SECONDARY LEVEL STUDENTS’ PROFICIENCY ON FREE WRITING

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Language is a means of human communication. It is an asset and possession of human beings.

It is a universal medium for conveying one's ideas, emotions, desires and beliefs to other as they
share the common code that make up the language. There are many languages in the world and
they play equally important role in communication. But sometimes place, time, situation, and
demand of language play key role to make some language more valuable.
Among all languages, The English language is spread all over the world. Now a days, it is a
world language . So, it is an international language. It is necessary to learn to survive in the
world. This language is used in literature, sports, movies, TV, music, games and an expanded
social life with people from all around the world.
According to Ives, ( 2006, pp.121-122), English has established itself as the new lingua franca
of the world and has become an invaluable tool that grants access to professional and academic
opportunities. It means English language has gained so much recognition that every global
citizen has to speak English languages besides his/her own. It is the common language for the
people speaking different languages. Without this language a person will be the backward to
gain his knowledge, and skills, and to put his demand globally.
Writing is an art of using language. But it is a very complex task to write clearly and explicitly .
In this context, Richards (1985,p100) says, Learning to write is either a first or second language
is one of the most difficult tasks .

Learning to write is a difficult and lengthy process, that one includes anxiety and frustration in
many learners .Yet good writing skills are essential to academic success and requirement for
many occupation and professions.
In the context of Nepal, English is taught as a compulsory subject up to Secondary level. The
aim of teaching English is to enable the students in global communication and business, and to
have access to the world body of knowledge. Pedagogically, teaching English is targeted at
developing all the four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing. This study investigates
the writing proficiency of Secondary level students.
1.2 Statement of the Problem

English language is international language. In the sense of global business without English
language, a man is backward having knowledge and skills about something. So, it is
compulsory to learn language to sell the skills, knowledge and produced materials in the
market. Learning language means gaining the knowledge of listening, speaking, reading and
writing. To make students skilful in English language, Secondary curriculum has included
English course in first year. Among different skills, writing skill is one of them. To develop
writing skills, the students do different tasks/activities in writing skills. Among different
activities in writing free writing is one. students do different exercise under free writing. Letter
writing, report writing, essay writing are examples of free writing. So, writing is major area in
second language learning and teaching. Teaching writing in EFL/ESL is national and
international issue and difficult activity to the teachers, students and educators.
Writing needs deep knowledge, clear idea about something and do several activities. So, it is
difficult to mastery over the writing. In present days, students do not practice more, they collect
readymade materials. Most of the students do the exam oriented practices. They do not work
hard . So, most of the students gain low marks and have not self confidence in subject matter
and writing . In writing, students commit many errors and mistakes. The writing may not have
coherence, clarity on subject matter, focus on topics sentences and its supporting details,
sequence between different ideas ,topic sentence and parts of essay . Errors may have in subject
verb agreement, use of ambiguous words , reference, pronunciation, errors in person and tense .
Writing needs correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization and word usage as well. So, this
study is going to find out the proficiency in free writing and errors committed by the students in
coherence, cohesion organization and mechanics (subject verb agreement, tense, articles,
preposition).

1.3 Objectives of the Study

This study had the following objectives:
(a) To find out the writing proficiency of the secondary level students on the basis of
parameters of the essay(content, coherence, cohesion, mechanics and organization) .
(c) To compare writing proficiency between students of Education Faculty and
Management Faculty.
(d) To suggest some pedagogical implications.
1.4 Significance of the Study

This study is helpful for the language teacher who involve in the teaching field especially in
ELT. Student researchers will be benefited by this research. This is remarkable contribution to
the areas of free writing teaching skill. This research provides valuable input for campuses that
enrolls students.

This study is useful to teachers, lecturers and tutors in ESL contexts because it can contribute
insights into those aspects of writing in which students require support. The study is also
reflexive as its results may be used to harness or sharpen the practices of both ESL practitioners
and other stakeholders with some guidelines on teaching writing. As a result, it is hoped that
ESL learners will benefit from the spin-off of this study. The study is a valuable contribution to
research on students’ writing in ESL contexts by ensuring that the results of this study. This
research is directly useful and help for change teaching process in that campus where the
research was conducted.

1.5 Limitations of the Study

The study was delimited in the following ways :

- Secondary level students of first year, studying in Education Faculty and the Commerce
Faculty were the informants.

- Content, mechanics, coherence, cohesion, organization, parameters of essay were

analysed.

