4.1 Research findings
4.1.1 Challenges in Writing Theses
4.1.1.1 Linguistics and Writing Knowledge Issues
The first theme emerged is linguistics and writing knowledge issues. Both elements are very essential to produce a good piece of writing. Linguistics itself is the scientific study of language, it deals with language and its components. On the other hand, writing knowledge serves as one of the ways to improve writing performance. Within the theme, the researcher found out that there are four related sub-theme such as grammar, vocabulary, paraphrase, organization of writing, and referencing.
4.1.1.1.1 Grammar
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Grammar is one of the most commonly found difficulties in the interviews.
The low proficiency of the language is one of the pivotal factors. Additionally, The significantly-distinguished grammar from their first language has contributed as well. Seven of ten interviewed participants stated explicitly that they experienced difficulties in applying proper grammar in their writings. For instance, P1 stated :
“ There are a lot of aspects I need to pay a lot of attention to, for example the use of grammar. In the early stage, I frequently mixed up the use of simple past tense, simple present ,and future tense. So, in a sentence where I supposedly used simple present tense, I applied past tense instead.”(P1)
Rather than the grammatical structure, in P1’s case, the hassle was from not knowing when to use proper tenses. She admitted that she was still confused in determining tenses on a lot of occasions. Additionally, her struggles in tenses are evident as shown in the documents collected:
1.
Figure 2 . Grammar notes
2.
Figure 3. Grammar notes
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Other than that, another participant P2 stated that:
“ I struggle in Grammar because in undergraduate theses, there are a number of tenses involved. So, inevitably, I had to make sure that the tenses used were proper. For instance, I needed to make sure the use of verbs in my thesis were correct”(P2)
Similar to P1, P2 also stated to have experienced difficulties in employing proper tenses in their writings. The inclusion of a number of tenses in the thesis has greatly influenced the participants in completing their theses. Besides, P5 also stated that:
“I found it very hard dealing with grammar, because I personally am not very knowledgeable in that matter.”(P5)
P5 explicitly claimed that her knowledge about grammar is very limited and superficial. Hence, writing undergraduate thesis that inherently involves sophisticated grammar has become a huge challenge for her.
4.1.1.1.2 Vocabulary
Another challenge that the participants encountered in their thesis writing is vocabulary. Vocabulary has become one of the most challenging aspects especially for EFL students who basically have a very limited number of repertoires. The interviews revealed that six of ten participants claimed to have experienced difficulties in vocabulary. One of the participant stated P1:
“When it comes to vocabulary, I frequently repeated the same words, I find it very hard to search for words that had the same meaning with what I was looking for”(P1)
The lack of vocabulary has made her writings feel repetitive, thus making it less textured and more monotone in comparison to writings that have more
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diverse dictions. Her challenges in vocabulary are shown in documents she submitted :
1.
Figure 4. Vocabulary notes
In the same vein, P7 claimed to be having the same difficulty. P7 stated :
“When writing my undergraduate thesis in foreign language, I found minor struggles in finding synonyms and employed proper diction to my writings.” (P7)
Similar to P1, P7 also stated that finding synonyms of words was one of the challenges in writing his undergraduate thesis. Albeit, P7 revealed that it was only a minor problem as opposed to P1 who admitted to struggle a lot in that section.
Another participant also said that vocabulary is one of the most challenging aspects. P6 stated :
“ One of the biggest challenges that I faced in my thesis writing is vocabulary”(P6)
While being asked for the reasonings she further explained:
“I have limited amount of vocabulary, therefore, in a lot of occasions, I stumbled upon words that I could not understand”(P6)
Based on the interviews, P1 and P7 stated that the challenges that they faced in vocabulary came from finding the synonyms of words. They unveiled that with the limited vocabulary, the amount of varieties in their writing were also
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bottlenecked. Therefore, there was only so much texture that they could pour into their theses. On the other hand, P6 stated that limited vocabulary had her unable to comprehend some words. As a result, her abilities in referencing were also affected.
4.1.1.1.3 Paraphrasing
Another surfacing challenge in writing undergraduate thesis is paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is a major skill in writing, hence, deficiency in this aspect will cost a lot to the credibility of writing. Based on the interviews conducted on ten participants, five of them directly admitted that paraphrase is one of the challenges they faced while completing their undergraduate theses. P1 stated :
“In paraphrasing, sometimes the statement that I would like to quote, in my opinion, has been the best way to explain it.
So, it was very challenging to find another way to convey it without the need to just copying the original statement.”(P1) P1 admitted that her difficulty in paraphrasing rooted from her deficiency in rewording the statement. This is possibly due to her low proficiency in linguistics. Besides that, P8 also stated :
“In writing undergraduate theses, there is a rule that requires us to not just copy the statement of an author.
Because I believe if it is being checked, it should be no more than 30 or 35 % in terms of similarity. Thus, I have to make sure to paraphrase everything, especially in the second chapter that is basically filled with theories. “ (P8)
P8 implied that one of her concerns was being accused of plagiarism. So, she wanted to make sure that everything fell under the right protocol.
Additionally, P8 further explained :
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“The most challenging thing is the language itself, paraphrasing in Indonesia is one thing however when it comes to English, it is on a whole nother level of difficulty.
“(P8)
Apparently, language barrier was also one of the contributors to the difficulties. As English itself was not her first language, she found it troublesome to paraphrase in a language that she was not fully mastered.
4.1.1.1.4 Referencing
Another prevailing challenge based on the interviews conducted is referencing. Referencing is the act of providing and acknowledging sources and citations. In academic writing, referencing is one of the fundamental aspects used due to the involvement of many theories from authors. Referencing can be a little tricky, especially when one does not have adequate knowledge to structure proper rules according to the target language. There are five participants claimed to have experienced various challenges from this aspect. For instance, P1 stated:
“When I was quoting statements from more than one Author, I was troubled at punctuating the proper rules, for instance:
the use of comma, full stop, and semicolon.”(P1)
P1 explained that she found it difficult to employ proper punctuation in the in-text citation, especially ones which involve many authors. It can be implied that the different rules in referencing both from her native language and English are the main reasons. Concurring with P1, P9 also claimed:
“Most people were troubled in quoting an author’s statement.” (P9)
The root of the problems seems to be from the same tree. P9 iterates the same struggles as P1’s. He also further explained:
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“This happened mostly due to a quite distinguished rules of citing and quoting between English and Indonesia” (P9)
In the similar vein, P7 also shared her experience in referencing. She stated:
”I made mistakes a lot in referencing, especially when trying to determine the proper format. While I searched it on the internet there were numerous ways of doing it, that made me a little confused. My supervisor also suggested that I use the latest APA style in doing my references, she also gave me some tips so that I could do proper referencing .” (P7)
She expressed her difficulties in employing the proper APA styles in her references. Her concerns are evident as it can be seen in her writings as shown below:
1.
Figure 5. Referencing notes 2.
Figure 6. Referencing notes
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The troubles in referencing are quite common among EFL students.
However, it seems most of these problems came from the same concerns.
According to the interviews, all of the causal reasons are coming from the inadequate knowledge of referencing in the target language. In addition, the different rules in referencing of Indonesia and English also played a detrimental role in determining the production of it.