English Writing Challenges of First-Year Students: A Case Study of a University in the Eastern Cape

Writing is a productive skill, which means that the emphasis is on the output. The fact that most students in South Africa learn English as a second language (L2) presents challenges concerning English writing proficiency, because writing is different from speaking since it utilises higher-order cognitive skills. The study analysed 184 students’ scripts showing different forms of students’ writing, such as, reports, creative writing assignments, language tests, business correspondence, research papers, answering open-ended questions on extracts and the like. A qualitative method was used to explore and describe challenges encountered by students in English writing by collecting students’ scripts to identify problem areas where interventions needed to be applied. Purposive sampling was employed for the study as the focus was specifically on first-year University students registered for different modules, but all taking Communication (English), which is a compulsory module. Various theories such as the writing process, error analysis and proficiency theory were explored in order to understand the processes that underpin academic writing. The hypothesis is that mother-tongue linguistic features will pose challenges as they are embedded in the students’ cognitive language skills, and they will therefore interfere in English writing since the students’ mother tongue and English have different linguistic rules. Possible solutions for the many and varied challenges are the application of different processes that include different pedagogical methodologies. Error analysis played a crucial role in the study since it has a bearing on students who speak English as a second language because it investigates errors which are systematic and which result from language interference (this can manifest in intralingual and/or interlingual interference). In order to address these challenges, facilitators must employ pedagogical strategies that will encompass different teaching methods and different assessment methods that will link language exercises to other forms of writing such that there is a correlation between different aspects of language skills. Keywords: English writing challenges, language interference, error analysis, teaching methods, assessment methods, language skills