- Only common errors committed by the students in content, coherence, cohesion,

organization and mechanics (subject verb agreement, tense, articles, preposition) were
analyzed.

- The data were collected from the test items. The test items were essay writing.

- Errors were determined on the basis of their frequency repeated in the text. The errors
committed more than two times were counted.

- Only thirty students were the informants : 15 from Education Faculty and 15 from
Management Faculty.
 1.6 Review of Related Theoretical Literature

This sub-section deals with different theoretical perspectives related to English language
teaching and errors committed in the free writing.

Language Skills

Language has four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Listening and speaking are
primary and reading and writing are secondary aspects of language. Speech is an oral means of
communication and writing is the graphic representation of symbols. Writing is the output of
listening, speaking and reading. It is a finished product and involves manipulating structuring
and communicating. It is a productive skill which needs very careful handling to give sensible
sentences and paragraphs. It is more permanent and accurate in comparison to other skills. It
remains for generation to generation as well.

Writing Skill

Writing is the act of putting down something which has been spoken in conventional graphic
form. It is a productive skill that needs various competences such as linguistic, sociolinguistic
and discourse knowledge as well as knowledge about language use like grammar, structure and
vocabulary.

According to Jules (1894,p.57), Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted. It means
a good writer needs all competences of writing skills. He should have knowledge of writing
strategies and an critical way of thinking.

Writing is not only a single activity but a series of interrelated activities. English is now the
global language, and writing is one of the necessary means to communicate precisely, this skill
is essential in order to participate competitively in global interactions and business in general. It
should be the responsibility of English language instructors in an educational institute to
provide and emphasize a good and correct instruction about language writing or skills,
fundamental background of writing skills to students. Command of good writing skills is a vital
tool for anybody to succeed in their career.
Writing Proficiency

Proficiency can be understood as the interaction of a multiple set of elements such as grammar,
vocabulary. Writing proficiency means having full knowledge, skills about writing, less
chances of making mistake and errors. In writing, there is no room for misunderstanding and
the message has to be clearly structured and organized because we do not see the receiver of our
text.

Writing as a Product of Reading

Listening and speaking skills are basic skills for us and can be learnt in a natural situation, and
unconsciously in the first language, but reading and writing needs more attention and learn in
artificial situation. Reading and writing are secondary skills of language. Reading means,
getting some ideas, making some concept about written things and writing is the expression of
that concept, grasped knowledge, ideas through the graphic form. Reading more makes writing
effective. The more practices in reading explore thinking, ideas, knowledge, so to become better
writer need to more practices in reading.
Teacher should help and motivate the learner to read more.

Rose 2004,p.96) says, "Writing allows students to write their way into reading, that reading
shares much in common with writing and that reading is also an act of composing." It means, in
school, what has been taught that is asked to write in their words because writing skill is
developed through reading.

Testing Writing

Testing, in a broad sense, has always been an inherent part of teaching. Testing is used as a
process of scrutinizing how learners have learned what the teacher wishes them to learn.
Language testing is an independent discipline. It is used to determine learners language
proficiency of what has been taught. Writing is a complex activity and includes various skills.
To produce effective piece of writing, the writer possesses the knowledge of mechanical skills,
stylistic skills, and judgment skills. Under mechanism of writing the learners should learn the
alphabet, the left and right direction of English writing script, upper and lower case letters, rules
of capitalization, basic spelling patterns of English and rules for words and sentence formation.
It can be learnt by the learners by means of some writing practices. Mechanics mainly includes
capitalization, spelling and punctuation.

According to Harmer (2006,p.321), there are four different tests at our disposal to assess writing
skills: placement tests, diagnostic tests, achievement tests and proficiency tests. Placement tests
show how good a student's English is in relation to a system of levels. Diagnostic tests expose
learners difficulties and gaps in their knowledge where achievement tests assess the
assimilation level of a specific material and proficiency tests’ aim is to fid out proficiency of
students in the subject matter . But, essay tests, like any other test, raise the issues of validity
and reliability, which according to Harmer (2006, p.322) are two key concepts when judging
test effectiveness.

Validity : A test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test. Further explanation is that the
validity of a test is measured on the basis of how for the information it provides is accurate,
concrete and representative in light of the purpose for which it is administered.

Reliability : Reliability of a test is its consistency."A good test should give consistent results"
(Harmer, 2006, p.322). In other words, reliability means the consistency with which a test
measures the same thing all the time. For example, the same group of students should get
similar results each time, they take the same test over a short period of time. It means the result
is constant or less differences between the result.

