Scrutinizing English Academic Writing Skills: Indonesian Postgraduate Students' Challenges and Strategies in an AI-Empowered Era

Jeffri Dian Andika, Muchamad Muchibbuddin Waly, Yuyun Yulia, Girindra Putri Ardana Reswari

Abstract


Indonesian postgraduate students encounter significant challenges in academic writing, particularly in areas such as clarity, coherence, organization, grammar, and plagiarism prevention. This study investigates these challenges and explores the potential of AI-driven strategies to enhance writing skills. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, including quantitative surveys of 50 participants and qualitative interviews with six postgraduates, the research identified key obstacles such as difficulty in formulating clear research questions, using precise academic vocabulary, maintaining logical flow, and mastering citation practices. To address the issues, they employed several effective strategies employed      including seeking feedback, attending workshops, outlining, varying sentence structures, and thorough proofreading. AI tools like Grammarly, QuillBot, ChatGPT, and Mendeley are widely used for grammar checks, paraphrasing, citation management, and enhancing coherence, demonstrating their value in supporting academic writing. However, the study underscores the importance of human oversight to ensure originality and foster critical thinking. These findings have implications for both theoretical advancement and educational practice, particularly in the integration of AI tools in higher education. The findings hold significant implications for educational practice, suggesting that AI integration in higher education can serve as an effective support tool, provided it is accompanied by guidance on responsible usage.

Keywords


Academic Writing; Postgraduates; Challenges; Strategies; Artificial intelligence

Full Text:

FULL PDF

References


Akhtar, R., Hassan, H., Saidalvi, A., & Hussain, S. (2019). A systematic review of the challenges and solutions of ESL students’ academic writing. International Journal of Engineering and Advanced Technology, 8(5), 1169-1171. https://doi.or/10.35940/ijeat.E1164.0585C19

Almarwani, M. (2020). Academic Writing: Challenges and Potential Solutions. Arab World English Journal. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/call6.8.

Alharbi, W. (2023). AI in the foreign language classroom: A pedagogical overview of automated writing assistance tools. Education Research International, 2023(1), 4253331. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/4253331

Aldosari, S. A. M. (2020). The future of higher education in the light of artificial intelligence transformations. International Journal of Higher Education, 9(3), 145-151. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v9n3p145

Alsariera, A. H., & Yunus, K. (2023). Issues and Challenges in the Use of Coherence among Jordanian EFL Students In Writing Academic Essays. Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS), 8(2), 141-156. https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol8iss2pp141-156

Amanda, A., Sukma, E., Lubis, N., & Dewi, U. (2023). Quillbot As An AI-powered English Writing Assistant: An Alternative for Students to Write English. Jurnal Pendidikan dan Sastra Inggris. 3(2), 188-199. https://doi.org/10.55606/jupensi.v3i2.2026

Arianingtyas, C. W. (2018). Challenges in Learning Academic Writing: EFL Students' Perceptions [Doctoral dissertation, Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris FBS-UKSW].

Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017). EFL students' difficulties and needs in essay writing. In International Conference on Teacher Training and Education 2017 (ICTTE 2017) (pp. 32-42). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/ictte-17.2017.4

Aydawati, E., Rukmini, D., Bharati, D., & Fitriati, S. (2019). The Effect of Online Peer Review Activities on Students’ Academic Writing Performance. Proceedings of the UNNES International Conference on English Language Teaching, Literature, and Translation (ELTLT 2018). https://doi.org/10.2991/ELTLT-18.2019.50.

Bram, B., & Angelina, P. (2022). Indonesian Tertiary Education Students’ Academic Writing Setbacks and Solutions. International Journal of Language Education. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v6i3.22043.

Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd ed.). Longman.

Cardon, P., Fleischmann, C., Aritz, J., Logemann, M., & Heidewald, J. (2023). The challenges and opportunities of AI-assisted writing: Developing AI literacy for the AI age. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 86(3), 257-295.

Cargill, M., Gao, X., Wang, X., & O'Connor, P. (2018). Preparing Chinese graduate students of science facing an international publication requirement for graduation: Adapting an intensive workshop approach for early-candidature use. English for Specific Purposes. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ESP.2018.05.002.

