WRITING DIFFICULTIES AND QUALITY OF ACADEMIC ESSAYS OF SENIOR HIGH

SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS

A Thesis Proposal
Presented to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
MINDORO STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLGY
Main Campus
Alcate, Victoria, Oriental Mindoro

In Partial fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Education
Major in ELT

by
Dorothea Lou C. Peliňo
 Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Learning to write is a complex process encompassing cognitive, physical, social,

and cultural dimensions (Daffern, Mackenzie & Hemmings, 2017). Learners of English
as a Second Language (ESL) consider writing a difficult task for it requires one to have
a good fine motor functions, visual-motor planning, attention, sequencing, thinking
memory and knowledge of grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, and the purpose
of writing is a multifaceted task.

In addition, good writing does not only require correct structure of English; it
should also respond to the interest of the target audience giving them enough details
and evidences. Thus, learners are faced with difficulties in writing that they try to avoid
the task for they find it a struggle.

According to the 2011 results of the National Assessment of Educational

Progress (NAEP), only 24% of twelfth-graders are at or above the proficient level in
writing and only 3% write at an advanced level. This should be given more attention for
writing problems could greatly hinder students’ success.

In the Philippine educational system, writing is of great importance since the

teaching and learning of ESL support the aim of enhancing the English competence of
Filipino learners. Authorities from anywhere in the country will surely agree that writing
is one of the highest forms of academic skills for it reflects a person’s level of language
competence, concept development, and abstraction.

Since the ability to write contributes to academic success, it is significant for the
Filipino students for the development of their communicative skills. The Department of
Education paved its way in meeting the needs of these learners to become globally
competitive in this Age of Information. This is the reason why they implemented the K to
12 Program as prescribed by Republic Act 10533 also known as the Enhanced Basic
Education Act.

The SHS curriculum of the K-12 Program requires learners to perform well
academically. They offered subjects for SHS that demand learners to acquire certain
standards in order to pass. One of these subjects is English for Academic and
Professional Purposes (EAPP).

EAPP serves as a foundation for higher writing courses like Practical Research.
It requires learners to write academically in different disciplines. Essay is one the
requirements of learners which allows them to present a thesis statement that they have
to support with details and evidences.

However, despite the academic essay writing opportunities for learners SHS
teachers continue to complain about the students’ poor quality essays as reflected in
their written outputs. Mosha (2014) in her study noted that teachers usually observe that
students’ compositions remain non-idiomatic, poorly organized, and grammatically
awkward. This clearly affirms that students do not follow the standards in writing
academic paper.

Such concerns are also true to SHS learners of various schools in Puerto Galera.
It has been observed by English teachers that students’ academic writing performance
remains to be deficient not just in public schools but also in private schools. This clearly
implies that students are having difficulties in writing that affect the quality of their
academic paper.

Thus, this encouraged the researcher to find out the SHS students’ difficulties in
writing academic essays and the quality of their written output for a possible intervention
program.
Statement of the Problem

This study will determine and analyze the difficulties of SHS students in writing
academic essays and the overall quality of their essays.
Specifically, it will seek answers to the following questions;

1. What are the difficulties of SHS students in writing academic essays in terms of:
1.1 content ideas;
1.2 organization;
1.3 vocabulary and word choice;
1.4 language use;
1.5 formality; and
1.6 objectivity
2. What is the overall quality of academic essays of students from public and
private high schools?
3. Is there a significant difference between the quality of academic essays of
students from public and private high schools?

Statement of Hypothesis
There is no significant difference between the quality of academic essays of
students in private and public schools.
Significance of the Study

The findings of this study would be beneficial to the teachers, students,

administrators and future researchers.

Teachers. They would be aware on the difficulties that affect the quality of
academic essays of senior high school students and therefore they would be able to
teach effectively and help their students in pursuing optimal writing proficiency by giving
intervention program.

Students. They would gain knowledge about the existence of difficulties that
may prevent them from reaching their fullest potential in writing and thus help them
become more proficient writer.

Administrators. The results of the study would provide school principals data on
writing difficulties and quality of academic essays of senior high school students in
private and public schools which will serve as their basis for the approval of appropriate
intervention programs initiated by the English teachers to improve students’ writing
skills.

