EFL_ Indonesian Students’ Attitude toward Writing in English

Abstract

Writing is a sophisticated language skill since it requires the ability not only to tailor ideas, but also to construct acceptable sentences to create a meaningful, logical, and comprehensible work. As a result, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners have to maximize their efforts to put their thoughts on the paper. This paper is intended to describe the EFL students attitude toward writing. There were 57 students participating in the study. The data was collected by using questionnaire, interview, and documentation of self reflection essay. The result shows that none of the students has low attitude in writing, while fifty eight percent of them has moderate attitude to writing, and the rest of them have positive attitude to writing. The result from the interview also reveals that although the students have moderate attitude to writing, they view writing as difficult, and stressfull. While those who have high attitude, mostly view writing as interesting and challenging. The finding also reveals several efforts the students do to improve their writing skill, among others are practice writing, reading a lot for knowledge and ideas, and using diary writing. The implication of the finding is discussed.

The Eight Graders Writing Attitude toward Efl Writing in Indonesian Context

“…Megaiab's study (2014) found out that the students' native language influence the text quality of their composition because of their lack competence in grammar and writing elements. Because of its complexity, many EFL students have negative attitude toward writing because they view writing as "difficult and stressful" (Setyowati & Sukmawan, 2016). For Cahyono (2009), the students' view of writing difficulty might lay in their perception on the use of correct grammar and vocabulary when the ideas are translated in the text.…”

“…In Indonesian context where English is taught as a foreign language, among other skills, writing becomes the most difficult skill to master (Cahyono, 2009;Setyowati &Sukmawan, 2016). It is all because writing is more than just outputting the accurate sentences and paragraphs (Hedge, 2005).…”

“…The questionnaire used in the study was adopted from Podsen (1997) which consist of 20 questionnaire items with 1-5 scale; (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) don't know, (4) agree, and (5) strongly agree. The reliability of the questionnaire 0.737 computed by Cronbach Alpha which means that the questionnaires has high internal consistency (Setyowati &Sukmawan, 2016). Because the questionnaires are written in English and the students' English was not sufficient to fully understand the intended meaning of the questionnaires, the researchers decided to translate the questionnaires into Bahasa Indonesia.…”

“…The result of the study also shows that the students who had negative attitude toward writing confessed that they had low self confidence in English, had negative opinion that English is difficult, and were their lack of practice in writing. The third study was conducted by Setyowati & Sukmawan (2016). They investigated the EFL students' writing attitude in university level by using a descriptive quantitative design.…”

ICT and Learning Attitude towards Students’ Academic Paragraph Writing in College Level

“…Results of an interview stated by Setyowati & Sukmawan (2016) also reveal that although students have moderate attitudes towards writing, they perceive writing as difficult, and stressful. While those with high attitudes, mostly views writing as interesting and challenging.…”