EFL Students’ Problems in Writing Argumentative Essays

Abstract

Writing in a foreign language is not easy because students have to consider not only the content but also the vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. This study aimed to investigate the problems that English students have in writing argumentative essays. The subjects of this research were 55 students who were enrolled in Advanced Writing course at English Language Education Study Program of FKIP Universitas Lambung Mangkurat. A descriptive design within mixed method approaches was applied. A questionnaire was distributed and an open-ended interview was carried out to reveal problems that students face in writing argumentative essays. Moreover, an analysis on students' argumentative essays was employed to confirm the findings from the questionnaire and interview. The results indicated that the students had problems in writing argumentative essays pertaining to cognitive aspects (lack of knowledge on the key features of an argumentative essay), linguistic aspects (content, grammar, organization, vocabulary, claim, and evidence), and psychology aspects (fear of making mistakes, lack of self-esteem, and low motivation) that affected them in writing. These findings demand attention from the lecturers of Advanced Writing course particularly on the needs of more explicit instruction on writing claims and providing evidence in argumentative essays. The findings also suggest that more effective approach of teaching argumentative writing is needed to overcome students' problems.

Non-English Major Undergraduate Students’ Difficulties in Argumentative Writing at Mae Fah Luang University Thailand

“…Similar research was carried out by Ka Kan Dee (2017) on 60 law students in Thailand, and grammar turned out to be difficult for them. In line with these studies, Indonesian university students encountered grammar issues regarding formatting words, word classes, and errors in using words and articles (Fajaryani et al, 2021;Rahmatunisa, 2014;Saputra et al, 2021). The research findings reported by Dang et al (2020), who distributed questionnaires to 90 Vietnamese English major sophomore students at Tay Do University and interviewed some of them, indicated that grammar was one of the difficulties encountered by these students.…”

“…These results are in agreement with the findings from the previous studies. There have been several previous studies (e.g., Beniche et al, 2021;Dang et al, 2020;Ka kan dee, 2017;Peloghitis, 2016;Saputra et al, 2021) that reported the students' vocabulary difficulties in general. In particular, (Ka kan dee, 2017) analyzed 60 Law Thai students' essays interviewed them, and confirmed that the students had an insufficient academic vocabulary.…”

“…The result of this study corresponds with the previous research. Some studies have reported that students encountered difficulties in the organization in general (e.g., Dang et al, 2020;Horverak, 2018;Ka-kan-dee & Kaur, 2014;Saprina et al, 2021;Saputra et al, 2021;Toan et al, 2020). Moreover, students experienced failure in creating a claim, thesis statement, or their position towards the issue (e.g., Beniche, 2021;Ghanbari & Salari, 2022;Ozfidan & Mitchell, 2020;Peloghitis, 2016;Saprina et al, 2021;Toan et al, 2020;Wingate, 2012).…”

“…In Thailand, Ka-kan-dee and Kaur (2014) observed 60 English major students who were trained writers and found out they experienced difficulties in vocabulary, grammar, providing solid evidence, organization, time constraints, organizing ideas, writing a thesis statement, and understanding the topic. In Indonesia, many university students face linguistic, cognitive, and psychological problems in argumentative writing (Rahmatunisa, 2014;Saputra, Jumariati, & Febriyanti, 2021;Setyowati, Agustina, Sukmawan, El-Sulukiyyah, & Mabaroh, 2020). In addition, Indonesian undergraduate students confronted difficulties with insufficient grammar and vocabulary, pitching arguments, writing habits, topic unfamiliarity, and critical thinking (Fajaryani et al, 2021).…”

Myanmar EFL Learners’ Perspectives, Structure, Reasoning and Literacy Practices of Argumentative Writing: A Needs Analysis Study

“…Writing an argumentative essay is a double burden for EFL students whose first language is not English (Hyland, 2013). Many students in different EFL contexts experience difficulties in constructing argumentative essays, for instance, in China (Liu & Stapleton, 2014;Bychkovska & Lee, 2017), in Indonesia (Saputra et al, 2021;Tasya, 2022), in Iran (Ghanbari & Salari, 2022), in Japan (Peloghitis, 2017), in Myanmar (MayOo & Eto, 2023) and in Thailand (Ka-kan-dee & Kaur, 2015). EFL learners are frequently described as having limited capacity to write well-organized arguments with clear and relevant evidence and demonstrate their opinions about a given topic or issue along with the opposing views.…”