The Process and Problems of EFL Learners in English Writing

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to investigate the process of English writing from students of undergraduate international class, to describe problems faced by students in writing English, and to find out the factors which inhibit and improve their writing skills. There were six female respondents in international class. The study used documentation from the students’ work, open-ended questionnaire and interview as the instruments for data gathering. All the data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative approach. The results of this study showed that all students used four stages in the process of English writing: planning, drafting, editing and final revision. The students’ English writing problems covered content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic. The factors which inhibit them in writing English included not being confident in writing English, not mastering grammar and vocabulary, and lack of practice in writing. The aspects which encourage them to write English were due to the demands as international class students, watching English movie, reading English books or journals, listening English songs and having ambition to acquire scholarship overseas.

Full text

405
The Process and Problems of EFL
Learners in English Writing: A Case
Study in International Class
Muamaroh
Vira Cahya Mukti
Dwi Haryanti
Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Indonesia
Abstract
The objectives of the study were to investigate the process of
English writing from students of undergraduate international class,
to describe problems faced by students in writing English, and to
find out the factors which inhibit and improve their writing skills.
There were six female respondents in international class. The study
used documentation from the students’ work, open-ended
questionnaire and interview as the instruments for data gathering.
All the data were analyzed by using descriptive qualitative approach.
The results of this study showed that all students used four stages
in the process of English writing: planning, drafting, editing and
final revision. The students’ English writing problems covered
content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic. The
factors which inhibit them in writing English included not being
confident in writing English, not mastering grammar and
vocabulary, and lack of practice in writing. The aspects which
encourage them to write English were due to the demands as
international class students, watching English movie, reading
English books or journals, listening English songs and having
ambition to acquire scholarship overseas.
Keywords
EFL learners
English writing
international class
Ethical Lingua
Vol. 7, No. 2, 2020
ISSN 2355-3448 (Print)
ISSN 2540-9190 (Online)
Corresponding Email
Muamaroh
Muamaroh@ums.ac.id
Article’s History
Submitted 22 Sept. 2020
Revised 7 October 2020
Accepted 7 October 2020
DOI
10.30605/25409190.215
Copyright © 2020
The Author(s)
This article is licensed under
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License

406 | E t h i c a l L i n g u a
The Process and Problems of EFL Learners in
English Writing: A Case Study in International
Class
Writing skill is considered the most difficult skill in language learning (Xin, 2007). This is the
most difficult skill to learn for students (Shapo, Walter & Fajans, 1995) even for students in
international class where they have to write their final project in English. In international class,
all the teaching learning process, class activities and all assignment should be in English.
However, writing skills, particularly writing in English, is still neglected (Coker & Ritchey,
2015)
Writing is considered a challenging task. It is an individual, private or solitary activity (Di Loreto
& McDonough, 2013) . It is challenging because this skill needs a long process. According to
Nation (2008) the best way to write is acknowledging that the process needs several steps to
produce a written product. Therefore, learning to write in foreign or second language is not
simple matter (Hyland, 1989). Students need to master both linguistic aspects and attitude
such as willingness to practice several times in the process of writing. This process might be
boring for some students. According to Hampton (1989), writing skills are specific abilities
which help authors put their ideas into words in a meaningful form and to mentally interact
with the message. The writer has to consider his/her readers. Since writing is a process of
encoding carried out with a reader in mind (Di Loreto & McDonough, 2013) . The writer
conveys messages using letters and symbols which covers the aspect of content,
organization, originality, style, fluency, accuracy and the appropriate use of rhetorical forms
of discourse (Spratt, Pulverness, & Williams, 2005).
According to Harmer (2014), there are four stages in writing process. Planning stage is where
students decide what to write, which is followed by drafting, which is the first piece of writing
written by students. Editing is the third stage. This is a process of reflection and revision of
the draft they have written, and the last final step is final revision, in which they have the final
version to be read by readers. In addition, Alodwan & Ibnian (2014) argued that the process
of writing covers prewriting, drafting, revision, editing and publishing.
The research in the area of EFL writing can be categorized into three major themes: research
focusing on writing process, writing products, and genre-based approach (Fatimah &
Masduqi, 2017). Many Indonesian scholars have explored the writing skills from different
perspectives and different context. Aunurrahman (2019) found that undergraduate students
in Pontianak experienced writing anxiety. Rahmatunisa (2015) found that undergraduate
students in Jakarta encountered various problems in writing. Ratnawati, Yuliasri, & Hartono
(2018) discovered that undergraduate students in West Java also encountered difficulties in
their academic writing. Furthermore, Samanhudi & Linse (2019) found that Indonesian
postgraduate students at a UK University faced problems related to critical thinking realization
in their essay writing. Azizah & Budiman (2018) observed that postgraduate encountered
difficulties in writing paper for international publication.
Studies on writing skills have been conducted in other countries. A study by Nair & Hui (2018)
found that senior students in Kuala Lumpur, especially female students, made significantly
less errors than male students in their descriptive writing. Trinh & Truc (2014) mentioned

