Challenges Faced by English Language Education Students in Academic Writing Course

Abstract

This research was done to investigate the challenges faced by English Language Education (ELE) students in Academic Writing course. It came from an idea of most students who thought that the course was challenging. However, problems behind the students’ difficulties when writing academically have not clearly explained. To find out the answers, an interview method was employed based on the problems in Academic Writing. Ten participants from 2014 and 2015 batches in Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana were involved. The result showed that the most frequent problem faced by the students was grammar. Nine out of ten participants made mistakes in their grammar pattern. Meanwhile, the least frequent were confidence in writing and punctuation. Through this research, it is expected that the awareness from Academic Writing teachers to the students who faced difficulties can be improved. In addition, the teacher should also provide practices and tutorials related to Academic Writing.