Abstract:
Although paragraph writing is a vital part of communication through words, it is very difficult to
master. Hence, the ultimate aim of this study was to “Assess Paragraph Writing Difficulties on
EFL students”. The study was conducted in Tatek Lessira Secondary and Preparatory School. In
order to address the difficulties under investigation, descriptive research design which contains
the data collected using different tools was analyzed qualitatively. In order to achieve the
objectives, the study employed three data gathering tools: document analysis, open-ended and
close-ended questionnaire for students’ and semi-structural interview for the three English
teachers were used. Document analysis was used to identify features of students’ paragraph
writing errors. Open- ended and close- ended questionnaire items were used to find out students’
paragraph writing difficulties and identify causes that affect the quality of paragraph written by
students. Furthermore, the semi-structural interview was employed to identify what the English
language teachers were doing while they teach paragraph writing. The researcher identified the
common difficulties students have in paragraph writing. The first problem is related to the three
parts of paragraph in which students have a difficulty of identifying parts of paragraph and
cannot write according to it. The other problem is related to students’ inability to write
paragraphs that can fulfill the quality of effective paragraphs such as organization, unity,
coherence, development and mechanics. Moreover, spelling, grammar, punctuation and
capitalization are the other most difficulties for students encounter. In addition, the causes that
affect students’ paragraph writing were divided into two sub-topics. These are students’ related
factors and teacher related factors. Therefore, in order to eliminate these students’ paragraph
writing difficulties, English language teachers should use active learning method and give the
students difference writing tasks. Further, to improve their paragraph writing skills, the students
should actively involve and practice with the language. Recommendations based on the study
were made to enable curriculum developers, policy makers and teachers to come up with
strategies to address the difficulties students face in the learning of L2 paragraph writing skills.