Future Researchers. The findings of the study would serve them the necessary
reference material.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study will focus on the writing difficulties and quality of academic essays of
senior high school students from public and private schools.
It will be limited only to the selected respondents of Grade 11 or 12 senior high
school students with EAPP subjects from two public and two private schools in Puerto
Galera.
Conceptual Framework

IV
Difficulties of SHS students in writing academic essays in terms
of:
1.1 content ideas;
1.2 organization;
1.3 vocabulary and word choice;
1.4 language use;
1.5 formality; and
1.6 objectivity

DV DV

Quality of Students Quality of Students

Academic Essays in Academic Essays in Public
Private Schools Schools

Intervention Program

Figure I. Hypothesized differences between and among the variables of the study.

Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual framework of the study. Based on the figure,
the academic essays of the SHS students are the subjects of the study. The student’s
writing difficulties in writing academic essays will be determined and will be described
not to underestimate the students’ writing skills nor the teachers’ skills in teaching
academic writing to the students but to help both to work on areas or processes where
they are deficient. The difficulties of the students will be identified and classified based
on the different areas, which will include content and ideas, organization, vocabulary
and word choice, language use, formality and objectivity, and referencing. The study will
also give the overall quality of the academic essays of the Senior High School students
as far as the different areas of academic essay writing are concerned.
Theoretical Framework

This study will be anchored on the Cognitive Writing Theory of Flower and
Hayes.

Flower and Hayes (2009) hypothesize a cognitive process theory in writing,

which states that writing is a set of distinct processes. This explains that writers arrange
and organize ideas while composing. The processes of writing are hierarchical, which is
to say they not linear, and they possess an embedded organization in which any
process can be embedded in any other. To them, writing is goal-oriented. It is guided by
the writer’s own growing network of goals. Flower and Hayes focus on research
providing insight into the writing process, and are also committed to providing
pedagogical advancements addressing difficulties.

Moreover, Flower and Hayes believe that writing involves three major elements.
These elements include: a) task environment; b) writer’s long term memory, and c)
writing processes. Task environment considers all things outside the writer, starting with
the rhetorical problem and including the text itself. Writer’s long-term memory includes
knowledge of the topic, audience, and various writing plans. Writing processes, on the
other hand, specifically involves planning, translating, and reviewing.

Specifically, writing for Academic Purposes like Cognitive Writing Theory,

involves a process. Academic Writing is not just plain writing. Writing academic essay
engages a writer to undertake distinct processes where he or she has to observe
important characteristics.

An academic essay is a document that has a defined structure – an introduction,

a body and a conclusion. It is a specific writing genre that functions within a set of
norms, rules, and conventions. Moreover, Bryne identified a writing style of an academic
essay. There are a number of academic stylistic conventions to be followed when
writing. It uses Standard English avoiding American spellings. It makes use of the third
person unless otherwise directed. It avoids slang terms, clichés and colloquial
expressions. It avoids gender bias and sexist language. It does not make use of
emotive language. It is direct – use the active rather that the passive voice. Most
importantly, it must be concise.
 Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Method
This study will use the descriptive-qualitative research design as it focused on
identifying difficulties of Senior High School students in writing academic essays and
determining the overall quality of their academic essays.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study will be selected senior high school students from
public and private schools who are taking English for Academic and Professional
Purposes or those who had taken EAPP this school year 2019-2020.

Research Locale
This study will be conducted at the district of Puerto Galera in which it will target
two secondary private schools and two secondary public schools for comparisons of
results.

Research Instrumentation
The academic essays will be crafted by the Senior High School students of would
be chosen schools.
Their outputs will be considered in the study with the use of slovin’s formula
having 0.05 margin of error.
The researcher will seek permission to conduct the study from the Office of the
Superintendent of Oriental Mindoro. Afterwards, the researcher will identify the
secondary schools which offer EAPP in SHS. Then the researcher will sent letters to the
principals and heads of the schools to ask for permission to conduct the study. The
researcher will find time to discuss the study to teachers of EAPP from schools to be
chosen. Afterwards, the researcher will ask for sample academic essays of their
students as subjects for scrutiny. The researcher will randomly select written outputs
form the writing portfolios of the students for identification of their difficulties in writing
academic essays and for the determination of the overall quality of the essays.
The researcher will make sure that students know the criteria before doing the
writing task. The study will not consider the number of words in selecting the academic
essays for analysis.
The writings will be evaluated using a researcher-made checklist to identify the
students’ writing difficulties in reference to a set of criteria. Further, a Standardized
Analytic Rubric will be used to determine the overall quality of the students’ academic
essays.
The researcher herself will analyze and evaluate the selected academic essays.
Informal interview on students and teachers will be conducted to find out the exposure
of the students in academic writing.
This study will use a Standardized Analytic Rubric patterned from trusted
reference that would include different criteria for the measurement of students’ writing
difficulties and the overall quality of their academic essays.

