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Investigating Gaps in Police Narratives
Abstract
Report writing is a major form of communication in the law enforcement; hence, professional writing skills are mandatory among the police. Though empirical studies suggest that police officers are confronted with inadequate report writing skills, little is known about how the report writing difficulties of the police manifest in their written narratives. Hence, using qualitative inquiry, this study analyzed, described, and interpreted the gaps or errors in written police narratives. One hundred twenty (120) police blotter narratives written by police investigators in three municipal police stations were analyzed to look into errors in grammar, mechanics, and lexis. Findings revealed that grammatical gaps are composed of errors on sentence construction, verb usage, connective, pronoun, plural noun, and preposition; mechanical gaps include errors on punctuation, capitalization, and spelling; and lexical gaps are inappropriate word choice and improper word form. These findings offer manifold academic and professional intervention ideas that would help address the report writing issues among the police.
... Since legal discourse requires a specific type of register that is far different from the general language, police reports should be written following the standards of professional and technical writing (Pujante, 2021). Wallace and Roberson (2009) argued that accuracy, completeness, and impartiality should be the principles of a police officer when writing reports. ...
... In the Philippine context, Pujante (2021) claimed that one of the most important and yet often ignored jobs of police officers is documentation and reporting. Cetkovic (2013) argued that police agencies in Britain have a longstanding practice to use excessively formal language distinguished by its verbosity, complicated structures of sentences and overuse of passive voice. ...
... While many studies explore the gaps and problems present in police reports (Pujante, 2021;Redwine, 2023;Cetkovic, 2017;Wallace and Roberson 2009;Carr et. Al, 1980 andGregory et.al, 2011), few researches (Sumaljag, 2018) only explore the moves as to how police reports are crafted and the linguistic features that constitute the police report. ...
This study identifies the various syntactical errors of the fifty (50) freshmen B.S. Criminology students of the University of Mindanao in Davao City. Specifically, this study aims to answer the following: (1) What are the common errors present in the argumentative essays of the respondents? (2) What are the reasons for the existence of these errors? This study is descriptive-qualitative. It also uses error analysis to highlight the syntactic errors in the participants' compositions. The fifty essays are subjected to error analysis. Errors are classified based on Chanquoy’s
Classification of Writing Errors. Furthermore, Hourani’s Common Reasons of Grammatical Errors Checklist was also used to determine the common reasons for the identified syntactical errors. A focus group discussion is also done to create a meaningful interpretation of data and to solicit further ideas from the participants. Findings show that students’ most common errors are in the grammatical aspect. In the grammatical aspect, students have more frequently committed errors in the verb aspect (tense, subject agreement, and auxiliary and linker choice) compared to spelling and punctuation aspects. Moreover, there are three topmost reasons for committing errors in the paragraph: mother tongue interference, the incomprehensibility of the grammar rules, and the incomprehensibility of the writing mechanics. Despite the difficulty of learning English as a second language, students are still very motivated to master the concepts and applications of the language.
With this study, 105 public order police officers in the national police forces were surveyed in order to assess their needs when using English on the job. In other words, this study aimed at examining the needs, functions and problems of 105 police officers serving at the department of public order. The findings from the questionnaire with open ended questions displayed that, (1) speaking and listening are the most important skills, (2) four language skills are moderately difficult, (3) there are motivational factors important to learn English, and (4) the functional use of English is important for the public order police officers. Recommendations and pedagogical implications were suggested.
This paper aims to investigate the self-reported writing problems of Filipino learners of English Language. A total of sixteen (16) Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) students of Technological University of the Philippines participated in this study. An instrument consisting of two parts was used: Part I asked for background information. Part II asked the students to write on a given topic. Second instrument is a checklist. The checklist used was adapted from Kamimura (2000) as cited in Mojica (2010). Writing difficulties were coded into three before writing, while writing and post writing. The results of the students' report shows that students are likely to think critically as they advance to the next writing stage. On the other hand, post-writing stage obtained a highest mean, showing that students have more attention to the content, audience, grammar, vocabulary, and the final output.
In this study, the researcher used a 5 scale scoring rubric employed by McCann (1989) and Nussbaum and Kardash (2005) as a tool to gauge the overall quality of 60 first year students’ writing tasks. The researcher also used a questionnaire to measure the level of students’ writing anxiety. Moreover, a semi structure interview is used to investigate the writing difficulties encountered by Thai EFL law students. The results of students’ writing tasks provided the valuable understandings that would assist Thai EFL teachers to understand their students’ weaknesses. Such valuable description can be used to help Thai EFL teachers improve their teaching activities to meet the demands of their students to develop their writing competences (Flower - Hayes, 1981; Leighton - Gierl; 2007). Knowledge about university students’ difficulties with writing is not sufficiently descriptive to effectively identify the right features of students’ problems with writing. There is a critical need to know more about the difficulties experienced by Law students, when they compose essays, in order to assess the overall quality of the Law students’ writing essays. A 5 scale scoring rubric employed by McCann (1989) and Nussbaum and Kardash (2005) was adopted to gauge the overall quality in this research study. Findings revealed that Law students’ writing tasks had weaknesses on various aspects, which lead to ineffective writing. Moreover, Law students experienced the high level of writing anxiety which prevent writing essays effectively.
