Evaluation of EFL Students’ Writing in Examinations : Focus on Form or Content

Abstract

The present study attempted to evaluate EFL students’ writing in examinations. More specifically, it investigated EFL Master One students’ primary focus when writing examination essays in content modules regarding the aspects of form and content in addition to the reasons of their focus. Thus, two basic hypotheses were adopted in this research. The first one speculated that in writing exam essays in content modules, EFL students focus on content at the expense of form. The second hypothesis maintains that the main factors determining EFL students’ focus are the lack of writing proficiency and effective training. To verify the validity of the hypotheses, two research instruments were used to collect data: two questionnaires and an analysis of syllabus design exam papers’. The teachers’ questionnaire was addressed to eleven teachers of content modules and, the students’ questionnaire was addressed to sixty two Master One students at the University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia , Jijel, in addition to the analysis of exam papers to have concrete evidence and enable us to compare the results obtained to those of the questionnaires. Our major findings revealed that students tended to focus on content while writing their essays in content module examinations. This focus is due to psychological, linguistic, and situational, in addition to the lack of effective training to write in content modules.