Challenges of Report Writing Skills Among University Students

Abstract

Writing skill is one of the four basic skills in English which is used widely in various assessments including report writing in universities. Although students are expected to have learnt the skill and ability to prepare reports in the earlier education level, many students still struggle to write effectively. Thus, this study was conducted to explore the challenges faced by the university students in report writing tasks. A total of 100 respondents from a technical university in Malaysia participated in this pilot study. A questionnaire was distributed to the respondents via Google Form. The data was analyzed and tabulated to explore the challenges faced by the respondents. Based on the analysis, it was found that even though the majority of the students admitted that they were familiar with the report writing tasks, they still faced problems in writing the reports efficiently. Among the important factors identified included confusion with the types, language issues and lack of practice. The respondents also suggested that reading or finding more information, practising report writing more frequently and seven other factors as effective ways to improve report writing abilities. This study also hopes that students and educators will look into this matter seriously as this ability is important not only in universities but also at the workplace.