Writing is an important skill for language production. However, it is considered a difficult skill, particularly in English as a second language (ESL) contexts where students face many challenges in writing. Therefore, the present study was conducted with an aim to investigate problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners' writing and factors that hinder their writing skills. It also aimed at obtaining suggestions on how to improve Pakistani ESL learners' writing skills. For this purpose, focus groups of Pakistani English language teachers'and undergraduate ESL learners were conducted. Writing samples were also collected from 30 ESL undergraduate learners to find the major problems in their writing. The interviews and essays were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings reveal that the major problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners' writing are insufficient linguistic proficiency (including command over grammar, syntax and vocabulary), writing anxiety, lack of ideas, reliance on L1 and weak structure organization. These challenges are influenced by various factors including untrained teachers, ineffective teaching methods and examination system, lack of reading and writing practice, large classrooms, low motivation and lack of ideas. The study also sheds light on the remedial measures such as increased reading, conscious and incidental vocabulary teaching, writing practice, trained teachers, reforms in the examination system, and writing competitions.
Writing is considered a productive skill and useful tool for learning process. It is the most used skill in evaluating students’ performance in almost all levels of education. In Bangladesh, tertiary level students still face enormous writing problems in English. The present study aims to explore writing problems of non-English major undergraduate students at a private university in Bangladesh. The study was conducted on 89 non-English major undergraduate students from different departments studying at Stamford University Bangladesh. The data were taken through document collection and questionnaire. Moreover, a semi-structured interview on twelve teachers has been conducted to reflect their attitudes and opinion on students’ English writing problems. In addition, a few recommendations are provided on the basis of the result. This study could help the teachers to resolve the problems and find some strategies to improve students’ writing in English.
The student writing difficulties cannot be attributed to one factor but a myriad of factors, including colonialism and apartheid, which were instrumental in the marginalisation of blacks in South Africa. The problems of underprepared teachers, ineffective teaching of writing in schools which also provided fewer writing activities and fewer opportunities for learning in a second, third and fourth language, are some of the factors discussed in this article. The article argues that drastic measures should be made to address the scourge of poor writing skills manifested in the writing of English Second Language students.
DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p377
This study investigated the English language needs, motivations and attitudes of a random sample of 223 police cadets studying at King Fahd Security College in Saudi Arabia. The analysis of the questionnaire results showed that only cadets with degrees in humanities received English instructions. The cadets selected speaking and listening as the most important skills and studying English for security purposes. As regards their motivations, the significant correlation between almost all the instrumental and integrative variables provided evidence to the integration of the two types of motivations which substantiates the importance of both types in English learning. Statements describing negative attitudes toward the English culture did not statistically correlate with the other statements that constitute the cadets' positive attitudes toward English learning, which confirmed their positive attitudes toward both English learning and its culture. The significant correlations between the cadets’ English perceived needs and their instrumental motivations supported the argument that ESP learners study English for utilitarian purposes.
With the rapid development of the global tourism industry, designing ESP-based curricula is now more vitally needed than ever. To work towards this goal, analyzing learners' problems and needs has become merely unavoidable. Therefore, this study aimed at examining the needs, functions and problems of 46 tourist police serving in different workplaces in Jordan. A questionnaire was used for this purpose and data were collected and analyzed. The results revealed that speaking and listening are the most important skills, followed by reading and writing. Concerning the English language functions, the results indicated that general conversation, answering questions and solving problems, then providing services were the most important functions. The results also showed that speaking too fast in English by foreign tourists is the most serious problem for Jordanian tourist police. The other difficulties they encountered included, using inappropriate English in speaking, lexis shortage and inability to use grammar for writing. Data analysis showed that tourist police faced problems with English language skills especially, listening, conversation and reading respectively. Recommendations and pedagogical implications were suggested.
The aim of this study is to identify university students’ writing problems in English language and to suggest ways of solving those problems. The study was conducted in the Teachers’ College, and the College of Education, Nile Valley University, North Sudan in 2014. The research method used was the descriptive research method. A sample of 20
English language students were selected using a simple random sampling procedure. They were instructed to write a composition of about 250 -300 words on “ A description of my own home town/village”. The students’ compositions were reviewed twice by 10 English language instructors. The aim was to identify the errors and mistakes made by the students. The findings reveal that those university students have various writing problems: language problems at the levels of morphology and syntax ; usage errors , and mechanical mistakes, that is, spelling, punctuation and capitalization, lack of several writing development skills , cognitive problems and graphomotor problems.. In the light of these findings a number of recommendations have been made : It is always helpful to tell learners to revise their written work aloud. When they speak, they will make natural pauses and this will help them in punctuation. Spelling mistakes can be corrected by using dictionaries or spellcheckers. Usage mistakes and grammar mistakes will eventually disappear, if the students read extensively in English.
