AN ARTICLE; AN ARTICLE: TO IMPROVE GRAMMAR SKILL THROUGH ESSAY WRITING PRACTICES.

AN ARTICLE: TO IMPROVE GRAMMAR SKILL THROUGH ESSAY WRITING PRACTICES.

Yasmin Mohamad

IIUM, Malaysia

1.1       Introduction

Of four English language skills, writing skill can be considered as a prime skill which help students to learn the other skills such as grammar and reading. According to Ashok Sapkota (2012), writing is one of the most important skills in learning a new language and it is a productive skill. Indeed, writing is rooted in every aspect of human life, and it continues to shape human interaction towards the 21^st century globalisation era. In which, writing can show the power and a chance to share or influence other people, whether with their thoughts, ideas and opinions (Kamehameha Schools, 2007). Clearly, it is a unique task of an individual and there is a place for them to express themselves in different way to the society and to the world.

     Good writing requires good knowledge of grammar practices, including the art of using rhetoric of arranging words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs, so it is easy to catch up the reader's attention. Briefly, the writer concluded that the grammar ability is vital to create correct sentences both in written form which is in term of writing practices, and also, in oral language skill (Muh. Arief Muhsin, 2016).

1.2       Problem Statement

The veteran English teacher, Ibrahim Zakaria put forward that even intelligent young graduates have a problem in getting ideas across in English Lang. These students with a poor command of English may could score strong credits in other subjects in the SPM examination (Thang, S. M. 2004), but they fail in English Lang subject. This is worrisome for all parties involved such as parents and teachers when students still could not perform well in English subject even after they spent eleven years studying the subject since primary school level up to their secondary school level (Khairiah, 1970; Naginder, 2006; Nor Hashimah et al., 2008; Saadiyah & Kaladevi, 2009).

     The executive director of Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said that there are currently about 200,000 unemployed graduates in the country and one of the main reasons for this scenario is their lack of English proficiency. And, their bad performance in English Lang is believed to appear from the attitude of very technology-savvy and constantly bound to their gadgets to interact one another using short forms, acronyms and slang words (THE STAR ONLINE, 2015).

     Moreover, some of them do not know how to write a report or any article academically using the correct English. Even, they have problems in writing a report for their employers in the company. Most of students claimed that writing in English Lang is very difficult (Parilah .M Shah, 2011). To prove, some students claim that they are answering the writing question using the Malay Lang, some of them just writing a short paragraph only, or some are handing in a blank answer sheet.

     In addition, writing practice is the main course where students can learn coincidentally another skill like grammar, vocabulary and comprehension. Dovey (2010) confirmed that English Lang especially it’s writing component is very important as it will help students not only to perform well in their schools’ examination, but later at the higher level as well as in future professional life too. However, almost many teachers reviewed that the aspects connected to grammar beyond the sentence are absent in students’ writing. Moreover, as opposed to teachers, students have set in mind that learning grammar is something boring, rule-oriented, and old-fashioned. Most of them are unresponsive to grammar and regard it as a necessarily useless thing which they would, if they could, to eliminate it totally from the English lesson. Grammar is also felt to be very difficult especially by weaker students (Tony Burner, 2005). Despite the exposure to English language, both primary and secondary schools’ students in Malaysia still struggle in writing well, as their inability to write well is believed to due to the influence of their mother tongue and also insufficient knowledge of grammatical rules and concepts (Charanjit Kaur S. Singh et al., 2017).

     And, the researcher intends to investigate how writing practices can improve students’ English skills especially rules of language and grammar.

1.3       Research Questions

1.         Is there any significant relationship between grammar and writing practices?         

2.         How the writing practices can effectively help to improve the grammar skill?

3.         What is the aspect of grammar rules which appear the most in students’ writing?

1.4       Research Objectives

1.         To determine the significant relationship between grammar and writing practices. 

2.         To identify the effectiveness of writing practices in helping to improve the grammar skill.

3.         To list the aspect of grammar rules which appear the most in students’ writing.

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