On the other hand, marking in subjective test (essay test) is more problematical. Different
people may score for the same piece of work differently. So, to make marking reliable and
valid, subjective needs marking scale. For example, Harmer (2008, p.172) has given the
following scales for marking a student's presentation. This technique of marking may avoid
differences of marking.
 0 1 2 3 4
Grammar

Vocabulary

Punctuation

Coherence

Fluency

(a) Grammar

Sentence construction, subject verb agreement, person and tense in writing are
checked under the grammar..

(b) Vocabulary

The use of vocabulary and idioms are checked under this part. Errors or mistakes in use and
selection of the vocabulary are mainly checked under it.

(c) Mechanics

Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, word usage and required are measured under this topic.

(d) Form (organization)

Expression of ideas should be clear. Use of ambiguous words, sentences, definitions, examples,
illustrations and quotations are checked under this topic.

Elements to Be Tested in Writing

Testing writing indicates testing writing skills. Writing can be test at different levels.
(A) Testing writing at sentence level

Testing at the sentence level is to be tested for the students' ability to write grammatically
correct sentences. At sentence level the following elements are tested.

(a) Punctuation

Punctuation is an art of inserting marks in writing in order to make the meaning clear. The
proper use of punctuation marks such as capitalization, comma, colons, semi-colons, hyphens,
full stop, dash, parenthesis, quotation marks, exclamation marks and apostrophe helps the writer
organize written language and clarify the relation between words, phrases and clauses. Different
punctuation marks are used for different purposes.

(b) Spelling

Spelling is one indicator of a writer's education. A student who is good at spelling will be good
at using the language in general. Correct spelling is highly valued in writing. At this level
students vocabulary and ability of

spelling is checked. In English, same sound pronounces differently in different position /

context. For example, /p/ is pronounced differently in initial and middle and final position.
Same spelling may represent different pronunciations in different condition and may have
different meanings. For example, the word 'and' is pronounced differently when it is stressed
and unstressed. Either they can write correct spelling or not is checked.

(c) Reference

Reference refers to the use of pronouns in sentences. Appropriate pronouns such as used .
Subjective objective . Reflexive pronoun, reciprocal and possessive . The use of pronouns with
subject verb agreement is important in writing.

(d) Linkage

Linkage means linking words or connectors that connect between sentences, such as since, in
addition and also. Students ability is tested either they can link between different sentences or
not.
 (e) Expansion

The word which expands the sentences, such as although and however and so on. The writer
should have the ability to expand the events or matter.

(f) Structure
A structure refers to the grammatical structure or type of sentences. Different types
of sentences can be used in a piece of writing. So the writer should have the
knowledge of sentence structure such as conditional, reported speech and voice.

(B) Testing Writing at Supra-sentence Level

Testing writing at supra-sentence level means testing the students' ability to produce a
connected piece of writing in the target language. Students should be

able to manipulate words in grammatically correct sentences. The writer's thought, idea should
be clear and communicate clearly in a certain topic.

Writing Process

Since process is one of the key elements leading to a good piece of writing, various academics
have identified and specified steps in the writing process based on theories of Flower and Hayes
(1981)). Raimes (2005,pp.3-42) suggests that the writing process consists of planning, drafting
and revising, while Kunka (2005) suggests that the writing process comprises invention,
collection, organization, drafting, revising and proof reading . Trimmer (2004,pp. 5-7) mentions
that the writing process can be divided into four stages: planning, drafting, revising and
designing. However, Brandon (2005,pp. 29-70) presents a writing process of only three main
steps: prewriting; organizing and developing support; and writing, revising and editing.
Although there are many terms and patterns used in the writing process, the core elements are
similar.
Prewriting

Prewriting is the initial stage of writing which helps students generate ideas and prepares them
to write an essay. At this stage, all ideas are preliminary and subject to change. Techniques for
generating ideas are free-writing or looping, clustering or mind-mapping, brainstorming,
interviewing, reading and note- taking, journal writing, and surfing the Internet. Apart from
generating ideas for an essay, students

should also consider the purpose of writing an essay and readers knowledge of the topic in
order to select appropriate ideas and information for their essays.

Writing

Writing or drafting means producing a preliminary written version from the outline. It is the
way to convert ideas into words. Most writers write straight.

Activities for Writing Skills

Various activities can be done in writing skills. The activities depend on the level of students
and the purposes of teaching writing. Some activities are as follow.

