THE STUDENTS' DIFFICULTIES IN EFL ACADEMIC WRITING: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW (SLR)

• Indra Abidin

  universitas Bumi Hijrah Tidore

  Author

Academic writing is a complex language skill requiring mastery of linguistic, cognitive, and academic integrity dimensions. The research question in this study is what are the main difficulties faced by students in academic writing based on existing literature?. This study aims to identify the primary obstacles faced by EFL students in academic writing through a systematic literature review approach. In this literature review, the researcher acted as the primary instrument (key instrument) which was independently collecting, reading, documenting and analysing the data from current literature. Based on data synthesis from recent literature (2023–2025), the difficulties encountered by students are multidimensional and span three primary domains. Percentage analysis reveals that linguistic and stylistic barriers dominate student challenges, which was led by grammar at 36% and academic style at 32%. Furthermore, vocabulary limitations and paraphrasing/referencing skills contribute equally at 22% each, indicating that restricted academic diction directly impairs students' ability to paraphrase ethically without risking plagiarism. Although idea organization recorded the lowest percentage at 12%, it underscores a significant cognitive load when aligning theoretical ideas with standard structural formats. Overall, these findings highlight the necessity for integrated higher education pedagogical interventions specifically contextual grammar instruction, academic vocabulary expansion, and intensive training in referencing and structural coherence to elevate the quality and integrity of students' scholarly output. 

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