WRITING SKILLS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

Abstract

Ability to communicate in writing in a foreign language is required for any educated professional in our modern globalized world. It allows people to get a prestigious job, to participate in international projects and exchange programmes, to get education, etc. For that foreign language proficiency level should be higher than the Intermediate one (B2+), including writing skills. It is this level that allows people to live, study or work independently in a country where and when this particular foreign language is used for communication However, the results of examinations aimed at assessing the writing proficiency of Ukrainian school and university students demonstrate that their writing skills are not developed enough and leave much to be desired. Both teachers and learners consider writing to be the most difficult skill of the four main basic skills as it requires control over a number of variables simultaneously, over the content and the form, i.e., to know what to write about and how to write about it. The present article focuses on the specific features of writing which make it challenging, makes an attempt to analyze the writing challenges Ukrainian students face and to present some recommendations about what may be done by teachers of foreign languages to improve the situation.