Arab EFL Learners’ Writing Dilemma at Tertiary Level

Abstract

There is a general trend among researchers and speakers at conferences and symposia that Arab EFL Learners are primarily responsible for their weak writing performance. Educational policies usually evade criticism. This study is an attempt to provide an additional interpretation of Arab EFL learners’ writing problems. It posits that for the most part writing problems are caused by the employment of outdated approaches and resources. To this end, content analysis has been applied to existing writing courses in three Arab Universities. The examination of these courses has revealed that English Departments adopted approaches and materials   characteristic of the 1940s and 1950s. Thus unless the new the developments into the linguistic theory are   incorporated into the writing syllabus, Arab EFL learners will continue to suffer from writing problems.