Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications

The study assesses the English writing level of South Indian native Tamil language post-graduate students. The paper highlights the impact of native language sources in English writing and discusses the strategic implications. The study framed an English writing test instrument applying Bloom’s Taxo...

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Main Author: Bharath M
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2024-12-01
Series:Journal of Language and Cultural Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2024-0020
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author Bharath M
author_facet Bharath M
author_sort Bharath M
collection DOAJ
description The study assesses the English writing level of South Indian native Tamil language post-graduate students. The paper highlights the impact of native language sources in English writing and discusses the strategic implications. The study framed an English writing test instrument applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to assess the level of writing. Quantitatively, 300 randomly sampled written transcriptions were taken for analysis. Qualitatively, a structured oneto-one interview was conducted among 27 language instructors, and 127 transcripts were observed to highlight the usage of native language sources, which resulted in poor writing. It assessed the students’ level in L2 writing as mediocre, which was explained by 74% of the sampled responses. It found that the interference of native language in English writing made students make more mistakes in the order of words, subject-verb agreement, usage of tenses, and application of grammar rules. Further, it discussed the strategic implications for improvement as - a) repetitive incremental practice – teaching structures, tenses, and grammar rules of native and target language, b) conversational instruction – sharing differences in native and target languages, sharing of mistakes and errors, and c) timely feedback – a part of follow up mechanism for assessment.
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spelling doaj-art-93c08ca022a34d4f85e9ad620a1d53422025-01-14T14:22:47ZengSciendoJournal of Language and Cultural Education1339-45842024-12-01123657310.2478/jolace-2024-0020Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implicationsBharath M0Valluvar College of Science and Management, Tamilnadu, IndiaThe study assesses the English writing level of South Indian native Tamil language post-graduate students. The paper highlights the impact of native language sources in English writing and discusses the strategic implications. The study framed an English writing test instrument applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to assess the level of writing. Quantitatively, 300 randomly sampled written transcriptions were taken for analysis. Qualitatively, a structured oneto-one interview was conducted among 27 language instructors, and 127 transcripts were observed to highlight the usage of native language sources, which resulted in poor writing. It assessed the students’ level in L2 writing as mediocre, which was explained by 74% of the sampled responses. It found that the interference of native language in English writing made students make more mistakes in the order of words, subject-verb agreement, usage of tenses, and application of grammar rules. Further, it discussed the strategic implications for improvement as - a) repetitive incremental practice – teaching structures, tenses, and grammar rules of native and target language, b) conversational instruction – sharing differences in native and target languages, sharing of mistakes and errors, and c) timely feedback – a part of follow up mechanism for assessment.https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2024-0020 english writing leveltamil languagenative language interferencetamilnaduesl
spellingShingle Bharath M
Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
Journal of Language and Cultural Education
english writing level
tamil language
native language interference
tamilnadu
esl
title Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
title_full Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
title_fullStr Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
title_full_unstemmed Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
title_short Assessing English writing of South Indian native Tamil students: The mediocre level requires strategic implications
title_sort assessing english writing of south indian native tamil students the mediocre level requires strategic implications
topic english writing level
tamil language
native language interference
tamilnadu
esl
url https://doi.org/10.2478/jolace-2024-0020
work_keys_str_mv AT bharathm assessingenglishwritingofsouthindiannativetamilstudentsthemediocrelevelrequiresstrategicimplications