TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES IN TEACHING ACADEMIC WRITING: A CASE STUDY AT ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH YOGYAKARTA

Teachers’ Strategies in Teaching Academic Writing:
A Case Study at English Education Department of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta

A Skripsi
Submitted to the Faculty of Language Education as a Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements to Obtain the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

Dalliya Khodzirotul Qudsi
2012 054 0034

English Education Department
Faculty of Language Education
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
2016

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Acknowledgement
In the name of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, the most beneficent, the most
merciful. Firstly and primarily, the countless thanks and all praises are merely to
Allah SWT who gives gracious mercy and tremendous blessing for me to
accomplish this skripsi. Secondly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude
and respect to my inspiring advisor, Ms.Sri Rejeki Murtiningsih S.Pd, M.Ed, Ph.D
(Ms. Jackie) who have contributed and given the valuable evaluations, feedbacks,
and suggestions during the completion of this study. I deeply thank for her
guidance, motivation, patience and encouragement which enormously support me
in finishing this skripsi. It’s such a great experience to be assisted by her during
accomplishing this study.
Thirdly, I also would like to address my deepest gratitude and respect to
Ms.Noor Qomaria S.Pd, M.Hum and Mr.Andi Wirantaka S.Pd, M.Hum as my
examiners in defense seminar who have generously provided suggestions and
feedbacks constructively for this skripsi’s enhancement. I do appreciate their
kindness during assisting me. I also sincerely thank to the participants of this
study in which they are some EED lectures of UMY. Thanks for kindly
discussing, reflecting, and sharing the fruitful knowledge and experiences. It
means a lot for me and this skripsi’s completion.

As well, I sincerely thank and appreciate to all the EED lectures of UMY
who have generously taught and shared the infinite lessons and insight on English
education and other beneficial lessons. Also, a lot of thanks are also addressed to
all EED students of UMY batch 2012, especially class A who have been shared
the happiness and kindness throughout my study at this department.
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Most essentially, I would like to tremendously thank to all members of my
family for encouraging me through ups and downs in accomplishing this skripsi.
My deepest gratitude, love, and respect are intended to my dearest father, Ahmad
Yazid Abshari (Alm), even he cannot see his lovely daughter graduate from her
study, I deeply thank for his unconditional love, kindness, wise advices, and sweet
memories. I also must say thank to my other half, my dearest mother and siblings,
Juwariyah, Atho’illah Akbar, and Mellyna Zam Zammia. Thank you for
endlessness loves, cares, encouragement, motivation, as well as both warm smiles
and hugs to me up till now. This skripsi is dedicated for those kindhearted people.
As well, I sincerely thank to my dearest ladies and boys, Ekna, Qonia,
Kawai (Erlin, Anisa, Dewi, Tivani, Nur, Reni, Erni, and Lina), Opuliri (Oka,
Putri, and Rini), KKN mates (Zelin, Dewi, Edi, Gigih, Rangga, and Ijul), ME
(Aris, Ghofar, Nuh, and Teguh), and to my kindhearted buddy, Sulis. Thank you

for staying by my side in whatever condition I am. I couldn’t ask anymore, Allah
SWT has given me the sweetest life for having all of them throughout studying at
UMY. Anyone who has helped me in the completion of this skripsi but not be
directly mentioned yet here, I truly apologize for it, but I do appreciate any
opinion, assistance, and suggestion for the improvement of this skripsi.
I consider that this skripsi has not perfect yet. For this reason, anyone is
welcome to give constructive thoughts, comments, and critics tactfully in response
to the enhancement of this skripsi. Finally, may Allah SWT gives rewards for
their kindheartedness. Amen.
Sincerely,
Dalliya Khodzirotul Qudsi

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Abstract
Academic writing, as one of writing genres in writing skill that is
considered defining language learners’ success in both learning and career
promotion, is being paid close attention to teachers and students. As a result, it
remains a challenging task for teachers to employ some strategies regarding how
to achieve enhanced results in teaching academic writing. Besides, many obstacles

commonly hinder the teaching process. This study aims to investigate teachers’
strategies and the obstacles that were faced together with the solutions in teaching
academic writing. The discussion is limited to focus on text and focus on process
strategies. Focus on text strategies are teaching strategies which pay close
attention to students’ knowledge on some linguistic features including text type,
rhetorical convention, academic register, and linguistic accuracy. While focus on
process strategies are teaching strategies which tend to emphasize on some stages
in students’ writing process including pre-writing, planning, drafting, reviewing,
and refinement.
This study was conducted at English Education Department (EED) of
Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). The research design was
qualitative and it specifically employed case study as a research method. The data
was collected by in-depth interview. Three EED teachers of UMY were taken as
the participants of this study, and they were chosen based on some criteria. First,
they were teachers who had been teaching an academic writing subject within not
less than two years. Second, they asked their students to write at least one kind of
academic writings. Third, they were accessible and willing to talk, discuss, share,
and reflect their ideas, knowledge, experiences, and thoughts. Member checking

