ABSTRACT
This descriptive-qualitative study has determined the facilitating and hindering factors experienced by teachers and learners in writing essays as bases for in-service training in private schools in the Municipality of Dumangas. It was found out that the facilitating factors of learners were their experience and knowledge, environmental factors, and receiving feedback; while the facilitating factors of teachers were setting clear instructions, learners’ motivation, choosing relatable and interesting topics, and giving feedback. The hindering factors of learners included expressing ideas, selecting appropriate words and sentence structure, lack of motivation, lack of resources, distractions and limited teachers’ support, and lack of practice and exposure to writing; while the teachers’ hindering factors included lack of real-time interaction, inability to provide feedback, difficulty with information gathering, lack of interest, and limited vocabulary and time constraint.
Keywords: Facilitating Factors, Hindering Factors, Writing English Essays, Learners’ Experiences, Teachers’ Experiences, In-Service Training for Teachers
INTRODUCTION
English serves as a bridge between diverse cultures that facilitates international dialogue in various fields such as education, business, science, and technology. This makes it an essential tool for anyone to engage in global conversations or pursue opportunities in an interconnected world.
Ilmu (2015) asserts that English, as an international language, and is one of the most important languages globally, most especially in the field of teaching and learning. Also, English is vital as it helps people to communicate effectively and internationally with one another either oral or written.
Additionally, the act of writing encompasses not only the generation of thoughts to be written but also the skillful arrangement of various aspects of writing. Essays can be written for different purposes, such as to inform audience, persuade them, tell a story, or analyze a subject (Altunkaya & Ayranci, 2020).
Rosayda and Apoko (2023) state that nobody can learn a language without acquiring first vocabulary that highlights the importance of vocabulary development in language learning. Therefore, it is accepted that one cannot learn a language effectively without developing a vocabulary foundation. Vocabulary, then, plays an essential role in reading, speaking, listening, and writing in particular. Inadequate vocabulary can cause lack of effective communication and expression of feelings in both speaking and writing in general. A person with sufficient vocabulary speaks, read, listen, and write with ease.
In writing, English has been used by millions of people in the world and by literary artists around the world. Filipinos are good in communicating using English language however some lack mastery of English vocabulary. Ever since, many individuals particularly learners struggle to express their thoughts and ideas in writing using the English language because of insufficiency of English language vocabulary (Ilmu, 2015).
Writing essays using English vocabulary is considered one of the challenges that learners are facing nowadays. Lack of knowledge of vocabulary means that learners will possibly have a difficult time expressing their thoughts in composing sentences. Indeed, learners are facing challenges with mastery in vocabulary. Furthermore, some factors in learning vocabulary are lack of resources, environmental factors, and lack of motivation (Reskiawan et al., 2020).
In addition, Rosayda and Apoko (2023), assert that vocabulary mastery such as word pronunciation, spelling, and determination of word meaning were the learners’ weaknesses.
The study of Andriani and Sriwahyuningsih (2020), states that there are internal and external influences that affect learners’ mastery of the vocabulary. One of the external factors that can affect their vocabulary mastery is environment in which learners struggle because of the absence of someone to listen, support, and encourage them. Another external factor is embarrassment. In contrast, there are also facilitating factors that help learners with their English vocabulary mastery.
The researcher has been observing that some of the learners’ vocabulary are not sufficient enough to express their ideas and thoughts in writing essays. She, then, believes that poor vocabulary can affect learners’ performance in writing essays. Researchers’ observations need scientific data for support, that’s why, the researcher conducted research study that concentrated on hindrances and facilitating factors in writing essays using English Vocabulary among Grade 10 learners from private schools.
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