Teachers’ Perspectives on the Main Constraints Behind Secondary School Students’ Failure in Writing Paragraphs

Abstract

It has unfortunately become a fact that most secondary school students in Algeria have a remarkable weakness in writing and that they even fail to write short paragraphs. From this premise, this study aims at investigating, from teachers of English perspectives, the main constraints that hinder them from writing paragraphs. So as to explore the hypothesis which states that students‟ limited vocabulary register, ignorance of grammar rules and lack of practice are the main constraints behind secondary school students‟ failure in writing paragraphs, the quantitative approach is used based on submitting a questionnaire to a sample of (20) teachers of English who work in the secondary schools of Metlili‟s district, Algeria. The obtained results from the teachers‟ questionnaire strongly boost the idea that having a large vocabulary size, knowing grammar rules and doing much practice have an important role in enhancing students‟ level in writing in general and writing paragraphs in particular. Therefore, relying on these results, the research hypothesis is confirmed, that is to say, secondary school students‟ limited vocabulary register, their ignorance to grammar rules and their lack of practice in writing are the main constraints behind their failure in writing paragraphs. Accordingly, teachers of English in the district of Metlili should do their best to work on overcoming the aforementioned constraints owing to the significant role they have in refining their students' level in writing paragraphs.