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was done to prove the data validity. The gathered data was analyzed using open,
axial, and selective coding.
The finding revealed that the strategies that were used by some EED
teachers of UMY were teaching strategies that tend to focus on students’
awareness and understanding on some linguistic features (including text type,
rhetorical convention, academic register, and linguistic accuracy) and students’
writing process (including pre-writing, planning, drafting, reviewing, and
refinement). So, it indicates that the strategies used by some EED teachers of
UMY refer to focus on text and focus on process strategies since they paid close
attention on students’ knowledge on some linguistic features and students’ writing
process during teaching academic writing. Another finding exposed that the
obstacles that were faced by some EED teachers of UMY encompass five major
problems. First, it was on students’ linguistic development which can be coped
with giving feedback, involving brainstorming, and motivating students. Second,
it was on students’ linguistic needs’ diversity which can be handled by giving
feedback. Third, it was on the physical setting of classroom which can be deal
with involving quiz and discussion. Fourth, it came from teachers’ time
availability which can be coped with managing time better by teachers. Fifth, it
came from the teaching focus division which also can be handled by managing

time better by teachers.
Keywords: writing skill, academic writing, teaching writing, teaching
strategies, focus on text strategies, focus on process strategies, process approach,
text approach, obstacles and solutions.

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Table of Contents
Title Page................................................................................................................. i
Approval Page ...................................................................................................... ii
Statement of the Authenticity ........................................................................... iii
Acknowledgement .................................................................................................iv
Abstract ................................................................................................................. vi
Table of Contents ............................................................................................... viii
List of Figures ........................................................................................................ x
List of Appendices .................................................................................................xi
Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................. 1
Background...........................................................................................................1
Problem Statement................................................................................................6
Problem Limitation ...............................................................................................7

Research Questions ..............................................................................................8
Research Objectives .............................................................................................8
Research Significance ..........................................................................................8
Research Outline ................................................................................................10
Chapter Two: Literature Review ....................................................................... 11
The Concept of Writing ......................................................................................11
Process of Writing ..............................................................................................12
The Concept of Academic Writing..................................................................... 13
Teachers’ Role in Teaching Writing .................................................................. 16
Teaching Strategy ...............................................................................................17
Strategies in Teaching Academic Writing .......................................................... 18

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Common Obstacles in Teaching Academic Writing .......................................... 23
How to Overcome the Confronted Obstacles ..................................................... 25
Review of Related Studies..................................................................................26
Conceptual Framework ......................................................................................28
Chapter Three: Methodology.............................................................................. 32
Research Design .................................................................................................32

Research Setting and Participants ...................................................................... 33
Research Instrument ...........................................................................................35
Data Collection Procedures ................................................................................ 37
Data Analysis......................................................................................................38
Chapter Four: Finding and Discussion .............................................................. 40
The Concept of Academic Writing….... ........................................................... 40
Teachers’ Strategies in Teaching Academic Writing.. ......................................42
The Confronted Obstacles in Teaching Academic Writing ..............................59
How to Overcome the Confronted Obstacles ................................................... 64
Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendation ............................................. 71
Conclusion .........................................................................................................71
Recommendation ...............................................................................................73
References .............................................................................................................76
Appendices

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Process of Writing ................................................................................ 12

Figure 2: The Writing Process in Focus on Process Strategies ............................. 20
Figure 3: Conceptual Framework ........................................................................ 31

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List of Appendices

Appendix 1: Interview Guideline ............................................................................. 1

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Chapter One
Introduction
This introduction chapter presents some points regarding the main issues
of this study. This chapter comprises research background, problem statement,
problem limitation, research questions, research objectives, research significance,
and research outline.
Background