V o l . 7 ( 2 ) , 2 0 2 0 | 407
that genre-based approach significantly improved Vietnamese undergraduate students’ ability
in writing argumentative essays. Cho & Brutt-Griffler (2015) observed that a middle school
students in Korea desired extra help on their writing to gain balanced English competence.
Barrett & Chen (2011) found that Taiwanese College Students overused both the definite and
indefinite articles but underused the zero article. Furthermore, Raas (2015) discovered that
Palestinian Arab students from Israel succeeded in writing topic and concluding sentences.
Ahmed (2010) found that Egyptian university students encounter some problems in the
cohesion and coherence of EFL essay writing. Fareed, Ashraf, & Bilal (2016) learned that the
major problems in Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners’ writing are insufficient linguistic
proficiency. Terenin (2013) found the reasons which caused Russian Learners of English
wrote all types of unclear sentences. Miri & Joia (2018) found that anxiety has both positive
and negative effects for Afghan undergraduate students in their writing.
The contributions of writing skills research have been proved in many studies in different
countries. However, it is rare to find empirical evidence of writing skills problems on students
in international class in Indonesian context where English as a foreign language. Therefore, it
is significant to investigate the process and problems faced by students in writing English,
and the factors which inhibit and improve their writing skills. English written ability is essential
for tertiary level students at international class, since it is crucial skills to do their daily
assignment, and to write their research final project.
Method
Participants
The participants were six female international class of undergraduate students in one of
private universities in Central Java. International class in this context is Indonesian students
who take international class, in which they study for two years in the university within the
country and two years in overseas university. They were in the fourth semester from
communication study program which consisted of only six female students in the class. The
researcher was their lecturer who taught Kemuhammadiyahan as one of the compulsory
subjects for international class. She met them once a week for 100 minutes. The teaching
learning activities were held online during COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the study,
the researcher gave brief explanation about the objectives of the study, and if they agreed to
join this study voluntarily, then they had to fill open ended questionnaire, and joined the
interview which was also held online. In addition, their direct responds, which were written in
English in online assignment for two meetings, were used as the data to be analyzed. At the
beginning of the study, the researcher gave brief explanation about the objectives of the study,
and if they agreed to join this study voluntarily, then they had to fill open ended questionnaire,
and joined the interview which was also held online. In addition, their direct responds, which
were written in English in online assignment for two meetings, were used as the data to be
analyzed.
Instruments
In order to obtain the data, there were documentation of students’ two assignments in online
lesson, questionnaire, and interview for the purpose of data reliability and validity. The open-
ended questionnaire was distributed using Google form after four meetings to reflect their
process and problems in doing their assignment, which was written in English. Open-ended
questionnaire was created by the researchers by referring to the purpose of this study.