(a) Controlled Writing

Controlled writing activity is carried out under the direct supervision of the teacher-students and
have no freedom to make errors. This type of writing is helpful for the beginners. It includes
combining, reproducing and completing. Combining exercises can join words into sentences,
sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into essays. Such exercises are on the brink of
production. In production exercises students write without originality, what they have learned
orally or read in their textbooks. Reproducing a piece of writing may be exact reproduction of
something read either by copying it or by rewriting it from memory. In completion exercise
some parts of sentences are given and students are required to complete with words or phrase.
The best known completion exercise is "filling the blank".
(b) Guided Writing

In guided writing activities, students can be given some freedom in the selection of lexical
items and structural patterns for their writing exercise. Paragraphing, parallel writing and
developing skeleton into a text type of activities can be done for guided writing.

(c) Free Writing

Learners learn controlled and guided exercises before they attempt to write free writing. The
aim of controlled and guided writing is to make learners to write freely and independently. Free
writing is the final stage on the development of the writing skill. Rivers (1968,p.252) says,
"Free writing refers to the type of writing in any topic which gives complete freedom of
expression. This type of

writing is mainly characterized by the students' freedom selection of vocabulary and structure."
It means student is independent to select words, organize ideas and able to express his /her
thought freely.

Writing free composition requires a careful planning and students should be helped in this stage
too. Pinacus (1993, p.110) defines, " Free writing as the ability to write freely what has been
taught", not "the ability to write anything at all”. It means the writer should write any things
beyond reading materials and given any topic as well. The teacher should help the students with
the choice of topics, which could be based on their interest, their familiarity with the subject
matter and the usefulness of the ideas. Free writing can be classified into four types: narrating,
describing, replying and explaining. Incidental stories are under the narrating, letter, application
are related to replying, giving reasons for something is under the explanation and writing about
people, things, places are under the describing. Shahi (2006) carried out research on "A Study
on the use of Verbs in Free Writing in Grade Eight Students. He selected only one school and
students were 40. His objective was finding errors in the use of verbs. He used two different test
items, story writing and essay writing. From both test items he found that the omission of 'Be'
verb and over generalization to the rules and past form of irregular verb.

Joshi (2011) done research on "Free Writing Proficiency of Higher Secondary Level." Her
research objective was to find writing proficiency between education, other faculty and gender
wise. Her test items were essays as a tool for data collection. In her research 50 students were
 selected. The findings were the students of other faculties (humanity and management) were
better than education faculty. Students were better to use punctuation marks than the use of
other grammatical aspects such as subject verb agreement and spelling. Boys were better than
girls in free writing.

Likewise, Khanal (2011) carried out research on "Free Writing Proficiency of Grade ten
Students." His objectives were finding errors committed by the students to use verb, spelling,
subject verb agreement. His research tool was describing their birth place. He selected 35
students in his research. He found that students committed errors in spelling, sentence
construction and subject verb agreement and the use of specific punctuation.

1.7 Conceptual Framework of the Study

A conceptual framework is the representation of the understanding of the theories by the

researches and his/her own conceptualization of the relationship between different variables.
The study on Secondary Level Students' Proficiency on Free Writing is based on following
conceptual framework.

Proficiency in Free Writing

Parameter of Essay writing

Contents Coherence Organization

Coherence/cohesion
Mechanics

SVO Tense Spelling Preposition

 1.8 Design and Method of the Study

I adopted the survey research design to carry out this research work and adopted quantitative
research methodology as well. Quantitative research methodology is the systematic empirical
investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational
techniques.

Survey is a superficial research which study of an issue or phenomenon. It is the most

commonly used method of investigation in educational research. This research is a branch of
social science. This types of research design gather data on a one shot basic and it is taken as
economical and efficient.

1.9 Population, Sample and Sampling Strategy

The population of the study were the Secondary level students of Mangalmaya Secondary
School. They were the students of Education Faculty and Management Faculty who were
studying in first year. I selected 30 students. Fifteen students were selected from each faculty. I
used simple random sampling procedure to select students. They were selected through lottery
technique.

1.10 Study Area

Geographical environment and background of the subject are also very important. The study
was conducted in Jhapa district. A campus was taken for the data collection. Secondary level
students, studying in Education Faculty and Commerce Faculty were the informants in this
study. Secondary level students writing proficiency and errors in writing were find out in this
research.

1.11 Data Collection Tools and Techniques

Tools are essential elements for the research. In this regard, researcher used the test items for
collecting data . Three essays were given to the respondent for the primary data.

