DIFFICULTIES OF WRITING IN ENGLISH ENCOUNTERED BY IRAQI EFL LEARNERS AT UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Abstract

This study aims to explore the attitude of Iraqi EFL university students towards the difficulties they encounter when writing in English. It also aims to propose solutions that may be helpful for students to overcome writing difficulties. To this end, a sample of 80 English majors was selected from the University of Anbar, Department of English.The participants are third-year students studying a course in essay writing. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to include difficulties encountered by students and solutions to overcome them.The results showed that „incorrectness in using mechanics of writings‟ occupies the top of difficulties faced by Iraqi university EFL students in writing English, followedby „lack of assessment rubrics and marking scheme tools‟.The third rank of items was „lack of ideas‟, while 'Grammar Difficulties' ranked fourth.Other items 'Lack of teacher's help', 'Lack of materials forConsulting', 'Unsuitable methods of teaching writing', 'Topic inappropriateness', and 'Time restriction' were almost similar in rankings.The study proposed a number of suggestions and solutions that may help students to overcome writing difficulties.