Importance Of Writing In English

In this globalization era, the importance of proficiency in English has become very significant. This is very evident from the various job advertisements that put English as a prerequisite in order to apply for most posts. Since English is being highlighted in Malaysia in the recent years, much focus has been placed on the achievement in this subject.

One of the components in the English proficiency is writing. Graham and Perin (2007) say that good writing skills are indicators of academic success. A good writing skill is also a basic necessity for a person to be able to play an important role in the global economy. A wide range of high ranking jobs require employees to write reports on tasks accomplished and job documentations. According

This is on par with the age-old notion that literacy traditionally means, to be able read and write. (Kevin, 2000). At an early school education, reading and writing is emphasized. The literacy component is only introduced much later. This in fact, stresses on the importance of the writing skill. A person’s ability to read and write defines his/her literacy level. Intellectuals have argued this perspective on literacy. They are of opinion that literacy levels should define a broader perspective. It should include culture aspects to make it more dynamic, (Kevin, 2000). Nevertheless, the importance of writing and reading should never be ignored. These two skills are the core of learning a

According to Faridah Serajul Haq et.al (2001), findings from a study carried out on students from a secondary school showed that students were quite good in the organizing of the ideas. The area most of them had problems in, was the writing conventions. One other reason that hinders students from producing a good piece of writing is the lack of general knowledge. Students nowadays do not have the habit of reading for general knowledge. They find reading a waste of time or a very passive activity. Social networking has replaced books .Teenagers nowadays spend all their time on Facebook, Instagram and other websites. Sadly, while these sites do encourage writing, the proper use of language is often lacking.

In his article ‘Writing – The Forgotten Skill’, Bowen (2004) has indicated that writing is definitely not a favorite among both teachers and students. He further confers that many English literature lessons carried out around the world devote less time to teaching the writing skills to students. More attention is spent on the reading, listening and speaking components. Teachers attribute this to the lack of time. Teachers only have five periods a week within which reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar and literature need to be taught. At least a double period is needed to carry out a writing lesson. Apart from this, the fact that teachers have to spend a good deal of time on correcting students’