Developing an English writing guide for Tamil school students

Abstract

Research on factors affecting the performance of Tamil primary school students in English writings has not been fully explored in Malaysia. Closing this gap is crucial as it would enable these students to perform better in their English writings at the primary school level. Therefore, this study investigates the factors that affect Tamil school students’ writing in English. It also seeks to develop an English writing guide for Tamil school students. Using the Common Underlying Proficiency Model and Krashen’s Theory, it looks at the factors affecting their writing. Grammar Translation Method was employed in designing the writing guide with a focus on sentence structure and grammatical aspects. A qualitative design was used for data collection and analysis. It comprised a semi-structured interview with seven English language teachers from a selected school and 13 Year Five students. For document analysis, 30 Tamil school students’ English essays were analyzed using the content analysis method. The findings showed that Tamil school students have difficulties in vocabulary, grammar and constructing sentences. It is significant to note that direct translation from their mother tongue was used in their English writings. Hence, this finding contributed to the development of a writing guide that assists these students in improving their writing in English. Evidently, the students’ self-confidence has increased after using this writing guide and were more self-motivation to write better in English. The findings suggest that Tamil school students also need to read more text in English in order to improve their vocabulary and write better sentences in English. This study recommends more pedagogic interventions by using the writing guide in encouraging Tamil school students to perform better in their English writing.