Academic writing is one of special writing genres in writing skill since it
has its own a set of conventions and it is commonly used in high school grades to
post-secondary education. This is clarified by Bailey (2006) who defined that
academic writing is a writing genre that is commonly produced by students who
are studying in schools and universities, and it is often found by students as a
challenging course since it requires them to adopt its conventions, its referencing
rules, and its layout. Also, Messaouda (2014) explained that academic writing as a
part of writing genres in productive skill demands on higher order of thinking and
energy since it relies on some linguistic features such as vocabulary, grammar,
sentence structure, paragraph coherence and cohesion, and semantics. Moreover,
as declared by Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan (BSNP) Indonesia (2006),
writing skill in English subject continuously have been becoming one of four
major language skills that have to be learned and mastered by language learners in
higher education level, and academic writing has been becoming the essential
feature of the school curricula regarding writing skill itself.
Academic writing as one of writing genres which mostly produced by
language learners throughout the study process has the important role in English

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language teaching and learning. This is in line with Brown (2004) who declared
that academic writing is one of the most common genres of writing which
students might produce. Besides, academic writing is defined to have the
significant role in English language teaching and learning since all fields of study
in higher education level require students to be able to compose written text
academically, properly, and in line with academic requirements such as an essay
and a thesis.
Then, the ability to write academically well is crucial for students to have
since it can be the key for achieving academic success, especially on English
subject. As clarified by Alber-Morgan, Hessler, and Konrad (2007), students’
proficiency in written expression is strongly essential in determining their
academic achievement. Besides, Kelley (2008) as cited in Giridharan (2012)
pointed out that post-secondary students’ academic success depends on their
academic writing. It reiterates that the capability to write academically well can be
considered as the predictor and the determinant in students’ academic success.
In addition to the fact that academic writing is important in English
language teaching and learning, Yuliana (2014) affirmed that having ability to
write well in English is essential since it can express thought and can be a
valuable asset for further career. As well, Tuan (2010) highlighted that the success
of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners in academic writing benefits
them not solely to their English learning, but also to their life-long careers. It
shows that having a good competency in academic writing can increase students’
opportunities in both English learning and career promotion.

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Although having ability to write academic writing well is intensely
important in some fields as explained above, unfortunately, some students
frequently still face some difficulties on the process of writing that appropriate
with academic writing requirements. As clarified by Xiao (2007), “most EFL
learners are frequently frustrated by such problems as lacking appropriate English
lexical expression and struggling with mechanics, grammar, sentence structure,
paragraph coherence, rhetorical patterns, and academic writing requirements” (p.
20). It indicates that most students including EFL students commonly confront
some difficulties to write that in line with academic writing conventions.
Due to the fact, based on the researcher’s observation and experiences at
EED of UMY, the students’ proficiency at EED of UMY in academic writing still
need a lot of improvements. In the other words, similar case was found at this
department. It was seen from some students’ works which still need a lot of
revisions in some linguistic features such as on grammar accuracy, sentence
structure, paragraph coherence and cohesion, citation, and logical reasoning. As
Harmer (2004) emphasized, students’ writing can be used to measure the students’
achievement in the process of learning the language. Thus, it can be highlighted
that some EED students of UMY still face some difficulties in the ability to write
academically that in line with academic writing requirements.
In line with the difficulties which were faced by some EED students of
UMY regarding academic writing, based on the researcher’s observation and
experiences at EED of UMY, the researcher found and argued that students’
difficulties in academic writing came from some reasons. In addition to students’
writing competency level which is certainly diverse, most of them said that it

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happened as a result of there was only a little assistance from some of their
teachers during teaching and learning process. They told that some teachers did
not explain clearly and give either feedback or suggestions throughout teaching
and learning process. As a consequence, students did not get the clear explanation
and did not know their mistakes and weaknesses, and how to write properly, and
ultimately, some of their academic writing quality was poor. This means that in
addition to students’ writing competency level diversity, strategies that were used
by teachers also closely relate to students’ proficiency and learning outcomes. As
Armstrong (2013) highlighted, teaching strategies refer to techniques and
activities that were used by teachers in order to help students in learning the
course contents and enhancing the learning outcomes. It shows that teachers need
to consider using strategies that could be useful to teaching and learning process
so they can help their students to perform better in academic writing.
Learning English means learning in two aspects, there are skill and
components (Heaton, 1991) as cited in Yuliana (2014). The skill comprises four
major skills through language including listening, speaking, reading and writing;
while components encompass phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. In response
to Heaton’s belief, Coffin, Curry, Goodman, Hewings, Lillis, and Swann (2003)
proposed focus on text and focus on process as teaching strategies that involve
those two aspects and it could be applied in teaching academic writing. Focus on
text strategies mean that teachers need to pay more close attention to students’
knowledge on some specific linguistic features including text types, rhetorical
convention, academic register, and linguistic accuracy. While focus on process
strategies require teachers to emphasize more attention on students’ writing

