Problems and Causes in Writing Research in Independent Study Course of English Major Students

Abstract

The objectives of this study were 1) to study problems in writing research
in Independent Study Course of the English major students, Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences at Buriram Rajabhat University (BRU) and
2) to study the causes of the problems. The samples were 70 fourth year
English major students, Faculty Humanities and Social Science, BRU,
semester 1, academic year 2019, selected by adapting the sample size table
(Krejcie& Morgan). The instrument was a questionnaire. The collected data
were analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.
The results showed that over all the students had problems in writing
research in Independent Study course at “moderate” level (x̄= 3.11, S.D.=
0.62). The three most problems were grammatical problems (x̄ =3.27,

S.D.=0.52), followed by content problem (x̄ =3.18, S.D.=0.62) and
sentence structure problems (x̄= 3.12, S.D.=0.66), respectively. The causes
of the problems in writing research in Independent Study course of the
students were found at “moderate” level (x̄= 3.34, S.D.= 0.78). When
considering in aspect, the three most causes of the problems were lack of
practice (x̄ = 3.48, S.D =0.78) followed by Inadequate time (x̄ =3.40,
S.D.=0.80) and lack learner’s motivation (x̄ =3.32, S.D.=0.70), respectively.
In organizing the teaching and learning activities in this course, it should
focus on grammar, content and sentence structure, and there should be more
exercises provided for students to practice writing. In term of time
insufficient, additional appointments may be considered with the students
aside from the study time in the period.