The Current Issues of Indonesian EFL Students’ Writing Skills - Ability, Problem, and Reason in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essay

Oct 15, 2026

This study investigates issues in Indonesian EFL students’ writing skills, focusing on ability, problems, and the reasons behind difficulties when writing comparison and contrast essays. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used with 52 EFL students enrolled in an academic essay writing course at IAIN Samarinda. Data were collected through an essay writing test, an open-ended questionnaire, and interviews. Findings show good writing ability (mean score 77.83) while persistent problems arise in content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics, driven by both knowledge-related and personal factors such as limited practice, anxiety, motivation, time, and instructional integration.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

A. Introduction

Background and related studies

Factors influencing writing difficulties

DINAMIKA ILMU Vol. 19 No. 1, 2019 P-ISSN: 1411-3031; E-ISSN: 2442-9651 doi: [http://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506](http://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506) The Current Issues of Indonesian EFL Students’Writing Skills: Ability, Problem, and Reason in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essay Rostanti Toba IAIN Samarinda, Indonesia e-mail: [anti190481@yahoo.com](anti190481@yahoo.com) Widya Noviana Noor IAIN Samarinda, Indonesia e-mail: [noviana.widya@ymail.com](noviana.widya@ymail.com) La Ode Sanu IAIN Samarinda, Indonesia e-mail: [sanu.butonandeslan@gmail.com](sanu.butonandeslan@gmail.com) 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. Keywords: Writing Issues, Essay Writing Skill, Comparison and Contrast Essay, Ability, Problem, and Reason in Writing A. Introduction Writing is one of productive English skills that should be masterly skilled by English as Foreign Language (EFL) students in Indonesia for written communication and academic writing purposes, such as; letters, essays, papers, articles, journals, project reports, theses, etc. It asserted that writing has a vital role in language production that is used for global mediation of knowledge (Fareed, Ashraf, & Bilal, 2016) . However, it not only uses for interactions and transactions, but also it provides the chances to study abroad for students (Yi, 2009) . However, the EFL students faced the writing problems that affected on their writing ability. Some studies had conducted to investigate the Indonesian EFL students’ problems in writing. Rahmatunisa (2014) investigated the Indonesian EFL learners’ problems in writing argumentative essay. This study revealed that the EFL students had problems in terms of linguistics, cognitive, and psychological. Ariyanti & Fitriana (2017) reported that Indonesian EFL university students were trouble in using grammar, cohesion, coherence, paragraph organization, diction, and spelling errors in essay writing. Additionally, Hasan & Marzuki (2017) analyzed the Indonesian EFL students’ ability in writing by asking the students to do writing task in determined time. Their findings showed that the grammatical problems covering using plural forms, articles, verbs forms, clauses, passive voice and preposition existed on the students’ writing. Other contexts of EFL students’ writing problems had also established. Ahmed (2010) reported the Egyptian students encountered the problems of cohesion and coherence in their essay writing. Al-Jaro, Al-Quiadhi, & Ramadhan (2016) p

FAQs

What is the focus of the study on Indonesian EFL writing skills?

The study examines students’ writing ability, the problems they face, and the reasons behind those problems when writing comparison and contrast essays.

How was the research conducted and what data were collected?

A convergent parallel mixed-methods approach was used, involving 52 EFL students. Data came from an essay writing test, an open-ended questionnaire, and interviews.

What writing problems were reported by the Indonesian EFL students?

Problems were found in content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics.

Oct 15, 2026

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