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process comprising pre-writing, planning, drafting, reviewing, and refinement.
Thus, the researcher believes that a study which discusses teachers’ strategies in
teaching academic writing is imperative to be conducted. It is intended to fill the
need in relation with the importance of using some strategies that could be helpful
to address EED students of UMY weaknesses and needs in academic writing.
Moreover, many obstacles usually impede the teaching and learning
process. The common obstacles that are faced by teachers can be on two major
problems; those are on students’ linguistic development and the physical context
of classroom (Bilal, Tariq, Din, Latif, and Anjum, 2013) and (Xiao, 2007).
Problems on students’ linguistic development relate to students’ lack of linguistic
competences such as on spelling and grammar accuracy, creativity, and sentence
structure. While problem on the physical context of ELT class refers to the
physical situation of classroom such as the big-sized class and overcrowded
situation either inside or outside the classroom. Again, based on the researcher’s
observation and experiences at EED of UMY, those two common obstacles were
found at EED of UMY. In addition to some EED students of UMY whose still
face some difficulties in the ability to write an academic writing well, there was
oftentimes also still heard noisy situation during teaching and learning process as
a result of big-sized class in which it potentially bothers the teaching and learning
process itself. Those reasons made the researcher interests to investigate obstacles
that are faced together with how to deal with those obstacles in teaching academic
writing at EED of UMY.

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Problem Statement
Since the ability to write academically well are perceived as difficult skill
to be mastered, actually teachers need to assist students in writing process because
it will give positive impacts on students’ academic writing performance. This is
supported by Fowler, Aaron, and Okoomian (2007) who clarified that teachers are
responsible for students’ academic writing such as an essay, a report, or other
pieces of academic writing. So, teachers need to facilitate students in writing
process such as providing explanations and opportunities, and giving feedback
and freedom in expressing ideas because it potentially can help them to perform
better in academic writing (Fowler, Aaron, and Okoomian, 2007).
Unfortunately, in fact, based on the researcher’s observation and
experiences at EED of UMY, some teachers have not given yet opportunities to
students to get the precise treatment in addressing students’ weaknesses and needs
regarding academic writing. This is similar with Ariningsih (2010) who stated that
some teachers have not given yet the appropriate treatment to students in relation
to catching students’ writing problems, and they also have not found yet
appropriate strategies to teach writing effectively. The researcher found that most
subjects including listening and speaking subjects require students to write
academic writing. Nevertheless, there are only a few and even no adequate
assistance from some teachers. For instance, some teachers did not explain clearly
and provide feedback and suggestions to students’ academic writing. As a
consequence, it causes students did not know how to write properly, what their
weaknesses and mistakes are, as well as how to revise their work. This means that

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some EED students of UMY need to be assisted and facilitated during teaching
and learning process.
As a result of problems stated above, teachers need to facilitate students
during teaching and learning process. As Harmer (2001) highlighted, in teaching
writing, teachers are required to act not solely as a language instructor, but also as
a motivator, a resource, and a feedback provider. Moreover, Jose and Galang
(2015) confirmed that to address students’ weaknesses in academic writing,
teachers also need to learn, adopt, and use strategies to teaching and learning
process. Strategies in teaching academic writing have broad area to be discussed,
and there are a lot of studies which have talked over this topic. This study may
present some findings on the strategies used by some EED teachers of UMY and
the obstacles faced together with the solutions in teaching academic writing which
could be useful to be applied at EED of UMY.
Problem Limitation
This study focuses on finding out some EED teachers of UMY strategies
in teaching academic writing. The discussion of strategies is limited to focus on
text and focus on process strategies, so, it will be more specific on the discussion
later. To complete the discussion, this study also aims at investigating the
obstacles that are commonly faced by some EED teachers of UMY together with
how they deal with those faced obstacles in teaching academic writing.

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Research Questions
Many problems emerge from the research background. Thus, the research
questions of this study are set as follow:
1. What are strategies used by EED teachers of UMY in teaching academic
writing?
2. What are obstacles confronted by EED teachers of UMY in teaching
academic writing and how do these teachers overcome those obstacles?
Research Objectives
Due to the research questions addressed above, this research encloses two
research objectives in which set as follow:
1. To identify strategies used by some EED teachers of UMY in teaching
academic writing.
2. To investigate obstacles faced by EED teachers of UMY together with
how they overcome those obstacles in teaching academic writing.
Research Significance
This study is expected to benefit both teachers and students in English
language teaching and learning. This study is intended to benefit not solely
professional and experienced teachers, but also novice and prospective teachers.
Afterwards, this study is also addressed to benefit the researcher herself and
further researchers.
Professional, novice, and prospective English teachers. This study is
expected to benefit professional, novice, and prospective English teachers. First,
this study can provide an additional knowledge and information on some helpful

