Writing Skills of Freshman Students of The College of Education
Writing Skills of Freshman Students of The College of Education
WRITING SKILLS OF FRESHMAN STUDENTS OF
THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL
2023
Volume: 7
Pages: 604-609
Document ID: 2023PEMJ581
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7746077
Manuscript Accepted: 2023-13-3
Psych Educ, 2023, 7: 604-609, Document ID:2023 PEMJ581, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7746077, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article
Writing Skills of Freshman Students of the College of Education
Asgar D. Mamidted*
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.
Abstract
Writing is one of the central pillars of language learning and should be major interest and concern to teachers
and students. This study used the descriptive-comparative survey method. It determined the writing skills level
of the freshman education students at Mindanao State University- Maguindanao in mechanics in terms of
grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure and in rhetoric in terms of strategy, organization and style.
Furthermore, the researcher utilized a researcher’s-made communicative writing tests as research instrument of
the study. The respondents of the study were the fifty six (56) BSEd freshman education. Based on the data
gathered, the following summary of findings were presented: The writing skill level of the freshman college of
education students in mechanics in terms of grammar was “satisfactory” with the mean of 4.09, punctuation
was “satisfactory” with the mean of 4.06, sentence structure was “satisfactory” with the mean of 4.20,
mechanics as a whole is “satisfactory” as indicated by the overall mean of 4.12; the writing skill obtained a
Friedman X2r statistics of 2.153 and a p-value of 0.341 described as not significant; the writing skill level
of the freshman college of education students in rhetoric in terms of strategy was “poor” with the mean of 3.71,
organization was “satisfactory” with the mean of 4.44, style was “poor” with the mean of 3.72, and rhetoric as a
whole was “satisfactory” as indicated by the overall mean of 3.96; the writing skill obtained a Friedman X 2r
statistics of 27.96 and a p-value of 0.001 described as significant; there was no significant difference between
writing skills level in mechanics and rhetoric. Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that the
freshman Education Students’ writing skills in mechanic and rhetoric need further enhancement.
Keywords: grammar, writing skills, tertiary students, rhetoric, sentence structure
Introduction sense or convey the meaning to the readers through
their writing tasks (Chowdhury, 2015).
Writing is a crucial academic skill in college. As a In fact, Bo (2014) conducted a doctoral study of
matter of fact, Professors in college, who handle Norwegian students in English higher education. The
English language courses, are very particular on the result showed that the Norwegian students often did
correct subject-verb agreement, tenses of the verbs, not acquire the proper skills in English in school
punctuation marks, variation of sentences, and rules needed later in higher education and professional
and principles in writing. This happens when students careers. He argued that English teaching had put too
are asked to compose an essay, short stories, poems, much focus on communicative method at the expense
scripts for drama presentation, and even reflection of accuracy.
papers. Indeed, good writing skill is a prerequisite for
the students to pass all English subjects and do better In the Philippines, Rosa (2017) said that the writing
in school. skills of Filipino students need to be improved.
Insufficient knowledge and skills in writing can
Writing is not only important as an academic skill, but greatly affect their college and career success.
it is also an important skill in one’s career; nearby Additionally, the research study conducted by the
profession require some form of writing on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
performance of the job. In the same perspective, good in 1998 has proven that many college students are
writing skills are valued in workplace. People who are incapable of producing presentable English
good in writing appear to be more capable, intelligent, composition. This fact is undeniable, particularly in
responsible and credible. Good writing skills do not public academies.
only ease communication but also affects career.
According to some faculty members of the College of
Additionally, writing is the most popular ways of Education, Mindanao State University - Maguindanao,
expressing emotions, and thoughts. Through writing, the writing skills of the freshman students from the
people can take time and can state their emotion English, Math and Science society are generally poor
and needs to be improved through series of writing
clearly. Writing tasks are applied broadly during
activities. To confirm this, it is necessary that their
language practice for learning foreign language. Yet,
writing skills will be gauged so that if there’s any
students in all levels of education including tertiary problem immediate proper remediation shall be
education face many problems and often cannot make recommended.
