Writing Ability across Descriptive and Argumentative Genres of Discourse among Moroccan EFL Students

Abstract

This study compares and correlates descriptive and argumentative writing abilities of 80 undergraduate semester six students studying English as a foreign language. To achieve this objective, a writing proficiency test was used to measure the students’ descriptive and argumentative abilities. Subsequently, paired-samples t-tests, Pearson Product-moment correlation, and simple linear regression were run to analyze the data. Although the findings showed that descriptive writing scores are greater than argumentative writing scores, there is still positive correlation between descriptive and argumentative writing (r = .76, p < .001). Correlation between sub-components such as grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, content & organization, and syntax across the two genres ranges respectively from strong to weak levels. The study suggests adopting a sequential teaching through which teachers could start with introducing students to descriptive writing. Subsequently they can progress with argumentative genre, identified as more difficult for these students. Following this sequence would enable students to transfer their good command of writing sub-skills from descriptive to argumentative genre. The study concludes with implications for pedagogy and recommendations for future research.