WRITING DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY HUMSS

STUDENTS IN NAZARETH HIGH SCHOOL

INCORPORATED

A Qualitative Research Presented to the Faculty

Department of Nazareth High School Inc.,

Nazareno Street, Poblacion Uno,

Bansalan Davao Del Sur

In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements in

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

JILLIAN CHARLES VILLANUEVA

KARYLLE JOY RAMIREZ
EUAN DENCIL P. ANDO
CYRUS GIL ANTEGRA
CINDY B VIRTUDEZ
 APRIL 2023
CHAPTER I
Introduction

This chapter contains the Background of the study, statement of the problem,

Significance of the study and the Scope and Delimination

Writing is a formal writing style that university students, professors, and other

writers use to researchers. It differs from commonplace writing in that it contains

particular elements, a particular structure, use more academic vocabulary and

complicated phrases, and develops the argument logically while taking the audience

into account. Also, the language used in academic writing should be exact and clear to

prevent any prejudice or ambiguity and to ensure that the reader can easily understand

the content. Writing is a medium of communication in which one's thoughts and ideas

are expressed. It is one of the vital skills students should learn and develop. Writing

follows a very complex process which makes it a difficult skill to be learned. Though

writing has been taught since elementary years, it is still one of the macro-skills that

students found difficulty dealing with. Difficulties include grammar, vocabulary,

organization of thoughts, spelling, and capitalization. In order, therefore, to improve

the writing skills of the students, a writing remediation program could be the solution.

Background of the study

One of the primary linguistic abilities is writing. Communication is crucial for

expressing ones thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes. People can share their thoughts and

feelings, as well as persuade and convince others, through writing. University

students, lecturers, and researchers adopt the formal writing style known as academic

writing. It differs from common place writing in that it contains particular elements, a
particular structure, use more academic vocabulary and complicated phrases, and

develops the argument logically while taking the audience into account.

In the study of Santos et.al. (2018), it was revealed that students struggled in

choosing topics, crafting a good beginning paragraph, and paragraph development

when given a writing activity.

This paper aims to analyze the writing difficulties of Humss students in

Nazareth high school when given a writing activity based on a learning competency.

Further, this study also seeks to explore how grade eleven Humss students

develop a topic when given a writing task.

Also, through this research, the researcher believed that the results would

highly

contribute to enhancing effective writing among Humss students.

A study by Ankawi (2015), which discussed Saudi international students’

experience in New Zealand’s higher education institutions, indicated students

experienced difficulties with understanding the academic writing conventions because

they lacked paraphrasing and summarizing skills, sufficient academic writing

vocabulary, and critical thinking in their English.

communication.

Manjet (2013, 2015, 2016) also cited that such setbacks have a negative

impact on the international students’ academic success. Manjet’s (2015) study

identified difficulties experienced by international graduate students from the Middle

Eastern, African, East Asian, and Southeast Asian countries in dissertation writing.
 Aims to analyze the writing difficulties of Humss students in Philippine

Politics and Governance when given a writing activity based on a learning

competency. Further, the study also seeks to explore how grade eleven Humss

students develop a topic when given a writing task.

Also, through the researcher believed that the results would highly contribute

to enhancing effective writing among Humss students, especially in Philippine

Politics and Governance subject in Senior High School.

Statement of the problem

Many students find it difficult to master academic writing, which prevents

them from passing the class. It has been observed that some of these students

experience various difficulties when asked to produce a coherent piece of writing.

These challenges may be brought on by a variety of elements, including inefficient

teaching strategies, a lack of time committed to teaching writing skills, and possibly a

lack of resources.

1. What are the strategies/techniques of senior high school humss students in

developing

a topic when given a writing task?

2. What are the grammatical errors committed by the respondents?

3. What are the factors that many of the students have difficulties in writing ?

Significance of the study

This study would be beneficial to the following:

Students. As direct beneficiary of the study, It is anticipated that the results of this

study will be extremely helpful to Humss students in addressing any writing

challenges they may face. The outcomes can assist pupils in realizing the difficulties

So that they can handle any challenges they may run into as effectively as possible

Teachers. This study will provide baseline data that will guide the teachers in

determining the skills of the students in writing competence.

Future Researchers. This study would help the researcher to be knowledgeable for

them to be a better analyst and it can be help as a future reference for more studies in

the future.