Data Analysis
This research will use frequency and percentage distribution in identifying the
difficulties of Senior High School student in writing academic essays.
The frequency and percentage distribution and mean will be used to identify the
overall quality of the student’s academic essays. The mean scores with their descriptive
interpretations are as follows:

3.25- 4.00 – Very Good to Excellent

2.50 -3.24 – Good to Average
1.75 – 2.49 – Poor to Fair
1.00 – 1.74 – Very Poor

For the test of difference, the t-test of scores will be employed to determine the
difference of the quality of academic essays of students from public and private schools.
In the test of significance, the levels of significance will be set at 0.5 level of probability
and .01 level of probability.Difficulties with Writing
What Can Inhibit Writing Development?
Like all learning problems, difficulties in writing can be devastating to a child's education
and self-esteem. As children progress through school, they are increasingly expected to
express what they know about many different subjects through writing. If a child fails to
develop certain basic skills, he will be unable to write with the speed and fluency
required to excel as these demands increase. Indeed, for a child struggling with a
writing problem, the writing process itself interferes with learning. Students faced with
such difficult odds have trouble staying motivated.

Writing problems rarely occur in isolation, and improvements in writing go hand in hand
with the development of other non-writing-specific skills. Thus, a problem with the
development in one of these areas is likely to interfere with a child's progress as a
writer.

In his book Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders, Dr. Mel Levine identifies
the following neurodevelopmental problems and their potential impacts on writing.

Attention Problem
Children who struggle with attention may be inattentive and impulsive. An attention
problem may manifest itself as:
difficulty getting started on writing assignments
easy distractibility during writing tasks
mental fatigue or tiredness while writing
inconsistent legibility in writing
uneven writing tempo
many careless errors
poorly planned papers and reports
Spatial Ordering Problem
Children who struggle with spatial ordering have decreased awareness regarding the
spatial arrangement of letters, words, or sentences on a page. A spatial ordering
problem may manifest itself in a child's writing as:
poor use of lines on the paper
organizational problems
uneven spacing between letters
many misspelled words

Sequential Ordering Problem

Children who struggle with sequential ordering have difficulty putting or maintaining
letters, processes, or ideas in order. A sequential ordering problem may manifest itself
in a child's writing as:
poor letter formation
transposed letters and spelling omissions
poor narrative sequencing
lack of transitions

Memory Problem
Because so many writing processes need to be automatic, active working memory is
critical. Children may have difficulty recalling spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules,
accessing prior knowledge while writing, or organizing ideas. A memory problem may
manifest itself in a child's writing as:
poor vocabulary
many misspelled words
frequent capitalization, punctuation, and grammar errors

Language Problem
Good writing relies on a child's language abilities improving steadily over time. A
language problem may manifest itself in a child's writing as:
poor vocabulary
awkward phrasing and unconventional grammar
inappropriate use of colloquial language
difficulty with sentence structure and word order
trouble reading back what is written
difficulty with word sounds, spelling, and meanings

Higher-Order Cognition Problem

Children who have difficulty with higher-order cognition are often unable to use writing
to present a sound argument or convey sophisticated or abstract ideas. A higher-order
cognition problem might manifest itself in a child's:
trouble generating ideas or elaborating on them
difficulty developing and organizing ideas
lack of opinion or sense of audience
difficulty with writing tasks that require creativity and/or critical thinking
Try ItTry it yourself. Experience an essay assignment.

Graphomotor Problem
Children with graphomotor problems struggle to coordinate the small muscles of the
fingers in order to maneuver a pen or pencil, especially as assignment length increases.
A child with a graphomotor problem might:
write only very short passages
write exceptionally slowly and with great effort
use an awkward pencil grip
lack fluidity in cursive writing
find it hard to form letters
Try ItTry it yourself. Experience a graphomotor difficulty.

It's important to remember that many children and adolescents make mistakes or
experience problems as part of the process of becoming better writers. They may
reverse words, spell poorly, or have difficulty producing their thoughts in writing, or
exhibit other of the signs above. As in any academic area, teachers and parents must
watch carefully and try to understand an individual child's strengths and weaknesses to
ensure progress. One way to monitor progress is through collecting a portfolio of a
child's work over time. This may help in identifying a problem early on and developing
effective strategies.