Marking is important because the result of an examination is interpreted on the basis of the
marks assigned. It is a very difficult task for the teacher to assign.
mark objectively in essay type question or writing. The researcher marked the students’ writing
on the basis of essays parameters . Some parameter were adopted to mark the essay objectively.
They were content, coherence, cohesion, and organization

The parameter of the essay writing were broken down into the following marks.

Content Coherence/Cohesion Mechanics Organization Fu

/ Grammar

7 3 2 3 15

1.11 Data Collection Procedure

Selected the students using simple random sampling procedure with lottery technique.

Discussed with students about topics of the essay writing, they were ready to write.

Students wrote essays in the class.

Collected answer sheets from the population after writing.

Data Analysis and Interpretation Procedure

The collected data are analyzed and interpreted descriptively with the help of simple statistical
tools like table, percentage and diagrams. It is quantitative research in nature.
 CHAPTER II

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULT

Table No. 1

Total Free Writing Proficiency

T. Sa. A..M. A .A % A % B. A % Total

30 12.6 11 37% 0 0% 19 63 % 100%

A.M - Average Marks
A.A - Above Average
B.A - Below Average

Students were given three essay writing . The above table shows that the total sample of the
students was 30 and the total average mark was 19 . Thirty seven percent of the students scored
above average marks , No one scored average marks and 63 % students remain below average
marks . In total , proficiency in free writing was not satisfactory . Because, more than 50 %
students were below the average . So it was not good.

Total Proficiency in Grammar

The following table displays total free writing proficiency of question no. 1.

Table No. 2
Total Proficiency in Grammar

Total StudentSpelling % % SVO % Article % Preposition % Punctuation % Total

%
30 161 10% 158 10 332 20% 88 6% 127 47% 784 47% 100%
%
 Table No. 3

Total Proficiency in Question No .1.

Total Faculty A.M= A. Average Average Below Average F. M

Students 4.6

Edu. 4 13% 0 0 11 37%

30
Mgt.. 7 23% 0 0 8 27%

The above table shows the total proficiency in question no. 1 in which 13% students of
Education Faculty obtained above the average, no one crossed the average and 37% students
remain below the average. Likewise, 23% students of Management faculty crossed the average
marks, no one students got average marks and 27% remain below the average.

Table No. 4

Total Proficiency in Question No .2 .

Total Faculty A.M=4 A. Average Average Below Average F.M

Students

Edu. 5 17% 2 7% 8 27%

30
Mgt. 6 20% 1 3% 8 27%

Likewise ,the above table shows the total proficiency in question no. 2 in which 17% students
of Education Faculty obtained above the average ,7% crossed the average and 27% students
remain below the average. Twenty percent students of Management faculty crossed the
average marks, 3% students got average marks and 27% remain below the average.
 Table no. 5

Total Proficiency in Question No. 3.

Total Faculty A.M= A Average Average Below Average F. M

Students 3.5
.
Edu. 2 7% 1 3% 11 37%
30
Mgt. 4 14% 2 6% 9 30%

The same way, the above table shows the total proficiency in question no. 3 in which 7%
students of Education Faculty obtained above the average , three percent crossed the average
and 37% students remain below the average .
Likewise , 14% students of Management faculty crossed the average marks , 6% students got
average marks and 30% remain below the average. It can be conclude that Commerce students
were better than Education students in question 3 also.

Faculty wise Analysis of each Question

In this research, two faculties were included for data collection, i.e. Education and Management
Faculty. The marks obtained by two faculties were analysed separately and average mark was
found out in each question and interpreted individually.

The following table displays analysis of each question of Education Faculty .

Table No.6

Analysis of Question No. 1.

Question Average Mark Above % Average % Below % Total

Average Average %
Q1 4.5 4 27 4 27% 7 46 100%
% %

The above table displays the marks obtained by Education Faculty. In question no. 1 , 27%
students obtained above average marks, 27% students crossed the average marks and 46%
remain below the average . The proficiency in this question was tolerable.
 Table No.7

Analysis of Question No. 2.

Question Averag Above % Average % Below Average % Total %

Mark Average

Q2 4.5 2 13% 4 27% 9 60% 100%

In question no. 2 , the above table shows that 13% students obtained above average marks, 27%
students crossed the average marks and 60% remain below the average . The proficiency in this
question was not tolerable because most of the students were below the average.

Table No.8

Analysis of Question No. 3.

Question Averag Above % Average % Below Average % Total %

Mark Average

Q3 3 6 40% 0 0% 9 60% 100%

Likewise, in question no. 2 , 40% students obtained above average marks, no one gained the
average marks and 60% remain below the average . The proficiency in this question was not
reasonable because above 50% had got below the average.

