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International Students Usually Have Significant Difficulties Writing Effective Academic Essays in English Mainly Because of Their Low Grammar and Vocabulary Proficiency Levels. Discuss.

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International Students Usually Have Significant Difficulties Writing Effective Academic Essays in English Mainly Because of Their Low Grammar and Vocabulary Proficiency Levels. Discuss.
Academic writing seems to be a huge challenge for most international students. Students usually suffer from many problems such as grammar, vocabulary, organization and so on. According to Harris’s(2010) study of argumentative essay writing, he found that there are many differences between native and non-native students in academic writing, while some people claim that writing styles and conventions are the biggest problem (Sondek,2008 cited in Linn, 2009). This text began with analysing some arguments from the studies by Linn and Harris, and then combines some opinions by myself. After that suggests that grammar, vocabulary and different writing styles are significant problems for overseas students. It then claims that writing styles with conventions are much harder than others.

Nowadays with an increasing numbers of international students, majority of them suffer from the problem about writing an academic essay in English, more and more people study about it. Some scholars note that international students usually have problems to write essays in a new language because of the lack of grammar and vocabulary. Holopainen(1997,p.119 cited in Harris, 2010) claimed that “grammar and lexical inappropriateness” is an important reason in international students who often failed in writing. What’s more, Harris’s(2010,P.67) research between domestic and non-native students had found that English native speakers rarely make mistakes in grammar, but to overseas students, the moment of reversing different form order and even missing subjects together is fairly easy to be seen.

In contrast, Linn(2009,P.1) explored the reasons why overseas students who failed to writing are the different request of academic readers than making mistakes in grammar. As for me, it is my first time to go aboard for studying. I will pay more attention to the language including vocabulary and so on, which I believe that I can do well with it in the future, however, the different culture and



References: Harris, C., 2010. Argumentative Essay Writing: Differences between Domestic and International Students. Journal of Applied Study, 22(3), Pp.66-69. Linn, C., 2009. Investigating the Differences in Academic Writing between UK and Non-UK Writers. Journal of Applied Study, 20(2), Pp.26-28.

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