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strategies used by some EED teachers of UMY in teaching academic writing. It is
also followed by the description of the obstacles faced together with the solutions
in dealing with those obstacles. So, it might broaden insight of strategies and
obstacles together with the solutions in teaching academic writing. Second, this
study can be a reference for evaluating strategies used during their teaching
career, especially on teaching writing. So, they may adopt and integrate some
strategies that are perceived can help them to improve teaching progress. Third,
this study can be a reference for involving some techniques in response to dealing
with the obstacles that hinder the process of teaching academic writing.
Students. This study is expected to benefit students. First, this study can
provide additional knowledge, information, and references on some fruitful
strategies regarding academic writing. Second, this study may provide useful
insight on techniques to deal with some common obstacles faced during learning
academic writing. Third, this study can be a reference for integrating those
strategies and techniques independently without waiting their teachers ask them in
response to improving their academic writing competences.
The researcher. This study benefits the researcher herself. First, this
study can be a medium to broaden and explore more knowledge, information, and
experiences on related studies. Second, this study can be a source of motivation in
order to teach academic writing through some helpful strategies as discussed in
this study. Third, it is hoped can construct the researcher self-awareness on the use
of strategies and techniques in dealing with some faced obstacles so that she can
improve her sense of responsibility to integrate some helpful strategies and
techniques to deal with some obstacles during teaching academic writing.

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Further researchers. This study is expected to benefit further researchers.
First, this study can encourage other researchers to conduct a further research
regarding strategies in teaching academic writing with different research focus
and methodology. Second, this study might become a reference of theoretical
framework for further researchers who conduct similar study. Third, this study can
provide the findings that can be the additional information for further researchers
who conduct a study in the context of teaching academic writing.
Research Outline
This skripsi comprises five chapters. Firstly, it is introduction chapter
which presents the research background, problem statement, problem limitation,
research questions, research objectives, research significance, and research
outline. Secondly, it is literature review chapter which describes some definitions
of the terminology used and elaborations of the theories and references used.
Then, it reviews some previous studies and presents the conceptual framework of
this study. Thirdly, it is methodology chapter which discusses research
methodology; it consists of the research design, research setting and participants,
research instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis. Fourthly, this
is the chapter which reports the finding and discussion of this study; it reports the
study findings that relate to the literature used. Then, the fifth chapter presents
conclusion and recommendation of this study. This chapter summarizes the
research findings and suggests some recommendations emerged from the findings.

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Chapter Two
Literature Review
To acquire the framework of the issues, this literature review chapter
discusses some terminologies used and related discussions of this study. Then,
this chapter reviews theories and related studies which are relevant to this study.
Afterwards, the conceptual framework is elaborated at the end of this chapter.
The Concept of Writing
Writing. Byrne (1988) stated that writing is producing a sequence of
sentences that are arranged in a particular order and linked together in certain
ways. After a sequence of sentences is being put in order and linked together, it
will form a coherent whole in which it is called as a text. Besides, Elbow (1973)
as cited in Brown (2001) clarified that writing is figuring out the meaning and
then putting the meaning into a language. The meaning represents what people
think, it is because a writing process reflects things in the people’s mind. Another
definition of writing comes from Celce-Murcia (2002) who argued that writing is
an act of communication which requires an interaction between a writer and a
reader through a text. In addition, Nunan (1998) affirmed that writing is a process
of discovering new ideas, words, and sentences, and then putting them into a draft.
As well, Palmer (1994) as cited in Fitriana (2011) specified that writing is a
process of finding out and organizing new ideas, putting them on a paper,
reshaping them, and revising them. To conclude, writing can be described as a
process of producing a series of sentences as a result of thinking and discovering
new ideas and opinions into a written form.

