An Investigation of English Academic Writing Strategies

Employed by Indonesian Graduate Students in an English

Medium Instruction (EMI) Context

Dedy Subandowo
[email protected]

Universitas Muhammdiyah Metro, Indonesia

Pazmany Peter Catholic University, Hungary
 1. Introduction: aims and research questions

2. Literature review
Outline
3. Method

4. Result and Discussion

5. Conclusion

6. References

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1. Introduction
• L2 English academic writing studies as significant
attention within the field of applied linguistics
• Challenges for both L1 and L2 speakers of English (e.g.,
academic writing)
“No one is a native • L2-English students in an English Medium Instruction
speaker of writing” (EMI) setting in higher education institutions (e.g.,
Indonesian graduate students at Hungarian universities)
(Leki, 1992, p.10) • Complexity in academic writing including language
features, content structure, critical analysis, plagiarism
• The production of a well-written text as high-stakes
assessments (e.g., essay assignments)
• Utilization of strategies in English academic writing

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 1.1 Aim and research questions
Aim:
To provide an understanding as to how Indonesian graduate students go
through the process of writing academic expository essays, in terms of the
stages of writing and the strategy they use

Research questions:
1. What stages of academic essay writing do Indonesian graduate students go
through during pre-writing, writing and post-writing?
2. What strategies do the students implement during the stages in pre-writing,
writing, and post-writing?
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 2. Literature review

2.1 The stages of academic writing

r i t i n g
w
Post-
Sharing
r i t i n g
W Editing

r i t i n g Revising
Pre-w
First-draft
planning writing
Researching
data
sources
Johnson, A. P. (2016). Academic writing: Process and product. Rowman & Littlefield. Chicago
Richards, Jack C. & Schmidt, Richard. (2010). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Pierson Education Limited. London

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2.2 Academic writing strategies
2.2.1 Definition of academic writing strategies

Definition :
“Thoughts and actions consciously chosen and
operationalized by writers in order to make their writing
more efficient” (based on Cohen s definition of learner
strategies, 2014, p.7-8).
Cohen, A. D. (2014). Strategies in learning and using a second language. In Strategies in Learning and Using a
Second Language. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833200

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 2.2.2 Research in Academic Writing Strategies
• planning
• revising grammar • execution
• backtracking (e.g., rereading) • monitoring
• seeking tutor support • revising
• teachers feedback Hu • enjoyment vs anxiety
(2022)
• the use of exemplary academic
essays Mazgutova and
Hanks (2021)

• task interpretation,
• planning, • planning,
• preparing and planning questions at the Zhao & • translating,
evaluating & monitoring,
Liao
beginning of writing, while, and after (2021) •
writing Xia (2017) • revising
• monitoring, and evaluation
• planning, summarising
Munoz-Luna
(2015) • paraphrasing
• monitoring, re-reading

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 No Pseudonym Faculty Program IELTS/CEFR Universities
(Gender)

3. Method
1 Ani (F) Social Science and International Relations 6.5/ B2 Corvinus
International Relations
2 Tutik (F) Social Science and International Relations 6.5/ B2 Corvinus
International Relations
3.1 Participants
3 Sri (F) Faculty of Economics and Business Development 6.5/B2 Pécs
Business
4 Yanti (F) Faculty of Social Sciences Sociology 6.5/B2 ELTE
5 Bambang (M) Faculty of Economics Supply Chain 6.0/B2 Széchenyi István,
Management Győr
6 Budi (M) Faculty of Social Sciences Regional and 6.0/B2 BME
Environmental
Economic Studies
7 Eko (M) Social Science and International Relations 7.5/C1 Corvinus
International Relations
8 Lilis (F) Faculty of Economics and International Economy 7.0/C1 Szeged
Business Administration and Business

9 Novi (F) Faculty of Social Sciences Regional and 7.5/C1 Corvinus

Environmental
Economic Studies
10 Rina (F) Faculty of Humanities and Human Resources 7.0/C1 Pécs
Social Sciences Counceling
11 Triono (M) Social Science and Regional and 7.5/C1 Corvinus
International Relations Environmental
Economic Studies 8
3.2 Study location

Voyage Web. (n.d.). Hungary (map). Wikivoyage. Retrieved February 2025, from https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Hungary
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 Interview checklist
3.3 Research instrument

• Excel sheet
• 16 questions
• Answers (yes =✓, no = x)
• Questions (the process of
writing)

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 Semi-structured interviews: Indonesian
3.4 Data collection

Transcribing Writing strategies with Sri

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 3.5 Data analysis

Codes

Quotations

11 documents
604 quotations
162 codes

Checklist

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4. Results and discussion
RQ1. What stages of academic essay writing do Indonesian graduate students go through during pre-writing, writing and post-writing?

