EFL Graduate Students’ IELTS Writing Problems and Students’ and Teachers’ Beliefs and Suggestions Regarding Writing Skill Improvement

This study aimed at finding the EFL graduate and postgraduate writing problems. Moreover, it sought teachers and students’ beliefs regarding why they had some problems and where the sources of problems could be detected so that they would be taken into account and rectified. To answer the research questions the participant were given IELTS task1 and task 2 writing mock tests and then they were interviewed. Some university professors teaching writing classes were also interviewed to find out why students had some problems regarding the writing tasks assigned and performed. The findings revealed that PhD candidates outperformed their M.A students counterparts and they could achieve higher overall and component scores. The differences and discrepancies between groups were significant but the differences within groups were not significant. The scores achieved by the students through tasks 1 and 2 revealed their writing problems as well as their strengths. The unstructured interviews conducted with the students and their teachers could elicit some potential sources of trouble and some inspirations and eyeopening facts were gained through the interviews. It is hoped the findings of this study can help students improve their writing skills and teachers can take some measures to help students learn how to improve their writing.