Examining Determinants of Academic Writing Skills Among Female Students in India

Abstract

Writing is one of the most essential parts of a learner's academic and professional journey. The clarity with writing skills can help a student to express themselves with ease. However, in the course of enhancing the flowability of English writing skills, there are several obstacles observed among students where the language is second in line after its native language. There is several literature found where the issue of recurring errors among students when developing writing skills has been pointed out. The study here has observed the lack of literature focusing on female students in India whose English writing skills consist of errors. In India, although English is highly spoken and written, its fluency in terms of academic requirements is subjected only to a few institutions. The late development of writing skills can lead to several difficulties that would cause an impact throughout a learner's life. Further, in India, the female students, especially in rural areas, are often subjected to traditional norms that could affect their writing skills. To understand the perception of English writing skills among Indian female students and the factors that impact on their intention to learn, the study here has been conducted. With a structured questionnaire designed using secondary sources of literature, a total of 25 items measuring different aspects of writing skills have been provided to the students. Using purposive sampling, a total of 250 respondents are collected and analyzed using different statistical tools. The confidence level among the female students in their writing skills is found to be very low. The chi-square tests show significant association with demographics such as age group, area of residence, and marital status. It is interesting to note that the majority are not willing to add extra courses to evolve their current English writing skills. Going further into the understanding of the major factors contributing to this status, the PCA extracted six underlying factors, representing grammatical errors, peer influence, native impact, technical challenges, unwillingness, and intention. In the multiple linear regression conducted to estimate the impact of the five factors on intention to learn in a statistically significant model, an overall variance of 23.2% is reported. The most significant contributor being peer influence causing a positive impact. Native impact, technical challenges, and unwillingness have a negative impact, while grammatical errors interestingly have a positive impact. From this set of results, a number of implications for the future have been established.