Epistemological and Ecological Perception of the Roots of EFL Writing Problems: A Phenomenology and a Path Analysis

Delving into the sources of foreign language writing problems is usually neglected. This necessitates more scrutiny of finding out where these problems originate from. To this end, the present study sought to follow a two-fold aim finding the roots of the Iranian EFL learners’ writing problems, and discovering how these roots are interconnected with each other and come up with a corresponding model. In the qualitative part of the study, a phenomenological research tradition was adopted and 20 EFL learners were selected through purposive sampling. In the quantitative part, through convenience sampling 120 language learners from an English language school in Gorgan, Iran, were selected to be the participants of the study. A semi-structured interview and a researcher-developed questionnaire were used as the instruments for data collection. The results obtained from the analysis of data revealed that writing problems originate from various sources, mainly linguistic, personal, epistemological and ecological, and enjoy a model in which epistemological, linguistic and ecological sources have direct effects and personal source has indirect effect on writing problems. Recognition of epistemological and ecological sources as a novel finding can make teachers revisit their view of these less-approached issues.