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Process of Writing
Process of writing. Harmer (2004) proposed several steps that called as
process of writing. He explained that students need to include those steps since it
can benefit students in producing a good written text. Those steps encompass
planning, drafting, editing, and final version. Process of writing is illustrated as a
wheel because there might be recursive process in writing process such as replanning, re-drafting, and re-editing before getting the final version of work.
Figure 1. The process of writing by Harmer (2004)

Planning

Drafting

Final
Version

Editing

The first step is planning. Planning is one of important parts in writing
process. Writers need to think and make a plan on what they are going to write
through making notes or illustration. In this stage, writers have to consider the
purpose of writing, audience or whom writers write to, and content structure or
what writers write about. The second step is drafting. Drafting means starting
point of writing, and it consists of brainstorming. In this stage, writes need to try
starting to write what have planned before. There might be a number of drafts
before getting the final version of work. The third step is editing. Editing is
essentially needed to be done in writing process. Self-correcting, peer and tutor

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reviewing are certainly good to be included in writing process. Reviewing the
information included, ideas written, language and vocabulary used will strongly
fruitful for writers to reflect and revise what they have written so that they can
produce a good written text. The fourth step is final version. Writers will get the
final version of their writing after doing planning, drafting, and also editing
before. Writes will see the significant differences on their first to final edited
work.
The Concept of Academic Writing
Academic writing. Oshima and Hogue (2007) defined academic writing
as a kind of writing which is used in high school and college classes, and it is
totally different with creative writing since it has its own requirements. Moreover,
Bowker (2007) also defined academic writing as a special genre of writing which
has its own set of conventions. As well, Weigle (2002) as cited in Linda (2008)
explained that “academic writing is used to test students’ ability to plan and write
an essay or other extended text without the use of outside assistance or resources.
Therefore, he affirmed that the main goal of academic writing, especially at the
university level, is to train students to produce writing under timed conditions in
their academic courses, and thus it is essential for them to be able to organize,
write, and edit a composition in a relatively short amount of time” (p.16).
Brown (2004) described that academic writing is one of three most
common genres of writing which students might produce, and it can be papers,
general subject reports, essays, compositions, academically focused journals,
short-answer test responses, technical reports (e.g. lab reports), theses and
dissertations. Besides, Bailey (2006) also defined that academic writing is a

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writing genre that is commonly produced by students who are studying in schools
and universities, and it is often found by students as a challenging course since it
requires them to adopt its conventions, its referencing rules, and its layout. This is
in line with Whitaker (2009) who clarified that in essence, academic writing is the
writing which language learners have to do for higher education courses. Some
teachers possibly have different names for its assignments (essay, paper, term
paper, argumentative paper/essay, analysis paper/essay, informative essay), but all
of these assignments have the same objectives and principles.
Additionally, Whitaker (2009) proposed two main principles of academic
writing. First, it comprises the context of how the content of academic writing
should be like. The first main principles encompass six linguistic ethics including
clear purpose, clear point of view, single focus, logical organization, strong
support, and clear and complete explanation. Second, it includes the context of
some important ethics that also define academic writing quality. The second main
principles encompass four supporting ethics including audience engagement,
effective use of research, correct APA style, and effective writing style. Those
principles will be described in the following paragraph.
The first main principles of academic writing which focus on the context
of how the academic writing content should be like comprise six linguistic ethics.
First, academic writing should have a clear purpose. It refers to the nature of why
an academic writing is written. The most common purposes used are persuasive,
analytical, and informative. Second, it should have a clear point of view. This
means that writers have to show and describe their own original ideas, thoughts,
and perspectives clearly. Third, it should contain of a single focus. This means

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that each sentence in academic writing should support the thesis statement. There
is no need irrelevant, unnecessary, unimportant, and also contradictory
information. Writers only need to strengthen and reinforce their own ideas in line
with the thesis statement. Fourth, academic writing should encompass logical
organization. This means that academic writing have to follow a standard
organizational pattern. For instance, for academic essays and papers, there is an
introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. To be noted, each paragraph in
academic writing principally leads to the next one. Fifth, it has to be supported
strongly. In academic writing, each body paragraph has to have both reasonable
and adequate reasons and evidences in order to support the thesis statement and
topic sentence powerfully. This supports can be a list of facts, examples,
descriptions, and quotations. Sixth, it should have clear and complete explanation.
In academic writing, writers have to consider readers’ understanding. Therefore,
writers need to explain their own thoughts and ideas evidently and completely.
The second main principles of academic writing which focus on the
context of some important ethics that also define academic writing quality include
four supportive ethics. First, academic writing needs to engage the audience. This
means that writers need to consider gaining audiences’ attention to what truly
discussed in their writing. Writers need to try seriously engaging audiences with
ideas and catch their interest with attractive writing style. Second, it needs to
consider effective use of research. It means that the content should refer to a
variety of current, high-quality, professional and academic source. Besides, the
sources should be clarified, analyzed, explained, and then cited in order to get the
trustworthy sources and avoid plagiarism. Third, it has to correct in APA style.