The following table displays the marks obtained by Management Faculty Each question is
analyzed separately .
 Table No.9

Analysis of Question No. 1.

Question A .mark Above % Average Below Total

Average Average

Q1 4.7 6 40% 1 7% 8 60% 100%

The above table displays that in question no. 1 , 40% students obtained above average marks,
7% students crossed the average marks and 60% remain below the average . The proficiency in
this question was intolerable .

Table No.10

Analysis of Question No. 2.

Question A .mark Above % Average Below Total

Average Average

Q2 4 5 34% 2 13% 8 53% 100%

In question no. 2 , 34% students obtained above average marks, 13% students crossed the
average marks and 53% remain below the average . The proficiency in this question was not
tolerable.

Table No.11

Analysis of Question No. 2.

Question A .mark Above Percentage

Average Below Total
Average % Average

Q3 6 4 27% 2 13% 9 60% 100%

Likewise, in question no. 3, 27% students obtained above average marks, 13% students had
gain the average marks and 60% remain below the average . The proficiency in this question
was not reasonable because above 60% had got below the average . According to faculties wise
analysis , the Management faculty result was not satisfactory.
Findings

Students did not follow the parameter of the essay. The total free writing proficiency of the
students was not found satisfactory . Some students even did not follow the structure of essay.
They did not write topic as well. They were not clear about topic sentence and supporting
details of topic sentence. They presented more than two main idea in one paragraph and wrote
unnecessary sentences and ideas. Organization of ideas was very poor . Between title,
introduction, body and conclusion there should be coherence, cohesion, organization. Sentence,
subject matter should be clear. Ambiguity in sentence and words were found. They did not
write the essay making coherent and cohesion and did not complete the length of essay also..
 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS

3.1 Conclusion

This research consists of different topics and sub – topics through main topic and
different chapter deals with different sub topic and study overall this research. In this
research, the total free writing proficiency of the students was not found satisfactory,
in the sense that students did not complete the length at first. Only 37% students
obtained above average marks, no students got
average marks and 63% students remain below average. Students’ ability were not
found according to their level. It means, their organization of the words, content, use of
examples and presentation was not excellent. Coherence and cohesion also poor.
Students committed errors in use of punctuation . In grammar,10% in tense, 33% in S
VO pattern, 6% in use of article ,15% in preposition and 47% in punctuation by the
students . Students did not use comma properly as well . They did not use comma at
the pause in the sentences. Some students do not follow the structure of essay and
wrote the topics in small letters also.

The total free writing proficiency of the students was not found satisfactory according
to faculty also. In the sense that Education Faculty, in test I ,13% gained above
average mark, and 37% remain below the average mark.
Similarly, in test II, 17% gained above average mark, 7% crossed average marks and
27% remain below the average mark. And in test III, 7% gained above average mark,
3% crossed average marks and 27% remain below the average mark.

In the same way, Commerce Faculty, in test I , 23% gained above average mark, no
one crossed average marks and 27% remain below the average mark. In test II, 20%
gained above average mark, 3% crossed average marks and 27% remain below the
average mark. And in test III, 14% gained above average mark, 6% crossed average
marks and 30% remain below the average mark.

3.2 Recommendations

A teacher is a facilitator of the students. Students are motivated by the teachers. So,
teacher’s role is very important .Teachers should give different types of essay
writing frequently in the classroom and students should be encouraged to
participate in free writing. The students were poor to use punctuation markers
correctly. The students also didn’t use subject-verb agreement and tense
correctly. So, teacher should give different activities to the students about these
areas. Some students left to write essay topics also and students did not follow the
structure of essay writing . So, some guidelines need to given the students about
the essays writing as well.
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Sah, L.M. (2003). Writing proficiency of grade nine students. M.ed thesis, Kathmandu, T.U.
 APPENDIX 1

Name of School : Date:

Name of Student : class :

Questions

a) Write an essay on importance of education at least in 250 words (15) .

b) Write an essay on use of mobile phone at least in 250 words (15) .

c) Write an essay on quality of life at least in 250 words

(15) .

i
 SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

A _ Average
AA _ Above Average
% _ Percent
BA _ Below Average
B. Ed – Bachelor in Education
Dr. – Doctor
e.g. – For example
i.e. – that is

No. – Number
p. – page
Prof. – Professor
S.N. _ Serial Number
St _ Students
T. Sa _ Total Sampling
T.U. _ Tribhuwan University