Carter, S., Guerin, C., Aitchison, C. (2020). Being and Developing Writers. In: Doctoral Writing. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1808-9_2

Chen, W., & Gao, J. (2022). Creating an online community of inquiry: learner practice and perceptions of community-based feedback giving in academic writing. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 37(3), 493–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2022.2043381

Coffin, C., Curry, M. J., Goodman, S., Hewings, A., Lillis, T. M., & Swann, J. (2003). Teaching academic writing: A toolkit for higher education. Routledge.

Cotton, D. R., Cotton, P. A., & Shipway, J. R. (2024). Chatting and cheating: Ensuring academic integrity in the era of ChatGPT. Innovations in education and teaching international, 61(2), 228-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2023.2190148

Chan, C. K. Y. (2023). Is AI changing the rules of academic misconduct? An in-depth look at students' perceptions of'AI-giarism'. arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.03358.

Chauke, T., Mkhize, T., Methi, L., & Dlamini, N. (2024). Postgraduate Students’ Perceptions on the Benefits Associated with Artificial Intelligence Tools on Academic Success: In Case of ChatGPT AI tool. Journal Of Curriculum Studies Research, 6(1), 44-59. https://doi.org/10.46303/jcsr.2024.4

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Sage.

Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.

Faradhibah, R. N., & Nur, N. A. (2017). Analyzing Students’ Difficulties in Maintaining their Coherence and Cohesion in Writing Process. ETERNAL (English, Teaching, Learning, and Research Journal), 3(2), 183-194. https://doi.org/10.24252/Eternal.V32.2017.A7

Ferris, D. R., & Hedgcock, J. S. (2022). Teaching ESL composition: Purpose, process, and practice. Routledge.

Fitria, T. (2021). Grammarly as AI-powered English Writing Assistant: Students’ Alternative for Writing English. The Journal of English Language and Literature, 5, 65-78. https://doi.org/10.31002/METATHESIS.V5I1.3519.

Godwin-Jones, R. (2022). Partnering with AI: Intelligent writing assistance and instructed language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 26(2), 5–24. http://doi.org/10125/73474

Gopen, G. D., & Swan, J. A. (2020). The science of scientific writing. In M. Coogan (Ed.), Contemporary Rhetoric (pp. 330-352). Routledge.

Graham, S., Graham, S., Liu, X., Aitken, A., Ng, C., Bartlett, B., Harris, K., Harris, K., & Holzapfel, J. (2018). Effectiveness of Literacy Programs Balancing Reading and Writing Instruction: A Meta‐Analysis. Reading Research Quarterly, 53, 279-304. https://doi.org/10.1002/RRQ.194.

Gupta, S., Jaiswal, A., Paramasivam, A., & Kotecha, J. (2022 ). Academic writing challenges and supports: Perspectives of international doctoral students and their supervisors. In Frontiers in Education, 7, p. 891534 . Frontiers Media SA. ttps://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.891534

Gyuris, E. (2018). Evaluating the effectiveness of postgraduate research skills training and its alignment with the Research Skill Development framework. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 15(4). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.15.4.5

Hairul. (2023). Writing effectively for English academic essays: An exploration of tertiary students’ challenges. Erudita: Journal of English Language Teaching, 3(1), 57-67 https://doi.org/10.28918/erudita.v3i1.925

Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (2020). Cohesion in English. Routledge.

Hartley, J. (2022). Academic writing and publishing: A practical guide. Routledge.

Hendriarto, P., Nur, M., Asmadianto, A., & Nugroho, B. S. (2021). Understanding of the Challenges of the Writing Work in Academia World: What Publication Say. Jurnal Iqra': Kajian Ilmu Pendidikan, 6(1), 99-112. https://doi.org/10.25217/ji.v6i1.1420

Hinkel, E. (2017). Teaching academic ESL writing: Practical techniques in vocabulary and grammar. Routledge.

Huang, J., & Tan, M. (2023). The role of ChatGPT in scientific communication: writing better scientific review articles. American journal of cancer research, 13(4), 1148.

