Arab Educational Information Network

The purpose of this study was to examine the gender differences regarding the perceived difficulties faced by Saudi university students in English writing in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected through administering surveys to 288 students (143 males and 145 females) and conducting interviews with four teachers (two males and two females). Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and t-test to examine the gender differences. Qualitative data was analysed through thematic analysis. The results showed that correctly spelling English words is the most challenging assignment, while accurately employing English articles is the least difficult. Most importantly, the findings revealed no significant difference between male and female learners in their perceptions of English writing difficulties at the sentence level. While the student questionnaires revealed that students have moderate difficulty with sentence-level issues when writing in English, the teacher interviews revealed that students have high difficulty with all the sentence-level issues. Additionally, the teachers mentioned that one of the factors contributing to the difficulties students have with their English writing is a lack of practice. The limitations and implications of the current study are presented. (Published abstract)