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All academic writings should follow the guidelines of the American Psychological
Association (APA) style. It is regarding in-text citations, references list, and
format. Fourth, in academic writing, writers have to pay attention on writing style.
This means that they need to use their own words whenever possible, try using
natural conversational style and avoid writing overly formal.
Hence, academic writing can be described as the most common genre of
writing which language learners might produce in higher education level in which
it entails them to be able to compose a written language academically, correctly,
and in line with its own requirements such as some specific linguistic principles
and supportive ethics as explained early. It is also associated with some language
features and knowledge such as vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.
Teachers’ Role in Teaching Writing
Teachers’ roles in teaching writing. In teaching writing, teachers need to
consider performing not solely as a language instructor, but also as a motivator, a
resource, and a feedback provider (Harmer, 2001). Firstly, Motivating students is
essentially needed to be done by teachers in order to make students feel supported
and encouraged in their learning process. Motivating students can be done by
helping them to generate ideas through creating comfortable and right conditions,
persuading them to do some helpful activities to their learning process, and
encouraging them to make efforts as much as possible in order to reach the full
benefit of their study. Secondly, students certainly need a lot of information and
knowledge supply to their writing process. Therefore, teachers need to act as a
resource by telling students that they are available and ready to see students’ work
progress, and then offering advices and suggestions constructively and tactfully.

17

Thirdly, teachers need to act as a feedback provider. It means that teachers are
required to give feedback on students work in a positive and encouraging way. To
be paid attention, they have to focus on students’ needs while giving feedback.
Teaching Strategy
Teaching strategy. To assist teachers in helping students on writing
process, creating an effective writing class through implementing some helpful
strategies are needed to be done by teachers in teaching process. This is in line
with Jose and Galang (2015) who argued that to create an effective class, teachers
need to learn, adopt, and use strategies to their teaching process. Besides,
Kusuma, Yudana, and Marhaeni (2013) pointed out that teachers’ ability in
organizing the learning process has significant and positive contributions on
students’ learning achievement in English subject. It shows that teachers need to
organize and implement some strategies that could be helpful to teaching process
in order to get more leading progress and result.
Armstrong (2013) emphasized that teaching strategies refer to techniques
and activities used by teachers in order to help students in learning the course
contents and enhancing learning outcomes. In addition, Jose and Galang (2015)
clarified that the use of teaching strategies is unavoidable since it is fruitful for
teachers to deliver the lessons and help students to absorb and understand the
content of lesson. It reiterates that the use of strategies in the teaching process is
inevitable since it can help teachers to suit students’ needs and strengthen
students’ weaknesses in order to improve students’ learning achievement.

18

Strategies in Teaching Academic Writing
Strategies in teaching academic writing. Due to the significance of using
teaching strategies, teaching academic writing also need to be integrated with
some strategies that could be fruitful in achieving the learning objectives. Skilled
teacher, including teachers who implement some helpful strategies in their
teaching process will facilitate students in improving learning strategies awareness
and enable them to use a broader variety of some supportive learning strategies
(Messaouda, 2014). Therefore, teachers need to use some supportive strategies in
order to foster students’ learning progress and achieving the learning goals. In this
study, the researcher accentuates on focus on text and focus on process strategies
in teaching academic writing.
Focus on text strategies. Coffin et al. (2003) suggested that in teaching
academic writing, teachers need to pay close attention to students’ knowledge on
some linguistic features comprising text type, rhetorical convention, academic
register, and linguistic accuracy.
Text type. This means that teachers are expected to give clear explanation
on each text type basic structure and conventions since it will give clarity to
students so they can truly understand on text type which they are going to write.
This can be done by demonstrating text examples and asking students to practice
writing whole texts or sections of texts.
Rhetorical convention. This means that teachers need to consider giving
explanation to students on communicative purpose of each text type. Teachers
also need to consider assisting students to construct and support their arguments

19

using some logical reasoning, evidences since academic writing closely related to
summarizing and synthesizing work of others. It means that teachers are required
to make students become aware on how to reference others’ works properly.
Academic register. This means that teachers have to consider assisting
students to become aware on academic register which includes a range of
linguistic aspects such as formality, sentence structure, specialist terminology, and
the personal voice. Formality refers to the use of technical such as capitalization,
punctuation, and formal language. Sentence structure relates to complex sentence
structure which oftentimes unconsciously written by students and it has no good
coherence and cohesion. Specialist terminology refers to preeminent vocabulary.
The personal voice refers to the avoidance of using of personal voice such as I,
we, you, me, my, our, and us. Also, it entails teachers to consider assisting
students to be aware on using the appropriate transitional words or phrases and
conjunctions since it closely relates to the movement of their writing structure.
Linguistic accuracy. Students whose first language (L1) background is not
English frequently have difficulties in second language (L2) writing, especially on
linguistic aspects such as grammar and spelling accuracy. Alternatively, in
teaching academic writing, teachers need to consider assisting students on both of
them. Spelling and grammar accuracy are linguistic aspects which primarily
important to be mastered by students to support their academic writing quality.
Feez (1998) and Hyland (2002) as quoted by Barkaoui (2007) described
that focus on text strategies comprise introducing, discussing, examining,
demonstrating, and practicing the text-type targets such as argumentative,
compare and contrast, and others. To sum up, focus on text strategies require