Scope and Delemination

This study focused only on the Writing difficulties encountered by humanities

and social sciences students. The study will be conducted this SY: 2022-2023 of the

senior high school Humss students in Nazareth high school of Bansalan incorporated.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This section presents the gather information from various source such as

books, internet and journals that review writing difficulties and its indicators (Writing

difficulties, Content and grammar).

McMahan et al. (2016) claimed the purposes of writing are to express feeling,

entertaining, informing, and persuading readers. Indeed, the messages should be

written clearly and comprehensively.

Although writing is regarded as a crucial ability for effective language

creation, the majority of students encounter several difficulties when trying to write.

The lack of a strong vocabulary causes learners, especially students, to become

confused when writing in English. For this talent to be effectively learned and taught

from the first stage of delivering education at the school level, extremely close

attention is required.

Writing difficulties

Richards (2019) highlights the fact that the main causes of students absence

are

avoid writing since it can be (1) difficult for kids to get started and feel overwhelmed

by (2) Students need to focus on letter formation because it is not an automatic

process, (3) Students struggle to organize and use writing mechanics, (4) Students

struggle to find the right word(s) to express an idea, (5) Students struggle to develop

their ideas fluently (poor ideation), (6) Students struggle to keep track of their

thoughts while also getting them down on paper, (7) Students think that writing is an

enjoyable process on paper is difficult and laborious, and eight students believe their
papers never come out as they had hoped Want, (8) students recognize that the paper

still lacks polish despite the fact that much time and effort was put into it, (9) students

struggle with basic processing due to dysgraphic issues, and (10) students have

dyslexia, which results in extremely poor spelling and prevents automatic use of

writing mechanics.

Accordingly, the aforementioned studies have shown that the major

difficulties found in students’ writing are mostly in the areas of vocabulary and

grammar. In other words, those works of literature reported that students' writing

problem is concerning their linguistics competence

Content. Every piece of content one writes should have a book. It could be compared

to fishing, where in writers hook is that one uses to catch a reader in the net. It is

important to catch the reader’s attention in order to make them want to read further

The knowledge on writing is not solely needed in achieving competence in writing. In

the findings of Alharbi (2015), he determined that once students write what they read,

they relate the content in their experiences. Accordingly, if students have the wide

scope of their reading and the bunch of experiences, they could probably have the

oasis of possible content that they can have in their writing.

Reasons behind these difficulties

There is little doubt that the difficulties and challenges have a variety of root

causes. encountered by college students when writing academically, according to

prior studies. Aldabbus (2017), for example, provided a list of several factors that

could make it difficult to obtain writing prowess. The interference (different writing

direction, no) is placed on top of them. A different spelling scheme, different

adjective order, different sentence structure, and different use of articles). Insufficient

class time for teaching and practicing writing, he continued, is yet another important
factor. Similarly, Altaeb, (2018) argued that students are usually taught how to write

sentences, paragraphs, and essays theoretically and then they are asked to practice

writing them at home as homework. Most of the students don’t bother themselves

doing their homework and directly resort to the internet for cut and paste.

Grammar. As a system of rules for the use of a language or the study of what is

preferred and what is to be avoided in effective writing. Therefore, grammar is

concerned on the mechanics and technicalities in writing.

According to Ling, writing is a multiplex activity (2016). Students must

participate in writing exercises in order for them to produce quality writing in the

future. Even though high schools provide a wide variety of disciplines. One of the

most important academic disciplines for pupils is writing.

In contrast, Widianingsih and Gulös (2016) work titled "Grammatical

Students; Challenges Learning a Second Language "The outcome demonstrated that

the students Plural markers, articles, verb tenses, and plural markers all had

significant problems.

