ETHIOPIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY ENTRANTS’ WRITING SKILLS IN ENGLISHLANGUAGE: THE CASE OF HAWASSA UNIVERSITY ENTRANTS

Abstract

This study was intended to examine the Ethiopian public university entrants’ writing skills in
English language with reference to Hawassa University entrants. Specifically, the research was
meant to examine the entrants’ writing abilities to discuss relevant contents, organize contents
appropriately and use accurate grammar, appropriate vocabulary and correct mechanics. To this
end, 245 students enrolled at Hawassa University in 2014/15 were made to take part in the study.
As to the selection of the study participants, firstly, one department/program was selected
randomly from each of the seven colleges and the Institute of Technology by drawing lots. Then,
convenient sampling technique was used to include the participants of the departments/programs
chosen; only those students who attended the class during the test administration took part. The
participants were asked to write an argumentative essay of five paragraphs. In order to determine
the students’ writing abilities on each of the five aspects of writing, the cut-off points suggested
by Heaton (1990) were employed. The study found that the students are very poor on each of the
aspects of writing. Lastly, recommendations have been made accordingly.