Understanding Why Undergraduate EFL Learners Find Academic Writing Challenging
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31004/joecy.v6i1.9128Keywords:
EFL learners, academic writing, writing difficultiesAbstract
Academic writing remains one of the most challenging skills for undergraduate students learning English as a foreign language (EFL). This study investigates the major factors contributing to students’ difficulties in producing effective academic texts in higher education contexts. Using a qualitative library research approach, the study synthesizes findings from recent literature on second language writing, academic literacy development, and learner psychology. The analysis reveals that academic writing challenges arise from multiple interconnected factors, including limited academic vocabulary, difficulties in organizing coherent arguments, high cognitive processing demands, writing anxiety, and insufficient exposure to academic discourse practices prior to university study. The findings suggest that academic writing problems should not be viewed solely as linguistic weaknesses but as complex developmental issues involving cognitive, psychological, and institutional dimensions. The study highlights the importance of structured writing instruction, formative feedback, and scaffolded academic literacy support in helping EFL learners successfully transition into university-level writing. These insights contribute to a broader understanding of academic writing development and offer pedagogical implications for English language instructors in higher education.
References
Abdulkareem, M. (2013). An investigation study of academic writing problems faced by Arab postgraduate Students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3 (9), 1552-1557.
Al Fadda, H. (2012). Difficulties in academic writing: From the perspective of King Saud University postgraduate students. English Language Teaching, 5(3), 123–130. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n3p123
Al-Khasawneh, F. (2010). Writing for academic purposes: problems faced by Arab postgraduate students of the college of Business, UUM. ESP World, 9 (2), 1-23. Retrieved www.esp-world.info
Al-Mukdad, S. (2019). Investigating English academic writing problems encountered by Arab International University students. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 9(3), 300–306. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0903.07
Al-Shabanah, A. I. (2005). Summarization strategies adopted by the senior level female students of the Department of English at King Saud University. Master’s thesis
Bailey, S. (2021). Academic writing for university students (1st ed.). Routledge.
Barkaoui, K. (2007). Teaching writing to second language learners: insights from theory and research. TESL Reporter 40, (1), 35-48
Cole, J., & Feng, J. (2015, April 15–16). Effective strategies for improving writing skills of elementary English language learners. Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.
Graham, S. (2019). Changing how writing is taught. Review of Research in Education, 43(1).
Han, Y., & Hyland, K. (2019). Academic writing feedback. Journal of Second Language Writing.
Hyland, K. (2019). Second language writing. Cambridge University Press.
Kellogg, R. T., & Whiteford, A. P. (2009). Training advanced writing skills: The case for deliberate practice. Educational Psychologist, 44(4).
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (2006). The “academic literacies” model: Theory and applications. Theory Into Practice, 45(4), 368–377. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4504_11
Maher, C. (2011). Academic writing ability and performance of first-year university students in South Africa (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of the Witwatersrand.
Nation, I. S. P. (2022). Learning vocabulary in another language (Updated ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Neh, N. V. (2019). The effect of the non-cognitive trait: Self-efficacy as a predictor of students’ academic productivity in Anglo-Saxon universities in Cameroon. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development, 3(6), 1005–1022
Pineteh, A. E. (2014). The academic writing challenges of undergraduate students: A South African case study. International Journal of Higher Education, 3(1).
Raoofi, S., et al. (2017). Self-efficacy in second language learning. English Language Teaching, 11(5).
Sajid, M., & Siddiqui, A. J. (2015). Lack of academic writing skills in English language at higher education level in Pakistan: Causes, effects and remedies. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 2(4).
Schunk, D. H., & DiBenedetto, M. K. (2021). Self-efficacy and human motivation. Advances in Motivation Science, 8.
Tardy, C. M. (2010). Writing for the World: Wikipedia as an Introduction to Academic Writing. English Teaching Forum, 1, 12-27
Wingate, U. (2015). Academic literacy across the curriculum: Towards a collaborative instructional approach. Routledge.
Zhang L.J. (2013). Second language writing as and for second language learning. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Trisa Wendari
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