408 | E t h i c a l L i n g u a
Data Analysis
A week after finishing responding the questionnaire, they conducted online interview through
zoom application related to the process, problems, and factors which support and inhibit them
in writing English for their assignment. In addition, all respondents were interviewed
individually. Both questionnaire and interview used Indonesian to get more detail data.
Furthermore, the students’ work was assessed using the rubric which was developed by
Jacobs (1981). The rubric assessed the aspect of content, organization, vocabulary, language
use and writing mechanism. There were two raters who assessed the students’ work for the
purpose of data validity. SA is an English teacher and CR is one of final semester of overseas
undergraduate students who is studying at university where this study was held. The result
from two raters was then divided to acquire average score for each student. For the
confidentiality, all respondents were coded as S1 to S6. S1 means student number 1. The
results which was obtained from the students’ work then cross-checked with the results of
questionnaire and interview were analyzed qualitatively to draw conclusion.
Results
The Process of English Writing in Undergraduate International Class
The process of students’ English writing refers to Harmer’s study (2014) that there are four
stages in writing process: planning, drafting, editing and final version. Based on the interview
and open-ended questionnaire, all students did those four stages. For the planning stage, all
students collected and read materials such as journals, e-books, and other sources from
internet before writing. Each student had her own preparation in planning stage. For an
example, S2 read all references from journals and other references, then she copied and
pasted some materials that she needed. She read it several times before she started writing.
In addition, S1 stated that in this stage she tried to understand the instruction carefully first
in order to be able to do assignment based on the instruction. Then, she searched related
materials needed from books and journals from internet. She searched at least from three
different resources to get more detailed information. Whereas, S5 checked from the power
point given by the lecturer and also searched materials from the internet. S3 collected all
materials from e-books and journals from internet then she summarized and described it in
detail using her own words in Indonesian before translating in English.
Usually I use Google using keyword to search information that I need. Most resources are in
Indonesian, therefore I read, summarize, paraphrase and translate them into English (S4)
At the beginning, I search materials and read books to do the assignment given by the lecturer.
I read all materials and I copy some words, I read and understand them then I try to combine
with my own ideas (S6).
In the second stage, drafting, students started to write their English writing assignment. All
students did not write their assignment directly in English. They summarized and paraphrased
the materials in Indonesian first before they translated them into English (S2 and S5). Most
of them used Goggle translation application if they encountered any difficulties.
After reading all materials, then I write the main point that I need. I then paraphrased those
main points into English. Since the resources are in Indonesian, then I paraphrase them into
Indonesian first, after that I translate them into English. I use Google translate application. I am