20

teachers to explain, discuss, demonstrate, and practice to and with students on
some linguistic aspects such as text-type, rhetorical convention, academic register,
and linguistic accuracy in order to catch students’ understanding and knowledge
on those linguistic aspects.
Focus on process strategies. Coffin et al. (2003) emphasized that focus on
process strategies primarily point out on either what students do or the stages that
are involved to students’ writing process. Those stages enclose prewriting,
planning, drafting, reflection, peer or tutor review, revision, editing and
proofreading. The fundamental principle of this strategy is an iterative process. As
figure 2 shows, there might be recursive process in writing process before getting
the final version of work such as re-planning, re-drafting, re-reviewing, and reediting.
Figure 2. The writing process in focus on process strategies by
Coffin et al. (2003)

21

First, the stage is prewriting. Prewriting encompasses some activities such
as generating ideas, understanding the ideas of others, and collecting information.
Teachers can ask students to do note-taking, brainstorming and free writing which
can help them to find ideas, collect information, and activate tacit knowledge.
Second, it is planning. This stage primarily focuses on organizing and
focusing ideas. It comprises some techniques such as mind-mapping, clustering,
listing, and outlining which are helpful to see a visual representation of ideas at
the early stage of organizing. In this stage, teachers need to ask students to review
the ideas resulting from prewriting then fitting it into the development of writing.
Third, it is drafting. In this stage, teachers need to ask students to develop
a topic using ideas gathered in prewriting and planning stages. Topic development
may involve narrowing down a broad focus, removing unnecessary information,
or adding appropriate and supportive information. Students who write and re-draft
their work tend to have less opportunity to do plagiarism since teachers have seen
earlier versions of their work.
Fourth, the stage is reflection. This stage requires teachers to ask students
to let their work sits after drafting before coming back to it with a fresh pair of
eyes, and possibly with feedback from peers or teachers. Even without input from
others, reflection time can allow students to analyze errors and mistakes
accurately on some academic writing conventions.
Fifth, it is peer or tutor review. This stage requires teachers to give
feedback to students during writing in order to guide students in revising their
work. Sometimes, teachers also need to ask students to do peer review. Peer
review benefits not solely to assist and help students in improving their writing

22

performance, but also to foster students’ critical thinking development and
awareness to L2 writing.
Sixth, the stage is revision. In response to peer or tutor review, teachers
definitely need to ask students to refine their work based on feedback and
suggestions given. It also enables students to develop and clarify the ideas, text
structure, references, and others. This means that students can re-work for it so
there will be less of errors and mistakes on their writing.
Seventh, the final stage of writing process includes editing, proofreading,
and polishing a piece of work. In this stage, teachers need to remind students to
fulfill the mechanics of writing including formatting, referencing, and issues of
linguistic accuracy. Editing can be done in response to including research findings
and re-building the ideas after getting feedback from peer or teacher. While
proofreading and polishing a piece of work need to be done in order to check
carefully for errors which may change the meaning or make the ideas difficult to
be understood.
Another view that examine the importance of writing process instead the
product comes from Nation (2009), he stated that one way of focusing on different
aspects of writing is to look at writing as a process. As well, Nunan (1981)
clarified that considering writing as a process enables writers to see the act of
composition from a different perspective, or focusing as much on itself. He also
states that the seeing writing as a process focuses on the steps involving drafting
and redrafting a piece of work. In other words, on this focus on process strategies,
the important one is not solely in the product, but also in the writing process.
Therefore, focus on process strategies can be developed through writing practices

23

routinely with effective activities also a better input to help students’ perform well
in academic writing. To conclude, focus on process strategies require teachers to
pay more attention on students’ writing process by involving some stages as
mentioned early and those stages might be recursive depends on students’ needs.
Common Obstacles in Teaching Writing
Obstacles. Based on Oxford Dictionary (2008), obstacle is defined as
“something that stops progress or makes it difficult

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