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Research Article
R e s p o n d e n t s o f t h e Study
Research Questions
The respondents of the study were the fifty six (56)
This study was conducted to determine the writing BSEd freshman education students. There were twenty
skill level of the College of Education freshman eight (28) English, seventeen (17) Science, and eleven
students at Mindanao State University- Maguindanao. (11) Math. The study used simple stratified random
Specifically, the study sought to answer the following sampling to ensure proper representation among the
questions: freshman students of the different society.
1. What is the level of the students’ writing skills in Research Instrument
mechanics in terms of:
1.1 Grammar; The study utilized researcher’s made communicative
1.2 Punctuation; and writing test to determine the writing skills level of the
1.3 Sentence Structure? freshman college of education students. To prove the
2. Is there a significant difference among the areas in validity and reliability of the two communicative
mechanics in terms of: writing tests, the researcher conducted pilot testing
2.1 Grammar; conducted last February 18, 2019 with five examinees
2.2 Punctuation; and from English, Math and Science. After the researcher
2.3 Sentence Structure? has ch eck ed the ten (10) samp les of two
3. What is the level of students’ writing skills in communicative writing tests, it was found out that
rhetoric in terms of: their scores are in average level. The researcher
3.1 Strategy; informed the target respondents on the schedule and
3.2 Organization; and venue of the test.
3.3 Style?
During the test proper, the respondents were asked to
4. Is there a significant difference among the areas in
compose two descriptive essay based on the pictures
rhetoric in terms of:
given. The two communicative writing tests were
4.1 Strategy;
limited to one hour and thirty minutes only. It was
4.2 Organization; and
personally administered by the researcher himself.
4.3 Style?
After the test, the respondents’ outputs were collected
5. Is there any significant difference between the level
and gave it to the two chosen qualified raters.
of students’ writing skills in mechanics and rhetoric?
This communicative writing test was appropriate to
Methodology use because writing is a process of organizing the idea,
opinions and feelings into written form. It was a
complex activity with the control language both of the
Research Design sentence level (grammatical, structure, punctuations
and spelling) and the beyond the sentence rank
This study used the descriptive-comparative survey (organizing, and integrating information into cohesive
method. It determined the writing skills level of the and coherent paragraph or text.) It has great chance of
freshman college of education students at Mindanao possibility to measure the writing skills level of
State University- Maguindanao in mechanics in terms students by letting them write or compose paragraph
of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure and in by their own.
rhetoric in terms of strategy, organization and style.
The descriptive –comparative survey method was Data Gathering Procedures
appropriate to use because it best served to answer the
research problem. The researcher wrote a letter to the Dean of the
College of Education, Mindanao State University-
Maguindanao, Dalican, Datu Odin Sinsuat,
Maguindanao asking permission to conduct a study to
the freshman students. The letter was duly reviewed
and noted by his adviser. After the permission was
granted, the researcher with the guidance of his adviser
selected the respondents using simple stratified
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Research Article
random sampling. Then, the researcher asked the master the basic skills in writing. This finding is
respondents to compose a descriptive essay based on supported by Carrol and Wilson (1995) as cited in
the pictures given that was limited to two (2) hours Amil and Kodama (2018) stating that the possible
only. Afterwards, the two (2) communicative tests cause why students are problematic when it comes to
were checked by the two raters, who are experts in the punctuation, saying that students’ writing encounter
said competencies. The data were kept and treated punctuation problem as there are no universal rules of
with confidentiality to ensure that their names should punctuations.
not be revealed. Finally, the data obtained were tallied,
analyzed, interpreted, and the manuscript was prepared In addition, sentence structure garnered a mean of 4.20
for the final presentation. described as satisfactory. This means that the students
have basic foundation in sentence construction. They
can construct sentences with different structures in the
Results and Discussion composition. Thus, the data imply that they still need
to improve their basic skill in sentence construction to
reach the high level of competence. Fareed (2016)
Students’ Writing Skills in Mechanics
found out in his study that Pakistani Undergraduate
English as Second Learners have difficulty on varying
Table 1 presents the data on the level of students’
sentences especially when they are asked to compose
writing skills in mechanics in terms of grammar,
descriptive paragraphs. They are not exposed to
punctuation and sentence structure. This also reflects
different types of sentences during their previous
the mean and its description.
education.
