UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF ACADEMIC WRITING TASKS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised of students in the Faculty of Education, University of Benin. The sample size of the study was made up of one hundred and twenty (120) students randomly selected from three course areas from the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology. A questionnaire titled " vii Undergraduate Students' Perception of Academic Writing Tasks" was used to collect data. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation for the research questions and t-test and ANOVA for the hypotheses. Three questionnaires and two hypotheses were raised to guide the study. The results of this study indicated that students preferred working on objective tests. Many students also have the view that academic writing is difficult and is challenging. From the results of this study, tests are the most popular form of academic writing tasks among students with term papers being the least. Students perceived peer review and reading materials as very helpful in improving their writing abilities. In addition, it was revealed that students differ in their attitudes towards academic writing tasks based on academic level and sex . Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended among others that more writing opportunities be provided to students in writing.