The Current Issues of Indonesian EFL Students’ Writing Skills: Ability, Problem, and Reason in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essay
Keywords:
Writing Skill, Essay Writing, Comparison and Contrast Essay
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate issues of Indonesian EFL students’ writing skills, covering ability, problem and reason why they got problems in writing comparison and contrast essay. The convergent parallel of mixed methods was used to explore these issues by involving 52 EFL students of IAIN Samarinda who enrolled the academic essay writing course. The three research instruments; essay writing test, open-ended questionnaire and interview were used in the data collection. The findings of this study revealed that the Indonesian EFL students’ writing ability was good that categorized with the mean score 77.83. However, some of them encounter problems in writing aspects including content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Their reasons in experiencing these problems are not only limited knowledge of writing aspects and comparison and contrast essay itself, but also they had own personal reasons; lack of writing practice, writing dislike, writing anxiety, negative writing perception, low writing motivation, insufficient time given in writing test, and also inadequate teaching writing process taught by their lecturers. Indeed, the teaching writing improvement that involved EFL students and lecturers should be well-integrated in order to alleviate the students’ essay writing problems related to their reasons and to improve their writing ability. Factors caused the writing difficulties will be discussed further and some suggestions will be given on this research.References
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Sulisworo, D., Rahayu, T., & Akhsan, R. N. (2016). The Students’ Academic Writing Skill After Implementing Blended Learning Using Facebook. International Technologies and Learning Tools, 56, 176–191.
Wahyuni, S., & Umam, M. K. (2017). An Analysis on Writing Anxiety of Indonesian EFL College Learners. Journal of English Education and Linguistic Studies, 4(1), 103–126.
Wigati, F. . (2014). The Students’ Ability and Problems in Writing a Descriptive Essay Across Different Levels. In The 61 TEFLIN International Conference. Solo: Universitas Sebelas Maret.
Yi, J. Y. (2009). Defining Writing Ability for Classroom Writing Assessment in HighSschools. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 53–69.
Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language (4th ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Zemach, D. E., & Islam, C. (2006). Writing in Paragraphs. London: Macmillan.
Zemach, D. E., & Rumisek, L. A. (2005). Academic Writing: From Paragraph to Essay. London: Macmillan
Al-Jaro, M. S., Al-Quiadhi, A. M., & Ramadhan, K. Y. (2016). The Effect of Prewriting Techniques on Yemeni EFL Tertiary Learners’ Writing Skills. Academic Journal, 112–126.
Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017). EFL Students’ Difficulties and Needs in Essay Writing. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), 158, 111–121.
Aunurrahman, Hamied, F. A., & Emilia, E. (2016). Exploring an Academic Writing Class in an Indonesian University Context. Journal of Language and Literature, XI(1), 1–11.
Bailey, S. (2003). Academic Writing: A Practical Guide for Students. Cheltenham, U.K.: Nelson Thornes Ltd.
Bailey, S. (2011). Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students. London & New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Belkhir, A., & Benyelles, R. (2017). Identifying EFL Learners Essay Writing Difficulties and Sources: A Move towards Solution the Case of Second Year EFL Learners at Tlemcen University. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 16(6), 80–88.
Boardman, C. A., & Frydenberg, J. (2002). Writing to Communicate: Paragraph and Essays (2nd ed.). New York: Person Education Inc.
Brandon, L., & Brandon, K. (2011). Sentences, Paragraphs, and beyond with Integrated Readings. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Cahyono, B. Y., Mukminatien, N., & Amrina, R. (2016). Indonesian Students’ Writing Proficiency and Their Ability in Using Complex Sentences. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 4(9), 22–32.
Celce-Murcia, M., & Olshtain, E. (2002). Discourse and Context in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Connelly, M. (2013). Get Writing: Paragraphs & Essays (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Coolican, H. (2018). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology. London: Hoddler and Stoughton Publisher.
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication Inc.
Eccless, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational Beliefs, Values, and Goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 109–132.
Eliwarti, E., & Maarof, N. (2014). The Effects of Types of Writing Approaches on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. In SELT (pp. 112–119). Padang: SELT.
Fareed, M., Ashraf, A., & Bilal, M. (2016). ESL Learners’ Writing Skills: Problems, Factors, and Suggestions. Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 4(2), 81–92.
Fatimah, F., & Masduqi, H. (2017). Research Trends in EFL Writing in Indonesia: Where Art Thou? Journal of Teaching and Education, 7(1), 89–98.
Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Longman Press.
Harmer, J. (2004). How to Teach Writing. Harlow: Longman.
Hasan, J., & Marzuki, M. (2017). An Analysis of Student’s Ability in Writing at Riau University Pekanbaru. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 7(5), 380–388.
