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Amin Ali Ahmad Al-Solel
Associate Professor of English Literature

Department of English, Faculty of arts, Thamar University
Yemen
Personal Experience: A Learner
• English as a school subject: starts in the 7th grade (six years).

- Curriculum: old-fashioned, simple and grammar-focused.
- Lack of English professional teachers.
- Classical method of teaching (translation – using Arabic).
- Lack of teaching aids and materials.
- Writing and other skills are almost ignored and the focus was on
grammar (particularly tenses).
Personal Experience: A Teacher
• I got my B.Ed. Degree in English in 2000.

• I started teaching at schools.
• The syllabus has been improved to be more communicative (the four
basic skills in the textbooks are integrated).
• Writing: the most difficult skill to learn.
• At the university level: Writing is still challenging for English learners
and even teachers (non-native speakers).
The Questionnaire
• Objective: To explore the M.A. English students’ perspectives on

academic writing challenges and their suggestions to overcome them.
• Number of participants: 10 (only 6 responded).
• Questionnaire: Two parts
- Part one: 20 close-ended questions.
- Part two: 3 open-ended questions.
• Rarely: 8
• Usually: 36
• Often: 46
• Always: 36
Chart Title
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Category 1
rarely usually often always

RARELY
• I can logically support my thesis with paraphrases. (1)

• I can logically support my thesis with summaries. (1)
• I can logically support my thesis with quotations. (2)
• I can use a variety of cohesive devices. (1)
• I can write quickly in English. (1)
• I can use appropriate strategies to fix problems with my writing. (1)
• I enjoy writing in English. (1)
Are you satisfied with your academic writing?
• P 1: “Actually, not exactly. I still strive to be a perfect writer.

• P 2: “Yes, I am.”
• P 3: “Somewhat, yes.”
• P 4: “Not always. I need much to learn and improve.”
• P 5: “No, because we have a little experience in academic writing.
Sometimes, I make some mistakes unconsciously as I am not continuously
writing. So, the problem is in the developing techniques in writing Arabic
texts confuses us with those of English. The problem is not in grammar
but ordering clauses or phrases.”
• P 6: “No I am not because the more you know about academic writing,
the more you find that your writing needs to be improved.”
What are the challenges you encounter in academic writing?
• P 1: “1. As for me, the most notable challenge is that I need much time to make
brainstorm or think about the given topic. Therefore, I really don’t write perfectly while
exams or even through lectures because of the matter of time.
• 2. I don’t have the background or full idea about the topic.
• 3. The inability of selecting the appropriate words which serve your academic writing.
• 4. Your circumstances or responsibilities prevent you from practicing continuously.”

• P 2: “The pressure in the exam, and the condition which is related to
the time of the exam.”
• P 3: “Spelling mistakes.”
• P 4: “First, English is a foreign language. Second, absence of practice.”

• P 5: “First of all, cohesion and coherence need to choose the suitable
conjunctions, interjections, correcting words, and also the complex
sentences always confuse us in our understanding of the English texts.
With simple sentences, there is not any challenge.”
• P 6: “Some challenges are about cohesion and coherence. Others about
the suitable vocabulary as some vocabulary are more academic than
others.”
What do you suggest to improve the academic writing skills of EFL learners?
• P 1: “The most essential step is to make the subject of academic writing more practical
than theoretical and the instructor should give his/her students feedback and evaluation
to know their mistakes, their weak points, and try to improve their writing. As much you
read, the great writer you will be as well. Of course, practicing as much as you can is the
key to being a skillful writer.”
• P 2: “To write a lot and we need all the time to correct our essays.”
• P 3: “Practice makes perfect.”
• P 4: “1- Practice, 2- Focused and intensive courses.”

• P 5: “Writing more and more is better for the EFL writers and showing and
changing the writing texts by teachers, classmates and academic doctors and
guides.”
• P 6: “I think that practicing is the cornerstone to improving academic writing.
Grammar also is very important. I mean that the students should know the
ways of sentence structures and they should be able to analyse the parts of
the English sentence correctly and then students can go to learn about the
strategies of writing complete and attractive paragraphs and essays.”

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Amin Ali Ahmad Al-Solel

Associate Professor of English Literature

• English as a school subject: starts in the 7th grade (six years).

• I got my B.Ed. Degree in English in 2000.

• Objective: To explore the M.A. English students’ perspectives on

rarely usually often always

• I can logically support my thesis with paraphrases. (1)

• P 1: “Actually, not exactly. I still strive to be a perfect writer.

• 2. I don’t have the background or full idea about the topic.

• 4. Your circumstances or responsibilities prevent you from practicing continuously.”

• P 4: “First, English is a foreign language. Second, absence of practice.”

• P 3: “Practice makes perfect.”

• P 4: “1- Practice, 2- Focused and intensive courses.”

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