Moreover According to a study by Abderraouf (2016), it is difficult to

improve students; writing skills, especially when they are foreign students. The

cognitive process of writing needs good use of the target language and thorough

consideration of the rules. In writing assignments, students typically struggle to start

writing because they are trying to find the correct words, are having trouble with the

grammar, or are having trouble with the punctuation. The majority of the problems

were in the vocabulary, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

According to (D.A.I.Ahmed 2017) Spelling is a crucial aspect of writing as it

contributes significantly to the clarity and coherence of written communication. Good

spelling can enhance the credibility of a writer and Make the written text more

readable and understandable. Research has shown that spelling practice is particularly

beneficial for young children as they are still in the process of developing their

writing skills. Through spelling practice, children learn to recognize and memorize

the spelling patterns of words, which in turn helps them to write with greater accuracy

and confidence. Moreover, spelling practice can help children to develope a more

extensive vocabulary and improve their overall language skills. By learning to spell

new words, children can also expand their knowledge of language and develop a

better understanding of how words are formed and used in different contexts.

Moreover Poor spelling skills can undermine the clarity and effectiveness of written

communication and can affect students' ability to express their ideas and thoughts

clearly and coherently. To overcome spelling issues, educators should provide regular

instruction and practice opportunities, such as teaching spelling rules, providing word

lists, and incorporating spelling activities into writing tasks. Additionally, educators

should create a supportive and encouraging learning environment that recognizes the

efforts and progress of students who struggle with spelling. Finally, targeted feedback

and positive reinforcement can help to boost students' confidence and motivation to

improve their writing skills.

Conceptual framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Writing difficulties faced

Encountered by the Humss
by Senior High School
students in writing
students.
Theoritical framework

Linda S. Flower and John R. Hayes Social Cognitive Theory process model for

writing

Cognitive Process Theory of Writing which emphasizes that writing itself is a

goal-directed thinking process, guided by the writer's own growing network of goals.

Hence, this study aims to identify and explore students’ academic writing difficulties.

Linda S. Flower and John R. Hayes developed a social cognitive theory process

model for writing, which proposes that writing is a complex cognitive process that

involves several interacting sub processes.

The model consists of three main stages: planning, translating, and reviewing.

Planning: In this stage, the writer generates ideas and plans the overall structure and

content of the text. This involves analyzing the writing task, setting goals, identifying

the audience, generating ideas, and organizing them into a coherent plan or outline.

Translating: In this stage, the writer converts the plan into written language. This

involves generating sentences, choosing words, and constructing paragraphs that

convey the intended meaning to the reader. During this stage, the writer also makes

decisions about the rhetorical aspects of the text, such as tone, style, and voice.

Reviewing: In this stage, the writer reviews and revises the text, with the goal of

improving its coherence, clarity, and effectiveness. This involves detecting and
correcting errors, clarifying ambiguities, improving the organization and coherence of

the text, and adjusting the rhetorical aspects of the text as needed.

The model also includes several interacting sub processes that occur within each

stage, such as goal setting, problem solving, monitoring, and evaluating. These sub

processes are influenced by both internal factors, such as the writers knowledge,

skills, and beliefs, and external factors, such as the task requirements, the audience,

and the context of the writing situation.

Overall, the social cognitive theory process model provides a framework for

understanding the complex cognitive processes involved in writing, and emphasizes

the importance of planning, translating, and reviewing as interconnected stages in the

writing process.

Definition of terms

Writing. Is the process of choosing the appropriate letters, characters, and symbols to

be written on paper or encode in a computer.

Students. A person who is studying at school or college.

Content. The topics or matter treate in a written work.

Grammar. The study of the classes of words their inflections and their functions and

relation on the sentence.

Spelling. the forming of words from letters according to accepted usage. A sequence

of letters composing a word the way in which a word is spelled

 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
Research Design

The study utilized a qualitative research design to explore the writing

difficulties of Humss students. Will use the grounded theory approach and qualitative

content analysis to analyze the written work produced by the students. Since the

study’s primary objective was to examine the written work produced by Humss

students, The study was supplemented by the grounded theory approach and

qualitative content analysis, which helped participants identify the writing challenges

they had and the subject creation strategies they used.

The Sample

The researcher will use Purposive sampling The participants in the study were

Humss students from Nazareth high school. The senior high school students were

selected through which  consists of (10) students participated in the study.

Research Instrument

The researcher will use an adopted questionnaire in order to avoid

unconscious prejudice or comfirmations bias data. The questionnaire is a list of

questions that have been meticulously created and are in a systematic manner for

participants to respond to in order to gather data and information.

Data collection analysis

The researcher will begin gathering the data and information needed by

collecting through the analysis of the written work produced by the students. The

written work collected within the Humss program to ensure diversity in the data.