Factors Underlying Problems in Developing Ideas for Essays Writing: EFL Students' Perceptions

Abstract

Being able to write academically is a must for college students not only to accomplish academic tasks or assignments but also to express ideas toward particular issues. However, they commonly find academic writing in a foreign language like English is challenging because they find difficulties in generating ideas, developing ideas, and expressing their ideas by following writing conventions like organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. This study aims to reveal students’ problems in developing ideas when they write essays. The subjects of the study are 54 students of Advanced Writing Course of the English Language Education Study Program at the Faculty of Teachers Training and Education of University of Lambung Mangkurat. The instruments used for the study are questionnaire and interview protocol. Subsequent to the questionnaire distribution, an in-depth interview is conducted to selected subjects to explore information about the difficulties that they face in developing ideas for essays writing. The data is analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively to find out the general themes of the reasons underlying students’ problems in writing essays particularly in developing ideas.