Hyland, K., & Jiang, K. (2019). Academic discourse and global publishing: Disciplinary persuasion in changing times. Routledge.

Hyland, K., & Sancho Guinda, C. (2022). Stance and voice in written academic genres. Palgrave Macmillan.

Islamiyah, M., & Fajri, M. (2020). Investigating Indonesian Master's students' perception of critical thinking in Academic Writing in a British university. The Qualitative Report, 25(12), 4402-4422. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol25/iss12/12

Karjono, J. S. (2020). Coherence in Thesis Proposal Writings of Undergraduate Students. JELLT (Journal of English Language and Language Teaching), 4(1), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.36597/jellt.v4i1.7687

Khalifa, M., & Albadawy, M. (2024). Using artificial intelligence in academic writing and research: An essential productivity tool. In Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine Update (5). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpbup.2024.100145

Larsson, T. (2017). The importance of, it is important that or importantly? the use of morphologically related stance markers in learner and expert writing. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 22, 57-84. https://doi.org/10.1075/IJCL.22.1.03LAR

Li, L. (2023). Challenges, Causes and Solutions in the Process of Writing English Academic Papers for English Postgraduates. Journal of Education and Educational Research, 3(2), 211-214. https://doi.org/10.54097/jeer.v3i2.9306

Lillis, T., & Curry, M. J. (2010). Academic writing in a global context: The politics and practices of publishing in English. Routledge.

Malik, A. R., Pratiwi, Y., Andajani, K., Numertayasa, I. W., Suharti, S., Darwis, A., & Marzuki. (2023). Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Academic Essay: Higher Education Student’s Perspective. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2023.100296

Mammadova, T. (2023). Academic writing and information literacy instruction in digital environments: A complementary approach. Springer Nature.

Manchón, R. M. (2022). Writing as a cognitive tool for language learning. In R. M. Manchón (Ed.), The handbook of writing for academic and professional contexts (pp. 47-67). De Gruyter Mouton.

Marzuki, Widiati, U., Rusdin, D., Darwin, & Indrawati, I. (2023). The impact of AI writing tools on the content and organization of students’ writing: EFL teachers’ perspective. Cogent Education, 10(2), 2236469.

Munajah, R., Sumantri, M. S., & Yufiarti, Y. (2022). The use of digital storytelling to improve students’ writing skills. Advances in Mobile Learning Educational Research, 3(1), 579-585. https://doi.org/10.25082/AMLER.2023.01.006

Murray, S. (2018). The digital literary sphere: reading, writing, and selling books in the internet era. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Nazari, N., Shabbir, M. S., & Setiawan, R. (2021). Application of Artificial Intelligence powered digital writing assistant in higher education: randomized controlledtrial. Heliyon, 7(5).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07014

Nicol, D. (2020). The power of internal feedback: exploiting natural comparison processes. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(5), 756–778. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314

Nurkamto, J., Prihandoko, L. A., Putro, N. H. P. S., & Purwati, O. (2024). Academic writing apprehension in higher education: A systematic review. Studies in English Language and Education, 11(1), 14-247. https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v11i1.28928

Okuda, T., & Anderson, T. (2018). Second language graduate students’ experiences at the writing center: A language socialization perspective. Tesol Quarterly, 52(2), 391-413. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.406

Orel, E., Ciglenecki, I., Thiabaud, A., Temerev, A., Calmy, A., Keiser, O., & Merzouki, A. (2023). An Automated Literature Review Tool (LiteRev) for Streamlining and Accelerating Research Using Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning: Descriptive Performance Evaluation Study. Journal of medical Internet research, 25, e39736. https://doi.org/10.2196/39736

Ozfidan, B., & Mitchell, C. (2020). Detected Difficulties in Argumentative Writing: The Case of Culturally and Linguistically Saudi Backgrounded Students. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 7(2), 15–29. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/382

Pecorari, D. (2023). Plagiarism and English for academic purposes: A research agenda. Language Teaching, 56(3), 362-376. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444821000495

Perkins, M. (2023). Academic integrity considerations of AI Large Language Models in the post-pandemic era: ChatGPT and beyond. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice. 20(2). https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.07

