Judith Abegil D.

Dildig XII-Galilei

The State of Academic Writing in Philippine Context

Writing has been given emphasis in the Philippine educational system

since teaching and learning of English as a second language for Filipino

learners had been enhanced. It has been proved by the implementation of

Republic Act 10533 also known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act. Due to

this law, the Department of Education (DepEd) has tried to improved the

academic performance of Filipino students by implementing the K-12 program

which consists of many subjects that has to do with academic writing.

One of the academic skills of students is having effective and

comprehensive academic writing. What is academic writing? Academic writing

is a particular style of expression that researchers use to define their areas of

expertise. Through writing, the writers can state what they want to say with the

help of supporting details which helps the writers prove their ideas. Ekan

(2017) stated that academic writing was done to enhance the skills of the

learners in writing.

What is the purpose of academic writing? In accordance to Jaype in her

blog about “Academic Writing in Philippine Context”, the purpose of academic

writing is to train the mind of every student. It transforms understandings

about English as an international language for academic purposes. As stated

by Saladino (2009) in his thesis, “Students reflection on their English

academic writing as bases in packaging or process-oriented writing manual”,

writing is one of the highest forms of academic language competence,

concept development, and abstraction.

However, despite the academic writing opportunities offered to the

students, it has been observed that student’s academic writing performance

remains to he deficient. Teachers continue to complain about student’s poor

quality in essays since some students does not follow the aspects of

academic writing. Such concerns were mentioned in the study of Wang (2004)

which is “English magazine motivation improved EFL writing skill”.

In the study of Pablo and Lasaten named, “Writing Difficulties and Quality

of Academic Essays of Senior High School Students” in the year 2018, it can

be observed that the students’ writings have no sense of logical sequence of

ideas and details. Dalky (2007) stated that students often complain that

constructing an essay is a great challenge for them. He also added that

students have difficulty in structuring paragraphs, specifically in developing

one main idea.

In a survey done in the City of Laoag, it stated that the overall quality of

the academic essays written by the students falls within the poor to fail level.

Moreover, the study concludes that the students in the Schools Division of

Laoag City have difficulties in all areas of academic writing. Does the students

really do not have enough knowledge in terms of academic writing? In the

study, “Reading and Writing Essay” of Wenyu and Yang (2008), it was stated

that most students are aware of the importance of coherence in writing but
they find it difficult to achieve. Some students are good in talking in English

language but they cannot apply it in academic writing.

Due to this lack of knowledge of the Filipino students in academic writing,

the Department of Education (DepEd) offered a subject in Senior High School

which is English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP). What is

EAPP and how can it help the students? English for Academic and

Professional Purposes (EAPP) is a course that trains students in academic

writing. It focuses on developing students’ academic writing skills in different

disciplines. Thus, the academic writing of every learners will be enhanced and

guided since the status of academic writing in the Philippine context is low.