The Difficulties Experienced by The English Language Education Program (ELEP) Students in the Academic Writing class

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research aims to elicit and explain students’ experience of difficulties in writing academic text. Many studies have provided extensive types of difficulties in academic writing without in-depth description of the experience. Therefore, this study focuses on providing evidence and emphasizes on what students think, feel and behave with difficulties they encounter in writing academic text. Conducted in an Academic Writing class in the English Language Education Program (ELEP) at a private university in Salatiga, Central Java, this study involved 10 English Language Education Program students who were taking Academic Writing class for repeaters in the Semester I 2021/2022. A semi-structured interview was adopted to unveil the participants’ experiences. The data findings showed that students have some difficulties in the course of their Academic Writing class progress. These are Lack of writing practice, Difficulty in deciding doable topics, Difficulty in maintaining motivation, Problem with organization of the text, Problems with language and content, and Students difficulty in receiving direct feedback. Even though linguistic problems are common and expected, whether in this research or other research, one thing that becomes their concern is the motivation to complete writing through choosing a topic and practicing a lot to develop the topic into writing. The implication in the Academic Writing class is the need to build motivation from the start of writing when choosing a topic to the consistency in writing practice. Keyword: Difficulty, academic writing, motivation, teachers’ feedback, structure, practice.