Politton, M. E., & Hadiyanti, K. M. W. (2019). Enhancing University Students English Writing Skills on Content Area. LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, 22(2), 146-155. https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v22i2.1868

Rudolph, J., Tan, S., & Tan, S. (2023). ChatGPT: Bullshit spewer or the end of traditional assessments in higher education?. Journal of applied learning and teaching, 6(1), 342-363. https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2023.6.1.9

Sadeghi, K., & Alinasab, M. (2020). Academic conflict in applied linguistics research article discussions: The case of native and non-native writers. English for Specific Purposes, 59, 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2020.03.001

Selim, A. S. M. (2024). The Transformative Impact of AI-Powered Tools on Academic Writing: Perspectives of EFL University Students. International Journal of English Linguistics, 14(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v14n1p14

Sethy, S. S. (2022). Impact of artificial intelligence on higher education in the post-pandemic era. Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 35(3), 1-8.

Setiawan, F & Taiman. (2021). Cohesion and coherence in written texts of health medical laboratory students.Indonesian EFL Journal,7(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.25134/IEFLJ.V7I1.3991.

Shinta, Q. (2021). An Assessment on Coherence and Grammatical Structure of Students’ Writing Skills. JOEL: Journal of Educational and Language Research, 1(1), 53–60. https://doi.org/10.53625/joel.v1i1.263

Suparsa, I. N., Mantra, I. B. N., Sukanadi, N. L., Susrawan, I. N. A., & Suwandi, I. N. (2023). A Comprehensive Study on Students' Essay Writing Skills. International Journal of Social Science, 2(6), 2429-2434. https://doi.org/10.53625/ijss.v2i6.5542

Tambunan, A., Andayani, W., Sari, W., & Lubis, F. (2022). Investigating EFL students’ linguistic problems using Grammarly as automated writing evaluation feedback. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 12(1), 16-27. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v12i1.46428

Thuy, N., Anh, H., Ngan, N., Vy, N., & Anh, N. (2022). Difficulties With Word Choice in Academic Writing and Solutions: A Research On English-Majored Students At Can Tho University, Vietnam. European Journal of English Language Teaching. 7(6). https://doi.org/10.46827/ejel.v7i6.4543.

Thao, T. Q., & Quyen, N. H. N. (2020). Exploring tertiary English-majored students’ academic writing difficulties. TNU Journal of Science and Technology, 225(11), 123-130. https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.3686

Wakerkwa, D., Kristina, D., & Rochsantiningsih, D. (2019). Students' Written Academic Competence and Difficulties in Writing Research Article for Publication. ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities. https://doi.org/10.34050/els-jish.v2i3.7260.

Wingate, U. (2018). Academic literacy across the curriculum: Towards a collaborative instructional approach. Language Teaching, 51(3), 349-364. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444817000313

Wischgoll, A. (2017). Improving Undergraduates’ and Postgraduates’ Academic Writing Skills with Strategy Training and Feedback. Frontiers in Education, 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00033

Xie, Q. (2020). Diagnosing Linguistic Problems in English Academic Writing of University Students: An Item Bank Approach. Language Assessment Quarterly, 17, 183 - 203. https://doi.org/10.1080/15434303.2019.1691214

Younis, H., Mohammed, O., , M., Sahib, T., Akhtom, D., Hayder, I., Salisu, S., & Shahid, M. (2023). ChatGPT Evaluation: Can It Replace Grammarly and Quillbot Tools?. British Journal of Applied Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.32996/bjal.2023.3.2.4.

Zhang, R., Zhang, Y., Huang, G., & Chen, R. (2021). Research on Proofreading Method of Semantic Collocation Error in Chinese. In Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Security: 7th International Conference, ICAIS 2021, Dublin, Ireland, July 19-23, 2021, Proceedings, Part I 7 (pp. 709-722). Springer International Publishing.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.33394/jollt.v13i2.12884

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Jeffri Dian Andika, Muchamad Muchibbuddin Waly, Sugirin Sugirin

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

JOLLT Journal of Languages and Language Teaching (p-issn: 2338-0810 | e-issn: 2621-1378) has been Indexed/Listed by

 Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.