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always confused with my structure, therefore to ensure the proper use of it, I check it by using
Google Translation (S1).
I face difficulties in writing English to finish my assignment. I also encounter problem in
translating sentences into English because the dominant resources are in Indonesian.
Therefore, I rewrite the materials in Indonesian. The problems that I encounter when I have
summarized the answer using my own words then I translate the answers using Google
translate, the results is messy and it is difficult to understand. The worst part is I translate my
answer from Indonesian into English, then from English I translate again into Indonesian. The
meaning is totally different with the answer that I want. When I try to translate into English
myself, the sentences that I have translated are also hard to understand. If the resources are
in English, I do not understand them well, in which therefore I cannot summarize them.
Therefore, I am even more confused as to how I can submit my assignment that should be in
English if the assignment and the sentences I write is hard to understand. Finally I copy paste
the materials that I got from internet then I recompose it be one (S6).
The third stage is editing. In this stage students edited their draft several times. Although,
there was one student stated that she only checked her draft once (S2). Others reread their
draft two until four times such as S5, S4, S2 and S6. They sometimes reread themselves and
then ask their friends to check them.
After finishing translating all paragraphs, then I read twice to three times. During the first
reading, I check and if I find mistakes, then I correct it. In the second and third reading, I check
the correction that I have made in the first reading (S1).
After I finish my draft, I check and reread it usually twice. If I am not sure with my draft which
written in English, I ask my friends to check whether or not my English is correct (S3).
The last stage is final version. The final version is a draft that has been edited and ready to
upload and submit to the lecturer. They considered their drafts to be ready to read and finish
it, when they already reread and corrected it several times (S4 and S3), and because the
deadline to submit was closing, they submitted their assignment whether or not they were
sure of it (S1). There was one interesting comment that one student made that she submitted
her English assignment although she was not sure with her final version.
I directly revise the mistakes that I have made then I directly submit it to the lecturer because
I do not like postponing submitting the assignment (S2).
I submit it to the lecturer, when I finish checking my draft. I am confident with my work. I do
not want to compare them with my friends’ work, since I do it online. It is different when I do
my assignment in the class room or offline, then I sometimes ask my friends (S5).
I wish I can submit the assignment which can be understood by my lecturer. Although I am not
sure with my English assignment because I only compile them from many English resources.
I really want to write the assignment in Indonesian but it will not be scored by my lecturer.
However, if I force myself to use English, I am afraid of making mistakes and the English
sentences that I made cannot be understood by my lecturer (S6).
The Problems Faced by Students in Writing English
In view with the rubric developed by Jacobs (1981) to assess the students’ writing, the
assessment covers five aspects: content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and
mechanic.

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Content
The finding revealed that the students had problems in writing the content of the topic that
they should write in English. Two students acquired very poor of this aspect (S6 and S3), two
students obtained fair to poor (S4 and S5), and two students got good to average (S1 and
S2). They encountered difficulties to develop and elaborate the topic deeply. This might be
caused by their limited knowledge of the subject. Some respondents wrote one paragraph
which consisted of only one sentence in too long sentence and its meaning was not clear and
confusing. The writing examples were presented in the following table.
Table 1. Content Problems
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S6
Very poor:
Does not show
knowledge of subject,
non-substantive, not
pertinent, or not
enough to evaluate
Why muhammadiyah still alive
compared with other
organization is because
muhammadiyah develop in all
fields not just focusing on one
sector but muhammadiyah
focusing on some sectors and
muhammadiyah have a
complete purpose than the
other organizations. So, that
why muhammadiyah still alive
until now and still developing in
each sectors.
-A lot of mistakes, the knowledge
of subject is shown but not well
illustrated. The paragraph consists
of long sentences and lost its
meaning. The sentences should be
shortened to clarify the meaning.
S2
Good to average:
Some knowledge of
subject, adequate
range, limited
development of
thesis, mostly
relevant to topic, but
lacks detail
one of aspect their didn’t check
the source before they share is
their education (i mean not the
grade but their knowledge
about the hoax, because the
high grade of education not
means they really know about
the knowledge, we can see Ibu
Susi Pudjiastuti)
The content is not clear because
the topic is not explained in detail.
One paragraph consists only one
sentence. The sentence is too long
and it is not clear.
Organization
Based on the students’ work, it was found that they still had problems from the aspect of
organization. One student got very poor for this aspect (S6), two students acquired fair to
poor (S3 and S4) and three students obtained good to average (S1, S2 and S5). S6 got very
poor criteria, which meant that she did not communicate her ideas in good organization which
made the sentences that she wrote confusing and not clear. Based on the data, the ideas that
they wrote were disconnected among sentences and among paragraphs. Therefore, their
sentences were hard to understand. It was because they wrote long sentences in one
paragraph.

