THE CHALLENGES FACED BY EFL WRITING INSTRUCTORS AT ALIM AND HSC LEVELS IN BANGLADESH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

English writing is emphasized significantly at all educational levels in Bangladesh as a crucial language skill. In an EFL context like Bangladesh, teachers are expected to encounter several challenges while delivering instructions. This study presents a comparative picture of the challenges associated with teaching EFL writing skills at the HSC and Alim levels of education in Bangladesh. The investigation employed an exploratory sequential research approach for data collection and data analysis. The research work utilized a teacher questionnaire survey for quantitative data collection and conducted in-depth interviews for collecting qualitative data. Ten English teachers at the HSC and Alim levels were selected to participate in in-depth interviews. Besides, a total of 100 English teachers participated in the questionnaire survey, comprising 50 teachers from Alim Madrassas and 50 from HSC colleges. The interview findings revealed that educators at both levels have nearly identical problems while providing EFL writing instructions. The questionnaire findings highlight several shared concerns, such as negative washback (mean-3.32) students’ inadequate knowledge of grammar (mean-3.29), writing mechanics (mean-3.23), as well as students' dependence on guidebooks (mean-3.58), with both groups largely agreeing on these challenges. The researcher hopes that the current study will help Bangladeshi HSC and Alim level educators and stakeholders understand EFL writing instructional obstacles and adopt policies to remove them.