Key Words: writing problems, grammar mistakes, usage mistakes , mechanical mistakes
This article discusses the academic writing challenges of undergraduate students at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), South Africa. It examines challenges such as lack of a mastery of academic writing conventions, analysis of writing topics, using writing to construct social identities; ability to research and apply knowledge across different context and poor sentence skills. It also focuses on the implications of these challenges for students’ academic development and possible strategies to address these challenges. The article draws on sustained interviews with twenty 2nd year students, 1st year student reflections and discussions with four Communication lecturers. The data revealed that academic writing challenges of students in universities of technology are consequences of students’ linguistic and general literacy backgrounds, their attitudes toward academic writing and the privileging of middle-class literacy practices in South African higher education. To mitigate these challenges, this article proposes the following strategies: the integration of academic literacies in disciplinary curricula, the promotion of multimodalities of the teaching and assessment as well as collaboration between language lecturers and core course specialists. It also recommends intensive academic reading and writing workshops, and increased formative feedback.
The purpose of this study was to determine what difficulties King Saud University students encounter when learning to write academic English and to differentiate between students' learning needs and objectives. The sample consisted of 50 postgraduate students enrolled in King Saud University during the academic year 2009-2010. Analysis of the data showed that English as a second language (ESL) students face many difficulties and stresses in their academic writing, such as difficulty distinguishing between spoken and written English, making an outline before writing a draft, identifying the skills needed for successful writing, and avoiding plague words and phrases.
The present study investigated the sentence-level errors of freshmen students at three proficiency levels and the aspects of writing that raters focused on while rating the essays. It views errors as valuable information for the following: For teachers, as it clues them on students' progress; for researchers as it gives them valuable data as to how language is acquired or learned; for learners, as it enables them to reflect on their learning. The data for the present study is based on the data collected for a previous study. One hundred fifty essays written by freshmen college students on their first week of classes in five private schools in Metro Manila (30 for each participating school) were collected, word-processed, and subjected to rating and coding or errors. Most of the findings of the present study corroborate the findings of previous studies on error analysis and essay evaluation—that sentence-level errors have a significant role in essay scores. The raters still have the grammar accuracy model when checking essays, although it is just considered secondary to other aspects of writing such as the ability to address the prompt and organize the ideas logically.
English academic writing has long been Chinese university students' most awkward language skill, something which is especially true of engineering students. Since the Excellent Engineer Education and Training Program was launched at the tertiary level all over China in 2010, great emphasis has been placed on the cultivation of engineering students' English academic writing skills. In such an educational context, the present study was undertaken via a survey of 285 engineering sophomores, to gain a thorough knowledge of engineering students' difficulties in English writing. The findings indicate that the difficulties that engineering students have in English academic writing lie in three aspects, i.e. content, structure and language. It was also found that lack of language knowledge is the severest problem for engineering students to undertake writing tasks, with content presentation being the second difficult and structure planning the last. Hence, teachers are suggested to take into consideration engineering students' English writing difficulties, and take effective pedagogical measures to remove the barriers to successful academic writing.
Over the centuries, much has been written about the language of the law. The language of lawyers is archaic and conservative. It is full of Latin and French. It is wordy and redundant, pompous and dull, and either highly precise or maddeningly indeterminate. Perhaps the most interesting suggestion is legal language is a myth, in that it is really just ordinary language with a great deal of technical terminology. Some of these assertions have more than a kernel of truth, others are complete myths, and yet others should be relegated to that status as quickly as possible.
Admirably clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful-unfortunately, these adjectives rarely describe legal writing, whether in the form of briefs, opinions, contracts, or statutes. In Legal Writing in Plain English, Bryan A. Garner provides lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. The book encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and improve editing skills. In essence, it teaches straight thinkingâa skill inseparable from good writing. Replete with common sense and wit, the book draws on real-life writing samples that Garner has gathered through more than a decade of teaching in the field. Trenchant advice covers all types of legal materials, from analytical and persuasive writing to legal drafting. Meanwhile, Garner explores important aspects of document design. Basic, intermediate, and advanced exercises in each section reinforce the book's principles. (An answer key to basic exercises is included in the book; answers to intermediate and advanced exercises are provided in a separate Instructor's Manual, free of charge to instructors.) Appendixes include a comprehensive punctuation guide with advice and examples, and four model documents. Today more than ever before, legal professionals cannot afford to ignore the trend toward clear language shorn of jargon. Clients demand it, and courts reward it. Despite the age-old tradition of poor writing in law, Legal Writing in Plain English shows how legal writers can unshackle themselves. Legal Writing in Plain English includes: *Tips on generating thoughts, organizing them, and creating outlines. *Sound advice on expressing your ideas clearly and powerfully. *Dozens of real-life writing examples to illustrate writing problems and solutions. *Exercises to reinforce principles of good writing (also available on the Internet). *Helpful guidance on page layout. *A punctuation guide that shows the correct uses of every punctuation mark. *Model legal documents that demonstrate the power of plain English.
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