An analysis of writing difficulties in descriptive text among grade 9 students at mind rich college, Dehiwala

Abstract

Writing is one of the complex cognitive and linguistic skills that requires language competence, desire, interest, and guidance. The objective of this study was to ascertain the primary reasons behind the students’ poor performance in descriptive writing, focusing on the nature of writing and the difficulties within the educational context. A qualitative approach was adopted for this study, which included interviews and the analysis of written samples. The data was thematically analyzed to find recurrent problems and issues among the groups. The findings evidenced that a great number of learners lacked intrinsic motivation and internal desire in writing. This lack of motivation led to a failure in a number of basic facets, such as vocabulary, sentence phrases, and the degree of detail the sentences were employed. Students also appeared to view the time allocated to writing activities as a major challenge. Time constraints to complete assignments within limited periods ostensibly set by teachers, they struggled to plan, draft, revise, and fine-tune their written script. Another major uninhibited concern was the absence of consistent writing activities, and the absence of timely and constructive feedback from teachers.