Is Writing an Art or Craft? How Students at the Department of English-Ibri- at University of Technology and Applied Sciences View Writing: An Art, or Craft?

Abstract

Whether Writing is an art or craft is still controversial; some academicians believe that writing is a pure sort of art, while others think it is just a means of making living--craft. Whether it is an art or craft, it remains a means of written communication by which people interact and get their needs fulfilled. This paper explores a group of students’ viewpoints regarding this issue in the classroom. For more details, a questionnaire has been distributed among (21) students in the Foundation Year Program (FY), level (A) at University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Ibri - the Sultanate of Oman. What the researchers have reached is that there is a strong relationship between the two poles of writing: art and craft. Both complement each other to get an excellent piece of writing, though some slight differences appear here and there. Discussion, suggestions, recommendations, and implications will be highlighted throughout this paper.