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Table 2. Organization problems
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S6
Very poor:
Does not
communicate, no
organization, or not
enough to evaluate
Muhammadiyah focuses in
some sectors, moves in the
field of religious because
muhammadiyah is present to
purify islam in indonesia,
muhammadiyah wants to
eliminate bid'ah,khurafat,
tahayul because that makes
many people like losing their
religion.
Muhammadiyah focuses on
sectors that are associated with
religion to ensure purity in the
Islam religion in Indonesia.
Muhammadiyah wants to eliminate
the practice of bid'ah, khurafat, and
superstition which leads to many
people living lives that are not
supported by the religion.
S2
Good to average:
Somewhat choppy,
loosely organized but
the main ideas stand
out, limited support,
logical but incomplete
sequencing
Muhammadiyah establishing
orphanages and family care,
establishing polyclinics, health
centers and hospitals, in the
economic field, Muhammadiyah
established Baituttamwil,
cooperatives, limited companies
(PT) and in the field of worship,
Muhammadiyah established
mosques and mushallas, so
that in education there are
madrasas Ibtidaiyah and
universities in almost all cities
in Indonesia
Muhammadiyah established
orphanages and family care,
polyclinics, health centers and
hospitals. In the economic field,
Muhammadiyah established
Baituttamwil, cooperatives, and
limited companies (PT). In the field
of worship, it established mosques
and mushallas. Lastly, in education
field there were madrasas
Ibtidaiyah and universities founded
in almost all cities in Indonesia.
Vocabulary
In view with vocabulary aspect, all students still encountered various problems. The findings
revealed that three students got fair to poor, which meant that they still had limited English
vocabularies and improper choice of words in expressing their ideas into sentences. Three
students obtained good to average, which meant that they still made occasional errors of
word idiom form, choice, and usage but the reader could still understand the meaning. Their
limited vocabularies compelled them in repeating some words in one paragraph.
Table 3. Vocabulary problems
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S4
Fair to poor:
Limited range, frequent
errors of word idiom
form, choice, usage,
meaning confused or
obscured
even we live must have an
ideal, with the ideals we live,
with the ambitions we also
have ambitions
- Repetition of words, meaningless
sentence.
- In this life we have to have
ambition
S3
Good to average:
Adequate range,
occasional errors of
word idiom form,
choice, usage but
meaning not obscured
-obsolate or damage
- muhammadiyah school are
still less interested than
public school
- intertionally.
- “Obsolete”/ “outdated”
- Muhammadiyah school are still
less preferable than the public
school
- internationally

412 | E t h i c a l L i n g u a
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S5
Fair to poor:
Limited range, frequent
errors of word idiom
form, choice, usage,
meaning confused or
obscured
-because it's already different
starting from the economy
alone is different
- there is very little possibility
of a teacher now to teach
unpaid. even zero
- but that does not mean not
being able to give examples
of honest and sincere in the
present such as
- since, the economies alone are
different in comparison to the
economy KH.Ahmad Dahlan was
living
- Moreover, there is very little
possibility of a teacher to teach
nowadays without being paid.
- Hence, that does not mean we
cannot identify other examples of
other people who are similar to KH.
Ahmad Dahlan who are honest and
sincere in this present time we are
living in
Language use
All students still encountered problems in using language properly in their written in English.
All of them acquired fair to poor based on the two raters. This meant that they wrote unclear
sentences, used wrong tenses and pronouns, and used wrong articles and preposition which
made the meaning of the sentences unclear.
Table 4. Language use problems
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S4
Fair to poor:
Major problem in simple
complex construction,
frequent errors of
negation, agreement,
tense, number, word
order function, articles,
pronouns, preposition
and or fragment, run-
ons, deletions, meaning
confused or obscured
- where it is become
- but an ambition without a
belief
-Muhammadiyah movement
is not only limited to
understanding efforts to
purify Islamic teachings
-as i understand
- had been change
- theres a lot of something
new
- where it becomes/it has become
- but ambition (avoid starting
sentence with but)
- Muhammadiyah movement is not
only limited to understand the
efforts to purify Islamic teachings
- To my own understanding
- had been changed
- there are many new things

