Motivation for the task

Motivation is an important factor that contributes to writing. Students who are motivated for the written task are more likely to produce a better text than those who are less motivated. Motivation explains ―why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and how hard they are going to pursue it.‖ (Dornyei, 2001:8).

It might be worth mentioning here that teaching writing as a module at the Department of English at MU, is a formidable task. Teachers are often discouraged to teach such a complex and time-consuming task because of the large number of students and the belief among teachers that students are often reluctant to practise

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writing unless it is an obligatory homework or for exam purposes. One of the teachers (T1) explained her point of view as follows:

―I have been teaching writing here since 90‟s, and to teach writing for a large number of people is no doubt a hard and time-consuming task. Also students mainly do not show much interest in practising writing except for a few of them who might have some personal reasons to improve their writing, but most of the students are practising this skill just to pass it or to get marks for their homework assignments.‖

Another teacher (T2) added, ―In writing classes only a few students participate in the class. The rest are just sitting passively giving an indication that writing for them is not that important, or some of them are maybe shy. All they need is just to pass it.

Teaching writing to such students puts more demands on teachers especially with the short time given for the course.‖

On part of the students, however, the lack of motivation to write as expressed by the poor writer, S3, indicated that writing was not important after graduation when she would become a teacher. She said: ―I think writing is not important for teachers.

They don‟t need in teaching. In the school we did not take writing a lot. They gave us more another skills than writing. They gave us that an essay should have three parts, introduction, body and conclusion. They explained us that reading and speaking and grammar are important.‖ This stance could be an influence of past learning experience. It was understood that writing was neglected by S3‘s teachers and in turn she neglected it in her own university courses. S2, on the other hand, also showed her lack of motivation to practise writing saying, ―When I will be a teacher I will not teach writing. Writing is not easy to learn or teach. I hate spelling. I will just teach grammar or anything. I don‟t want my students to laugh on me if I learn them bad writing.‖

This belief of unimportance of writing for S2 and S3 upon graduation and the unwillingness to be involved in teaching it as they become teachers might account for their poor motivation to practise and improve this skill. Therefore, they believed that other aspects or skills such as grammar or reading were more important if they chose to work as teachers after graduation.

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Different from the attitude shown above, the other two good writers were motivated to learn and practise the skill of writing due to different reasons. S6, for example, stated that she was interested in writing as an activity, and in developing her writing skills because she was planning to pursue a career as a translator after graduation.

She explained that being a successful translator required good command of English writing and enthusiasm to improve the writing skills. She said, ―Writing is one of my hobbies in both Arabic and English, also it is important for me to be able to write well in English because I am planning to work as a translator and I can earn more money and become independent. That is the reason why I am working hard to improve my written and spoken English.‖ The other good writer, S9, had another motive to develop his skills in English in general and in writing in particular. In the interview, he made it clear that his prospective career gave him the enthusiasm to work hard and improve his writing in English. He said, ―I like English, and I love to practise the language especially with the native speakers. I want to carry on with the foreign company after graduation next year, and my writing skills are so important, and there is more chance to earn more with foreign companies than being a school teacher.‖ Moreover, the two good subjects stated that writing was taught adequately at school and their teachers had emphasised this skill and had given them sufficient in-class practice and homework.

From what have been said above, the subjects had different perceptions about English learning in general and about acquiring good writing skills in particular.

These perceptions shaped their attitude and enthusiasm to improve their writing skill.

The poor writers were not motivated to develop their writing skills for reasons related to the unimportance of writing as it was less emphasised by their teachers at school and consequently they saw it unimportant after graduation. The good writers‘

motivation to develop their writing skills (apart from the fact that they both liked writing as an activity) was driven by reasons related to more successful future careers upon graduation.

In the next section, a description and comparison of the approaches and writing strategies used by these four subjects across the writing task will be investigated, evaluated and analysed.

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