Al-Hazmi & Scholfield, 2007). Therefore, students’ mastery of these writing skills will help them pass on this acquired essay writing knowledge and skills to their future students when they graduate as English language teachers.

Essay writing constitutes a problem for many ESL/EFL students worldwide. For example, Bacha (2002) claims that Arabic writers of English are known to face problems in developing their writing skills in their university English composition courses. Moreover, Iranian students have encountered problems in their report writing (Shokrpour & Fallahzadeh, 2007). In addition, Japanese university students encountered overt and covert writing problems (Hanaoka & Izumi, 2012).

Many students at a pioneering faculty of education in Egypt find EFL writing challenging (Ahmed, 2011). To the best of my knowledge, no previous exploratory study within the Egyptian context has been conducted to investigate the focuses of EFL writing instruction and the perceptions of teachers and their students about the current teaching practices of writing. The present study (part of a PhD thesis) is an attempt to contribute to an expanded understanding of EFL writing instruction at the university level to better inform EFL writing pedagogies and possibly yield better EFL student writers. This study will hopefully help EFL writing specialists, curriculum planners, and developers be aware of these contextual factors that shape EFL writing instruction in Egypt at the university level.

In many Arab countries, including Egypt, the education systems emphasize writing for taking tests. For many students, the only reason to practise writing is to pass examinations or get a good grade in the course. This focus on writing to pass examinations reduces writing from the students’ viewpoints to developing a product and receiving a grade from the teacher. In this sense, writing becomes decontextualized and artificial, giving students no real sense of purpose or perspective of a target audience. In this respect, some studies in the Arab world (Khalil, 1985; Sa’adeddin, 1989; El-Hibir & Al-Taha, 1992) and a few Egyptian studies (El-Banna, 1987; Dadour, 1998; El-Koumy, 1999; Hassan, 2001; Ibrahim, 2002; Ahmed, 2004; Mekheimer, 2005; El-Samaty, 2007; Al-Zayat, 2012) were conducted offering remedial programmes to overcome writing problems and develop some students’ writing skills. For example, Ahmed (2004) designed a programme to measure the effect of the whole language approach on developing the composition writing skills of first-year experimental secondary students. Research findings proved that a programme based on the whole language approach is effective in developing the specified EFL writing skills. In addition, Mekheimer (2005) measured the effects of Internet-based instruction, using Web questing and e-mail to develop essay writing skills in prospective teachers at the Faculty of Education at Beni Suef. Findings revealed that Internet-based instruction, using Web questing and e-mail were effective in developing EFL essay writing skills of prospective teachers of English in Egypt.

Reviewing the literature, a n...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Frontmatter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. EFL Writing Instruction in an Egyptian University Classroom: An Emic View
• 3. The Teaching of EFL Writing in Morocco: Realities and Challenges
• 4. Shared Writing in Omani Young Learner Classrooms
• 5. Palestinian University Students’ Problems with EFL Essay Writing in an Instructional Setting
• 6. Examining the Characteristics of Tunisian Advanced EFL Learners’ Essays
• 7. Academic Writing in the UAE: Transforming Critical Thought in the EFL Classroom
• 8. Do Two Wrongs Make a Write(r)? Some Effects and Non-effects of WCF on Arabic L1 Students’ English Academic Writing
• 9. Teaching and Learning EFL Writing at Yemeni Universities: A Review of Current Practices
• 10. Conclusion
• Backmatter