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Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S1
Fair to poor:
Major problem in simple
complex construction,
frequent errors of
negation, agreement,
tense, number, word
order function, articles,
pronouns, preposition
and or fragment, run-
ons, deletions, meaning
confused or obscured
-Muhammadiyah and all its
contributions made it
continue to receive support
-Muhammadiyah is very
dependent on its cadres
-And MKCH also role as a
confirmation of the
- Tajdid is needed so that
- With all its contributions,
Muhammadiyah has made it to
continue receiving support from
the society to develop.
- Muhammadiyah depends more
on its cadres
- Also its role as a confirmation of
the
- Tajdid is needed because
S5
Fair to poor:
Major problem in simple
complex construction,
frequent errors of
negation, agreement,
tenses, number, word
order function, articles,
pronouns, preposition
and or fragment, run-
ons, deletions, meaning
confused or obscured
- Muhammadiyah is people
who are honest and sincere
- all the goods are sold and
all the money has been
received
- the many prominent social
practices revealed especially
are the success of
Muhammadiyah in
education, economy and
health.
- Muhammadiyah people are
mostly known for their honesty
and sincerity
- all the goods were sold and all
the money had been received
- there are many prominent social
practices revealed by KH. Ahmad
Dahlan that exactly made
Muhammadiyah to be successful
to date especially in the field of
education, economy and health.
Mechanic
Based on data, one student obtained very poor (S6), which meant that she made a lot of
errors of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing. Three participants (S4, S3,
S5) got fair to poor and two of them acquired good to average (S1 and S2), in which they
made infrequent errors of spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. The following were the
examples of the error in mechanic.
Table 5. Mechanical problems
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S3
Fair to poor:
Frequent errors of
spelling, punctuation,
capitalization,
paragraphing, poor
handwriting, meaning is
confused or obscured
- because life ….
-muhammadiyah
- intertionally
- Because life (capital letter at the
beginning of every new sentence)
- Muhammadiyah
- internationally

414 | E t h i c a l L i n g u a
Student
Criteria
Student’ s work
Comments/correction
S2
Good to average:
Occasional errors of
spelling, punctuation,
capitalization,
paragraphing but
meaning is not obscured
-yes, i think all organization
should have a purpose
-as muslim, i think almost of
us know about that, but its
difficult to understans
-tajdid is Purification,
-if we want to practice what
are the other person
- i dont really
-i mean
- Yes, I think all organizations
should have a purpose
- As a Muslim, I think most of us
know about that, but it’s difficult
to understand
- Tajdid is a/the purification,
- if we want to practice what
other person
- I don’t really
- I mean
Based on two students’ work, they showed that the types of mistakes they made were similar
between their works in the first and second meeting. It was interesting that the score of the
students’ work from the first and second were also consistent. Their written work was
assessed based on rubric developed by Jacobs, which showed excellent qualification/A (86 –
100), Good/B (70 – 85), Fair/C (60 – 69), poor/D (50 – 59) and Failure/E (0 – 49). The findings
were presented in the following table:
Tabel 6. The students’ work
Students
Raters’
score at
the 1st
meeting
Raters’
score at
the 2nd
meeting
average
score at
the 1st
meeting
average
score at
the 2nd
meeting
Qualification
/Grade
Number of
students
AR
CR
AR
CR
Number
perce
ntage
S1
89
81
88
80
85
84
Good/ B
2
33%
S2
72
80
75
81
76
78
Good/ B
S3
65
66
67
65
65.5
66
Fair/ C
3
50%
S4
73
66
70
63
69
66.5
Fair/ C
S5
55
71
59
68
63
63.5
Fair/ C
S6
61
57
58
56
59
57
Poor/ D
1
17%
Total
6
100%
Based on the table above, it showed that students still had get difficulties in writing assignment
in English. Only 33% of respondents were in good category, while 50% respondents was in
fair, and 17% was in poor qualification. S6 who received the lowest score/D, which meant that
her written English competence was still in poor qualification. This result was in line with the
result from interview. She was the only one who was not sure of her assignment while

