Tunisian EFL Students’ Perceptions toward Their Writing Difficulties

Abstract

The research is intended to investigate Tunisian students’ own perception of the difficulties they encounter in the writing task. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was administered to students enrolled in the “Faculty of Letters Arts and Humanities” in Kairouan, in Tunisia. Students were classified into three groups: first-, second- and third-year students. The researcher used 120 questionnaires filled in by the students as data for this study; moreover, 30 students participated in a semi-structured interview to complete the data. The questionnaire results revealed that Tunisian EFL students faced spelling and grammar difficulties. ANOVA also revealed that the first-year students did not recognise that Arabic and English greatly differ in their respective punctuation systems. The second-year class, however, were fully aware of this difference. Additionally, the interview shed light on other aspects or different difficulties experienced by students in writing: a cruel “lack of vocabulary”, Arabic language interference, the organisation of the essay and especially the academic essay and difficulty with writing an argumentative essay.