Writing is perceived to be one of the most difficult skills for English language learners to master. Although studies on challenges faced by ESL students in writing are replete, most of them have focused on students at secondary and tertiary levels of education. Studies on learners at lower level have been scarce. Thus, this paper aims to fill the gap by examining the major problems faced by ESL primary school level students in writing in English. Survey and interview sessions were conducted to fit the purpose of the study. Data were collected from a class of 26 students from Year/Standard 6 of the primary school level in Malaysia and an interview session with the English teacher of that particular class. The findings indicate that the major difficulties charted are rooted in the students’ poor mastery in vocabulary, inability to spell words correctly and L1 interference. Thus, in order to enhance the students’ skills in writing in English, the teacher implemented some remedial measures during the teaching and learning sessions. The findings have essential pedagogical implications on understanding students’ struggle to write in English at the lower level of education.
Non-native English learners often face challenges to articulate their ideas while speaking in the target language. Because of this, it was far more difficult for them to get their thoughts over to the audience. To overcome this issue, the learners employ various communication strategies to promote their audience's understanding. Hence, this research aims to determine the factors that contribute to fear of oral presentations and the communication strategies (CS) used by undergraduate students. The study employs a quantitative survey in which 201 participants in a public university in Pahang were conveniently selected to answer a threesectioned survey; Section A elicits demographic background of the participants, Section B investigates their communication strategies used and Section C probes on the causes of fear of oral presentation. The findings show that students dread oral presentations both due to internal and external forces. They commonly employ Social-affective strategies and Message reduction, orientation and non-verbal strategies to cope with their fears. Additionally, the usage of CS has a slight impact in reducing their fear of oral presentation. Future research on alternative strategies to reduce students' fear of oral presentation are therefore recommended in order to tackle the issue.
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