Table 1. Level of Students’ Writing Skills in Mechanics Finally, Table 1 garnered an overall mean of 4.12
in Grammar, Punctuation and Sentence Structure described as satisfactory. This means that most all of
the respondents have basic competency in composing
the writing communicative test and they have
minimum background about grammar, punctuation and
sentence structure. Probably, it happens due to
effective instruction provided by their teachers.
Isaacson (2019), stated that teachers should have
effective methods for helping students with learning
As shown in Table 1, grammar garnered a highest problems overcome the mechanical obstacles to
mean of 4.09 described as satisfactory. This means that writing. Teacher should teach the process of writing
when the students are given writing communicative from planning to final draft, is central to good writing
test, they have average competence in writing instruction.
appropriate tense with observable difficulty in writing.
This further means that they are already aware on the Comparison Among the Different Areas of Writing
appropriate use of the tenses of the verbs in grammar Skills in Mechanics
particularly in subject-verb agreement. It also indicates
that students need to constantly develop their grammar Table 2 shows the comparison between the different
competence in writing. This implies that the students areas of writing skills in Mechanics in terms of
need further reinforcement activities to master the grammar, punctuation and sentence structure.
basic skills in grammar. Thus, according to Freeman
(1995) as cited in Abdullah, Langalan and Malasigan Table 2. Comparison Among Different Areas of
(2018), grammar is about form and one way to teach Writing Skills in Mechanics
form is to give students rules; moreover, grammar is
about much more than, and its teaching is served to
students but giving rules.
Punctuation garnered a mean of 4.06 described as
satisfactory. This means that the students possess
minimum competence in using punctuation marks in
communicative writing test. The data suggest that
As gleaned in Table 2, the mean scores of different
further training on writing discourse is needed to
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Research Article
grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary and purpose
of writing.
areas are compared using the Friedman X2r statistics to
show the significant difference among the areas of
Furthermore, style obtained a mean of 3.72 describes
writing skills in terms of grammar, punctuation and
as poor. This indicates that the students have not
sentence structure. The data show that the three areas
performed well in a writing communicative test that
of writing skill obtained a Friedman X2r statistics of
demands sensory words or figurative languages that
2.153 and a p-value of 0.341 described as not
are related to the topic and picture given. This means
significant. Thus the null hypothesis claiming that
that the students have difficulty in describing the topic
there is no significant difference among the different
and picture using sensory or figurative languages.
areas of writing skills in terms of grammar,
Thus, the data imply that the students need enrichment
punctuation and sentence structure is accepted. This
or reinforcement activities to improve their basic skills
means that students’ performance in writing in terms
in writing. Osman (2016) found out that the students of
of mechanics were not significantly different from
Sudan University of Science and Technology can
each other. This further explains that the students have
basic competency in writing in terms of grammar, hardly write a paragraph with sensory description and
punctuation marks, and sentence structure. The unification because most of them adopt simple style of
students should strive more to meet the high level of writing.
competency in writing. Learning grammar rules and
On the other hand, Table 3 shows that the strategy
the mechanics in writing are essential components of
obtained a mean of 3.71 described as poor. The data
learning to write. Having strong skills in writing and
indicate that the students have difficulty in giving
grammar allows writers to get their message or story to
quotes, lines or questions in the communicative
their readers in a clear and understandable way
(hhtps://time4writing.com). writing test. They have difficulty in using related
quotes, lines or questions in the composition. Thus,
Students’ Writing Skills in Rhetoric this further implies that the students should be exposed
to various quotes, lines or questions to enhance their
Table 3 reflects the data on the level of students’ basic strategy skills in writing. Wigati (2014) also
writing skills in rhetoric in terms of strategy, found out in his study that the students in the upper-
organization and style. This also reflects the mean and immediate level of Karawang University had problems
its description. on how to write an introductory paragraph. They are
often confused on how to begin the descriptive essay.