Husin, M. S., & Nurbayani, E. (2017). The Ability of Indonesian EFL Learners in Writing Academic Papers. Dinamika Ilmu, 17(2), 237–250.
Huwari, I. F., & Aziz, N. H. A. (2011). Writing Apprehension in English among Jordanian Postgraduate Students at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Academic Research International, 1(2), 190–198.
Irwan, A. F., Syafei, A. F., & Marlina, L. (2018). Students’ Ability in Writing an Analytical Exposition Text at English Department of Universitas Negeri Padaing. Journal of English Language Teaching, 7(1), 169–176.
Ismail, N., Elias, S., Albakri, I. S. M. A., Perumal, P. D., & Muthusami, I. (2010). Exploring EFL Students’ Apprehension Level and Attitude towards Academic Writing. International Journal of Learning, 17(6), 475–484.
Jacobs, H. L., Zinkgraf, S. A., Wormuth, D. R., Hartfiel, V. F., & Hughey, J. B. (1981). English Composition Program: Testing ESL Composition: A Practical Approach. London: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Kurniashi, K. (2013). EFL Writing Anxiety: Level, Types, and Causes. Malang: Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang in cooperation with Naila Putake Inc.
Langan, J. (2010). Exploring Writing: Sentences and Paragraphs. New York: Mcgraw Hill.
McMahan, E., Funk, R., Day, S. X., & Coleman, L. (2016). Literature and the Writing Process. New York: Pearson.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebooks (3rd ed.). California: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Murray, R., & Moore, S. (2006). The Handbook of Academic Writing. New York: Open University Press.
Nasser, S. M. (2019). Iraqi EFL Students’ Difficulties in Writing Composition: An Experimental Study. International Journal of English Linguistics, 9(1), 178–184.
Nugraha, A. K. E. (2015). Mahasiswa Indonesian Masih Lemah Menulis Karya Ilmiah. Retrieved June 12, 2018, from http://rakyatku.com/2015/08/26/edukasi/mahasiswa-indonesia-masih-lemah-menulis-karya-ilmiah.html
Nunan, D. (2003). Language Teaching Methodology: A Text Book for Teachers. London: Prentice Halls International.
Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2007). Introduction to Academic Writing. New York: Pearson Longman.
Prastyo, H. (2014). Teaching Academic Writing Based on need Analysis for Indonesian EFL Learners at University. In The 61 TEFLIN International Conference. Solo: Universitas Sebelas Maret.
Rahmatunisa, W. (2014). Problems Faced by Indonesian EFL Learners in Writing Argumentative Essay. Journal of English Education, 3(1).
Rasyidah, U., & Antoni, R. (2014). Analysis Kemampuan Mahasiswa Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris Semester VI Universitas Pasir Pengaraian dalam Menulis Critical Essay. Jurnal Ilmiah Edu Research, 3(1), 21–30.
Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sanu, L. O. (2016). The EFL Students’ Narrative Paragraph Writing of the Second Semester Students of State Institute Islamic Studies (IAIN) Samarinda: A Syntactic Analysis. Script Journal: Journal of Linguistic and English Teaching, 1(1), 36–45.
Setyowati, L., & Sukmawan, S. (2016). EFL Indonesian Students’ Attitude toward Writing in English. Arab World English Journal, 7(4), 365–378.
Spratt, P. A., & William, M. (2005). The Teaching Knowledge Test Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sulisworo, D., Rahayu, T., & Akhsan, R. N. (2016). The Students’ Academic Writing Skill After Implementing Blended Learning Using Facebook. International Technologies and Learning Tools, 56, 176–191.
Wahyuni, S., & Umam, M. K. (2017). An Analysis on Writing Anxiety of Indonesian EFL College Learners. Journal of English Education and Linguistic Studies, 4(1), 103–126.
Wigati, F. . (2014). The Students’ Ability and Problems in Writing a Descriptive Essay Across Different Levels. In The 61 TEFLIN International Conference. Solo: Universitas Sebelas Maret.
Yi, J. Y. (2009). Defining Writing Ability for Classroom Writing Assessment in HighSschools. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 53–69.
Yule, G. (2010). The Study of Language (4th ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Zemach, D. E., & Islam, C. (2006). Writing in Paragraphs. London: Macmillan.
Zemach, D. E., & Rumisek, L. A. (2005). Academic Writing: From Paragraph to Essay. London: Macmillan
Published
2019-06-11
How to Cite
Toba, R., Noor, W., & Sanu, L. (2019). The Current Issues of Indonesian EFL Students’ Writing Skills: Ability, Problem, and Reason in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essay. Dinamika Ilmu, 19(1), 57-73. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506
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