Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine gender differences and type of learning approaches among Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) undergraduate students in English writing performance. The study involved 241 (32.8% male & 67.2% female) undergraduate students of UUM who were taking the Process Writing course. This study uses a Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) by Biggs, Kember, and Leung (2001). This instrument assesses how students in higher learning institutions approach learning. In addition, data was also obtained from students’ overall performance in the Process Writing course. The overall score for the Process Writing course was 67.58% in which female scores were above the average score while the scores for males were below the average. Overall, the vast majority of UUM undergraduate students apply the surface approach compared to the deep approach. For the surface approach learning, more students chose the surface strategy when compared to the surface motive. For the deep learning strategy, most students chose the deep strategy compared to the deep motive. Very few students used a combination of both approaches. In the context of English language writing, students need to have an intrinsic interest in what is being discussed for their writing activities. An intrinsic interest will help to make learning meaningful as in the deep learning approach. However, the findings provide evidence that most female students who applied the surface approach managed to score well in their overall performance in Process Writing.

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