Thai EFL Undergraduate Engineering Students' Perspectives on Academic Writing: Challenges and Strategies

Chulalongkorn University Language Institute. Prem Purachatra Building, Chulalongkom University, Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Tel: +66-2-218-6092; Fax: +66-2-218-6104; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.culi.chula.ac.th/en/pasaa/1

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31

Undergraduate Students; Engineering Education; English Language Learners; Academic Language; Barriers; Writing (Composition); Social Support Groups; Help Seeking; Writing Instruction; Feedback (Response); Computer Mediated Communication

0125-2488
2287-0024

This study investigated the perceived English-language academic writing challenges encountered by Thai EFL undergraduate engineering students and the strategies they employed to overcome these challenges. The data were collected from third-year Thai EFL undergraduate engineering students through a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview adapted from Hyland (2016) and Lin and Morrison (2021). The results revealed that vocabulary, grammar, and structure were the most challenging aspects at the sentence level for students. At the paragraph level, they considered summarizing and paraphrasing academic sources and producing a coherent argument the most challenging aspects when writing academic texts in English. Feedback from instructors was reported as the most useful strategy. However, students were most likely to seek online support when encountering problems in English language academic writing practices. The study concludes by discussing implications for teaching academic writing courses.

As Provided

2024

EJ1436061