Beliefs and Opinions about English Writing of Students at a Thai University

Authors

Watana Padgate

Publication Date

2008-04-01

Abstract

This study explored college students' beliefs and opinions about the necessity of writing skills in an EFL (English as a foreign language) context, problems and level of difficulty in English, and the students' experience in Thai composition and opinions about the benefits of writing Thai compositions on writing in English. The participants were students from Naresuan University, Thailand, consisting of 40 English-majored students and 239 non-English-majored students. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. The findings revealed that both groups of students realized the significance of English writing and thought that it should be required for all students. However, most students perceived writing skill as being more difficult than other language skills. Their perceived major problems included limited vocabulary, lack of knowledge about sentence connectors, and lack of revising skills. It was also found that most students had experience composing in Thai and believed that they benefited from this experience when composing in English. The researcher concluded by emphasizing the significance of learners' opinions and beliefs on learning English as motivating factors. Instructors should try not to make learners feel that what they are learning is too difficult to achieve.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.42.1.2

First Page

31

Last Page

53

Recommended Citation

Padgate, Watana (2008) "Beliefs and Opinions about English Writing of Students at a Thai University," PASAA: Vol. 42: Iss. 1, Article 2.
DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.PASAA.42.1.2
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/pasaa/vol42/iss1/2