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submitting the final version of her written English assignment. She also did more complicated
effort than her friends in the process of writing English as mentioned in the process of writing
above.
The Factors Inhibiting and Improving the Students’ Writing Skills
Based on the result of interview, supported by the results from open-ended questionnaire, it
was found that one of several aspects inhibiting the students in English writing included not
being confident with their writing. Five out of six students believed that the most common
factor which influenced their writing was that they did not have strong English vocabulary.
The factor that constrain me in writing is that I do not feel confident in answering questions using
English. Why? I am afraid whether my grammar is right or wrong when I write in English. Can my
writing be be understood? So, it takes long time to write English text. Another reason is my lack of
English vocabulary (S1).
Some of the students admitted that they did not properly master English grammar, and they
had lack of practice in English writing. There was an interesting comment that one student
made, in which she mentioned that basically she disliked writing.
The factors which inhibit me in writing English text is lack of vocabulary and grammar that I
have. It happens because I lack of practice in writing English (S4)
My vocabulary is few, my grammar is chaotic, and I am not used to write English text using
formal vocabulary. Basically I myself do not like writing (S2)
Moreover, this study also found that the aspects which encouraged the students to write
English included because they were in international class, in which all of the assignments
should be written in English. They had strong efforts to improve their vocabularies by
watching English movie and reading English books/journals. They also had strong ambition to
study and go overseas. They believed that their teachers and friends supported them to
improve their competence in English.
One of the factors which encourages me to write English text is because it is an obligation to
write in English since I am in the environment where I have to use English. So, either I like or
not, I still have to learn writing English text (S1)
My friends and lecturers influence me a lot. When we always use English verbally and in writing
during class, I will also automatically try to do it (S6).
The findings of this research showed that 50% respondents acquired fair score, and 17% was
in poor qualification for their English writing. This finding was different from a study conducted
by Toba, Noor, & Sanu (2019) who found that the English writing ability of undergraduate
students can be considered as good. In addition, the results of this study was also not in line
with Husin & Nurbayani’s study (2017) who explained that the average score of thesis written
in English by university students were relatively good quality. The finding of this study also
showed slight difference to a study done by Nair & Hui (2018) who found that female students
made significantly less errors than male students in their descriptive writing. Since all
respondents of this study were female students, there was no presented comparison.
On the other hand, the finding of this study showed that students encountered difficulties in
the matter of content, organization, vocabulary, language use, and mechanic. This finding of

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this study was consistent with the finding study done by Pablo & Lasaten (2018) in
Philippines, Alfaki (2015) in Sudan, and Ibnian (2017) in Jordanian EFL learners. The finding
of this study was again in line with the study conducted by Mudawy & Mousa (2015) who
found that problems of academic writing among Saudi University Students were spelling
mistakes, vocabulary, and structural difficulties. One of the findings in the study, in which the
students showed difficulties in using articles, supported a study done by Barrett & Chen
(2011) in Taiwan. This current study found that the students also had problem in organization
and language use, which supported a research Ahmed (2010) in Egypt and a study by Fareed,
Ashraf, & Bilal (2016) in Pakistan.
Conclusion
The study found that all participants had done the four steps in the process of writing. They
did well for the planning, drafting, editing and final revision. This study learned that they still
found difficulties in the content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanic. This
study also showed that the strongest factors inhibiting their English writing were related to
their mastery of grammar, vocabulary, lack of practice and their self-confidence to write in
English. In addition, the factors which encouraged them to write English were the demand as
international class students and their ambition to obtain scholarship and study overseas.
The limitation of this current study relates to the number of participants, which only comprised
of six female students in international class. Therefore, it will need further research on this
topic with larger participants from many different faculties. The findings of this current study
may not be generalized in all situations due to students and cultural situation, teachers’
competence and their qualification, and university policy.
Acknowledgment
This research was supported by Direktorat Riset dan Pengabdian Masyarakat Republik
Indonesia.
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