Table 3. Level of Students’ Writing Skills in Mechanics
in terms Strategy, Organization and Style Generally, data on Table 3 obtained an overall mean of
3.96 described as satisfactory. The data explicate that
the students have acquired basic competency in
answering communicative writing test in rhetoric in
terms of strategy, style and organization. Since their
writing skills in terms of rhetoric belong to satisfactory
level, they need to double their effort in improving
their skills in rhetoric. According to Grabe and Stoller
As reflected in Table 3, in terms of rhetoric,
(2002), strategic reader, however, requires more than
organization obtained a highest mean of 4.44 described
simply knowledge of reading strategies. Readers
as satisfactory. This means that students have
should also be able to apply the strategies consciously,
observable difficulty in organizing their ideas to form
effectively, and in combination.
logical arrang em ent of event in the given
communicative writing test. This further explains that
Comparison Between Different Areas of Writing
the flow or sequence of events in the composition is
confusing. The data suggest that the students need Skills in Rhetoric
further reinforcement to improve their basic skills in
writing. Pablo and Lesaten (2018) said that writing is a Table 4 presents the comparison between the different
complicated process primarily because it requires a areas of writing skills in rhetoric in terms of strategy,
combination of skills. Writing relies on good fine organization and style.
motor functions, visual motor planning, attention,
sequencing, thinking, memory, and knowledge of
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Research Article
Table 4. Comparison Between Different Areas of have a computed t-value of 0.6688 which is lower than
Writing Skills in Rhetoric the tabular value of 4.303 described as not significant.
Thus, the null hypothesis stating that there is no
significant difference between the students’ level of
writing skills in mechanics and rhetoric is accepted.
This means that students’ writing skills both in
mechanics and rhetoric are on the same level. Since
their writing skills belong to the satisfactory level, thus
they need to exert effort in improving their writing
skills. According to Lyerla (2010), students must
As gleaned in Table 4, the mean scores of the different learn to list ideas related to a topic; plan the point of
areas are compared using the Friedman X2r Statistics view and verb tense to be used in the paragraph; plan
to show the significant difference among the areas of the sequence in which ideas will be expressed; and
writing skills in terms of strategy, organization and write a variety of topic, detail and clincher sentences.
style. The data show that the three areas of writing In addition, students who master the paragraph writing
skill obtained a Friedman X2r statistics of 27.96 and a strategy consistently produce written pieces that
p-value of 0.001 described as significant. Thus, the contain topic, details, and clincher sentences.
null hypothesis claiming that there is no significant
difference among the different areas of writing skills in
terms of strategy, organization and style is rejected. Conclusion
Therefore, the difference between the three areas of
writing skills in rhetoric is significant. This means that Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that
there are disparities among the level of their skills in the freshman Education students’ writing skills in
the strategy, organization and style. As shown in the mechanics and rhetoric are both at the average level,
Table, the students have acquired basic competency in thus needing further enhancement.
organization. They have poor performance in terms of
strategy and style. The data imply that that the students Based on the findings and conclusion of the study, the
must improve their performances in different areas of following are recommended: (1) The program advisers
writing skills in rhetoric. Oshima & Hogue (2006) of English, Math, and Science should conduct English
said that writing is never a one- step action, it means diagnostic tests in writing to evaluate the writing skills
that when the writers write, they do more than just of the freshman students as the basis for writing
putting words together to make sentences. They go remediation. (2) English teachers should employ
through several steps to produce a piece of writing. various activities that can enhance students’ writing
skills specifically on strategy and style in writing.
Comparison Between Writing Skills in Mechanics (3) Freshman college of students should strive and
and Rhetoric study harder to improve their writing skills specifically
in strategy and style skills in writing. (4) The English
Table 5 shows the comparison between of the instructors are encouraged to use the compiled writing
freshman Education in mechanics and rhetoric. activities as supplemental activities to further enhance
the writing skills of the freshman students. (5) Lastly,
Table 5. Comparison Between Writing Skills in other researchers may conduct a similar study on a
Mechanics and Rhetoric wider scope using different research instruments to
validate the results and findings of the present study.
Likewise, they are encouraged to investigate the
factors that may contribute to respondents’ writing
skill levels.
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