The Impact of a Writing Program on Improving Descriptive Essay Skills among CFY Students

Abstract

This study seeks to examine the challenges and difficulties encountered by students in crafting descriptive essays, evaluate their attitudes toward writing, and investigate the extent to which instructors provide feedback on students’ written work. The research is guided by three primary questions: 1) What are the recurrent issues in students’ descriptive essays? 2) What are students’ attitudes toward writing skills? 3) To what extent do instructors offer feedback on students’ writing? It is hypothesized that students struggle with spelling, grammar, sentence structure, and essay organization. Moreover, it is postulated that students exhibit negative attitudes toward descriptive writing tasks and that feedback from instructors is either minimal or insufficient. The study employs a comprehensive analytical and descriptive methodology, utilizing a mixed-methods approach comprising pretest-posttest evaluations and a structured questionnaire. Participants were randomly selected from first-year science students enrolled in the College of Common First Year at King Saud University in Riyadh. A pretest was administered at the onset of the course to establish a baseline of students’ writing proficiency, followed by targeted intervention and a subsequent posttest to assess progress. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed to instructors to capture their perspectives on students’ attitudes toward essay writing and to evaluate the nature of feedback provided. Data analysis and interpretation were conducted using advanced statistical software to ensure precision and reliability. The findings aim to illuminate the specific challenges students face in descriptive writing, uncover their attitudes toward the skill, and provide actionable insights into improving instructional practices and feedback mechanisms in academic writing pedagogy.