EXPLORING STUDENT'S PROBLEMS IN WRITING THESIS BACKGROUND: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY
Keywords:
Students’ problems, thesis background, strategies to overcomeAbstract
This research explores the experiences of graduates and ongoing students of the year 2020 in writing thesis backgrounds. The main purpose of this research was to identify the specific problems experienced by the students and the strategies to overcome these problems. This research used a qualitative approach with a narrative inquiry design. The participants are the students of the year 2020 in the English Education Department (EED). The students are (1) those who had completed their thesis until the graduation ceremony and (2) those who are still completing their thesis until semester 9. The data collection technique and instrument were done in two ways, namely interviews and document analysis. The findings indicate that students have problems writing a thesis background. The problems they encountered were identifying specific research gaps; identifying research problems; the rationale for selecting the research topic, organizing ideas, paraphrasing, summarizing, and citing to avoid plagiarism, grammar errors, difficulty in connecting each paragraph, using appropriate academic vocabulary, punctuation errors, and writing apprehension. The students also used various strategies to overcome these problems. The strategies they used were reading relevant references with their thesis; using digital tools such as Grammarly, Quillbolt, Google Translate, and DeepL; regular discussions and consultations with supervisors; discussions with peers; listening to music; and engaging in social interactions such as exercise, hanging out, and going to the park.
References
Akkaya, A. & Aydin, G. (2018). Academics' views on the characteristics of academic writing. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 13(2), 128-160. doi: 10.29329/epasr.2018.143.7
Al Fadda, H. (2012). Difficulties in academic writing: From the perspective of King Saud University postgraduate students. English Language Teaching, 5(3),123-130.
Al-Khairy, M. A. (2013). Saudi English-major undergraduates' academic writing problems: A Taif University perspective. English Language Teaching, 6(6), 1-12.
Al-Shboul, Y., & Huwari, I. F. (2015). The causes of writing apprehension through students' perspective. Journal of Language Teaching & Research, 6(3), 535-544. 10.17507/jltr.0603.08.
Al Zahrani, B. & Elyas, T. (2017). The Implementation of Critical Thinking in Saudi EFL Context: Challenges and Opportunities. Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 133-141.
Ariyanti, A. (2016). The teaching of EFL writing in Indonesia. Dinamika Ilmu, 16(2), 263-277. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v16i2.274
Arsyad, S., & Zainil, Y. (2023). Research gap strategies in article introductions of different rank applied linguistics journals. Studies in English Language and Education, 10(1), 216-234.
Aydin, U. (2017). Test anxiety: Do gender and school level matter? European Journal of Educational Research, 6(2), 187-197.
Badrasawi, K., & Zubairi, A. (2016). Exploring the relationship between writing apprehension and writing performance: A qualitative study. International Education Studies. 9. 134-134. 10.5539/ies.v9n8p134.
Bailey, S. (2011). Academic writing: A handbook for international students (3rd ed.). Routledge.
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.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., Williams, J. M., Bizup, J., & Fitzgerald, W. T. (2016). The craft of research (4th ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Craft, L. L., & Perna, F. M. (2004). The benefits of exercise for the clinically depressed. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry, 6(3), 104–111. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v06n0301
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. (4th Ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach (4th ed.). SAGE.
Davies, M. (2015). A model of critical thinking in higher education. In M. B. Paulsen (ed.).
Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 41–92). Springer.
http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12835-1_2
Fareed, M., Ashraf, A., & Bilal, M. (2016). ESL learners’ writing skills: Problems, factors and suggestions. Journal of Education & Social Sciences, 4(2), 80–92.
Hallam, S., Price, J., & Katsarou, G. (2002). The effects of background music on primary school pupils' task performance. Educational studies, 28(2), 111-122.
Irvin, L. L. (2010). What is “academic” writing? In C. Lowe & P. Zemliansky (Eds.), Writing spaces: Readings on writing (vol. 1, pp. 3-17). Parlor Press.
