WHAT FACTORS AFFECT STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN ACADEMIC WRITING: A SURVEY STUDY OF STUDENTS PERCEPTION IN ONE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN INDONESIA

This study examined the factors that cause difficulties for university students in academic writing during their study in the English education department. The purpose of this study is to find the factors that affect students in academic writing. This research was conducted using a mixed method by applying online surveys and online interviews. The participants in this study were 65 students from second, third, and fourth academic year at a private university in
Indonesia. The findings revealed that three factors affected students’ difficulty in academic writing, such as personality factors, sociocultural factors, and linguistic
factors. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The average value of data online questionnaire showed X̄ = 61.031 with a value of 67.812. The research results of an online survey found that the biggest factor influencing students in academic writing was personality factors with 38% of students agree and 18% of students strongly agree. Meanwhile, the results of an online interview revealed that linguistic factors had a big affect on students' difficulties in academic writing. Therefore, the results of this study found the most dominant affect factors, namely, personality factors and linguistic factors while sociocultural factors became the least affect factors from the results of online surveys and online interviews. The implication of this study was to provide great benefits for students to understand what should be improved and avoided in their academic writing skills. This study mainly examined the factors that impact students' difficulties in academic writing so that future studies might focus on
academic writing strategies that assist students in overcoming these challenges.