Khan, A., & Khan, Y. (2016). Punctuation errors made by the learners of intermediate level at Punjab Group of Colleges: An error analysis. International Journal of Institutional & Industrial Research, 1(1), 22–25.
Madjid, H. I., Amru, A. N. F., Bimantoro, R., & Ramadhan, D. A. (2020, May). Students’ Writing Apprehension in Research Background Development. In International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICONELT 2019) (pp. 170-172). Atlantis Press.
Nation, P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge University Press.
Nushi, M., & Jenabzadeh, H. (2016). Teaching and learning academic vocabulary. California Linguistic Notes, 40(2), 51-70.
Oshima, A., & Hogue, A. (2017). Longman academic writing series 3: Paragraphs to essays (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
Pramonojati, S., Carella, D. N., Fitriyah, W. D., & Sari, I. Y. K. (2020, May). Students’ critical thinking in writing background of research. In International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICONELT 2019) (pp. 304-308). Atlantis Press.
Pratiwi, D. I., & Waluyo, B. (2023). Autonomous learning and the use of digital technologies in online English classrooms in higher education. Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(2).
Ratnawati, R., Faridah, D., Anam, S., & Retnaningdyah, P. (2018). Exploring academic writing needs of Indonesian EFL undergraduate students. Arab World English Journal (AWEJ), 9(4), 420-432. https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no4.31
Rehman, D. T. (2005). Punctuation, comprehension, and precise writing. In D. Fazal-ul-Rehman, English (compulsory). Allama Iqbal Open University.
Safitri, C. D., Azisah, S., & Annur, M. J. (2021). The analysis of students’ challenges to thesis writing at UIN Alauddin Makassar. English Language Teaching for EFL Learners, 3(2), 41 –53. https://doi.org/10.24252/elties.v3i2.21013
Sintya, Y. E., & Al Hafizh, M. (2022). Undergraduate Students’ Ability in Constructing Cohesion in the Background of the Problem of Thesis. In 67th TEFLIN International Virtual Conference & the 9th ICOELT 2021 (TEFLIN ICOELT 2021) (pp. 224-227). Atlantis Press.
Soraya, I., Riswan, A. H., Sholehuddin, T. R., & Mahendra, A. (2020, May). The rhetorical development of students’ research paper background. [Paper presentation]. In International Conference on English Language Teaching (ICONELT 2019) (pp. 274-277). Atlantis Press.
Swales, J. M. & Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students (3rd ed.). Umich Press
Thahirah, T., Muhayyang, M., & Aryani, A. (2023). Students’ difficulties in writing thesis background. Journal of Excellence in English Language Education, 2(1), 82-89. https://doi.org/10.26858/joeele.v2i1,%20January.43588
Tulkinjonovna, B. F., & Jurakulovna, K. L. (2021). Impacts of reading books in improving writing proficiency. Academicia Globe, 2(05), 23-26.
Wahib, A. (2023). An EFL experience in undergraduate thesis writing: An auto-ethnography. SALEE: Study of Applied Linguistics and English Education, 4(1), 100-113.
Washburn, P. (2009). The vocabulary of critical thinking. Oxford University Press.
Wilson, J. R. (2022). Academic Writing. Harvard University.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Citation Check
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Breakthrough English Language Teaching in Islamic Context
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
LETTER OF COPYRIGHT ASSIGNMENT
As an author of BELTIC Journal of English Education Department UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung. I, who sign below:
Declare:
1. My paper is authentic; my own writing and it has not been published/proposed on any other journals and publication.
2. My paper is not plagiarism but my original idea/research.
3. My paper is not written by other help, except with Board of Editors and Reviewers recommendation who have been chosen by this journal.
4. In my paper, there are no other writings or opinions except referred in the bibliography and relevant to the rule of writing in this journal.
5. I give all my copyright of this paper to this journal include the right for managing and publication.
6. I make this assignment surely. If there are distortion and untruth in this assignment, later, I will take responsibility as the current law.