Tag cloud Writing process Phases (N=16)

Pre-writing planning
N= 5 assigned essay topics
the provision of data sources
literature review
content structuring
Writing preparatory stages
N=8 research and information management
required texts’ length fulfilments
language enhancement for avoiding repetition of
words
content and language improvement
content and language revision
academic integrity assurance
the maintenance of motivation during the writing
stage
Post-writing feedback and revisions
N=3 final review
post submission

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RQ2. What strategies do the students implement during the stages in pre-writing, writing, and post-
writing?
Pre-writing stage (N=32 strategies)
Phases Writing strategy examples Extract example
Planning brainstorming, drawing up timetable, recalling previous 1:34 ‘I need to take a bath first and eat before I start
knowledge, being fresh and comfortable enough writing’. (Rina)

Assigned essay looking up keywords in the (online) university library, 7:21 ‘I usually try to find a new released and highly
topics undertaking preliminary research by reading current and cited articles about the topic’. (Novi)
highly cited articles
The provision of collecting extensive data (primary and secondary) from 11:5 ‘I read several information from the European
data sources Google scholar, the official websites, social media, and commission and ASEAN websites. (Budi)
Wikipedia, creating a source database
Literature review reading only the abstracts of research studies, 2:35 ‘I divided the screen into two sides, with
commanding shortcuts, displaying dual screens, Microsoft Word on one side’. (Yanti)
highlight important information,
Content mind mapping, designing a general layout 6:17 ‘I represent the idea with some arrows.’ (Eko)
structuring

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Writing stage (N=51 strategies)

Phases Writing strategy examples Extract example

Preparatory stages managing draft 2:1 ‘I wrote several drafts and put them into a folder’.
(Tutik)
Research information keeping all of notes and information in the digital 10:21 ‘Sometimes when I'm confused, I use the help of
management Onenote application, attempting to use Google Google Translate’. (Ani)
translate
Required text-length writing in long sentences, footnoting 4:27 ‘Of course, I make the paragraph longer by
fulfilment adding some detailed information’. (Rina)
Language enhancement employing writing tools to suggest an alternative, 11:23 ‘Typically, Grammarly suggests alternatives for
for avoiding repetition of replacing repetitive words with synonyms, using words or phrases that I can modify’. (Sri)
words new vocabulary found from research articles
Content and language making use of discourse markers, providing 01:17 ‘I provide an example of how Aqua is a reusable
improvements examples to support claims and arguments bottle...this will serve as evidence for my argument’.
(Budi)
Content and language re-reading the text after writing several paragraphs, 5:31 ‘I activate the automatic correction features in
revisions deleting redundant paragraphs, operating language Microsoft Word’.
error detectors
Academic integrity and giving a credit to the original source, performing 9:21 ‘Edubirdie helps me check the rate of plagiarism’.
clarity plagiarism checkers (Tutik)
Maintaining motivation complying with essential course requirements, 2:56 ‘If I experience writer's block, I stop writing for
during the writing stage writing in a quiet and comfortable place, taking a two to three days before starting up again’. (Yanti)
few days off 15
Post-writing stage (N= 6 strategies)

Phases Writing strategy examples Extract example

Feedback and having consultation with the lecturer, asking to help to 6:48 ‘To ensure that my writing makes sense, I asked
revision proofread the content and language my friends to review it. (Triono)

Final review Conducting a final review of the content, structure, and 5:30 ‘I need to double-check the text’ length to see if it
formatting before submission meets the requirements”. (Tutik)

Post submission Celebrating completion of the task and taking time to 3:47 ‘I need to finish it and then get some sleep’.
rest and rejuvenate

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 Discussion
• The results suggested that strategies in the pre-writing stage is critical in
organizing thoughts, generating ideas to gather relevant information as
well structure clear plan of their essays.
• One important aspect dealing with writing strategies is collecting data
sources: promoting critical thinking while reading literature and identify
relevant aspects of the essay topics.
• Well preparation can reduce anxiety and it is benefits for international
students who face different language and culture in academic writing.
• Metacognitive strategies (i.e., planning, monitoring, editing) help the
students produce high-quality essay writing
• Teacher-students engagement (social relations) can facilitate academic
writing development including providing feedback.
• The importance of well-being and mental health (affective aspects) in
academic process is fundamental to maintain academic performance.

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5. Conclusion

• The study is aimed to investigate strategies in academic writing utilized by Indonesian

graduate students in Hungarian higher education: Central European Higher Education
• To achieve the aims, two research question were formulated
• RQ1 deals with 16 phases of writing strategies classification
• RQ2 addresses total number of writing strategies (N=89) in pre-writing (N=32), writing
(N=51), post writing (N=6)
• Proposed pedagogical implications:
1. Providing a class of English academic writing: exploring topics relevant to the students’
thesis
2. Subject-teachers’ and students’ awareness in utilizing writing strategies to improve writing
quality
3. Facilitating collaborative learning in understanding (researched) essay writing assignments

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References
Cohen, A. D. (2014). Strategies in learning and using a second language. In Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315833200
Johnson, A. P. (2016). Academic writing: Process and product. Rowman & Littlefield. Chicago
Leki, I. (1992). Understanding ESL writers: A guide for teachers. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers
Mazgutova, D., & Hanks, J. (2021). L2 learners’ perceptions of their writing strategies on an intensive EAP course. Journal of
Academic Writing, 11(1), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.18552/joaw.v11i1.566
Munoz-Luna, R. (2015). Main ingredients for success in L2 academic writing: Outlining, drafting and proofreading. PLoS ONE,
10(6), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0128309
Mu, C. (2005). A Taxonomy of ESL writing strategies. Proceedings redesigning pedagogy: Research, Policy, Practice, 1–10.
Singapore
Hu, N. (2022). Investigating Chinese EFL learners’ writing strategies and emotional aspects. LEARN Journal: Language Education
and Acquisition Research Network, 15(1), 440-468.
Richards, Jack C. & Schmidt, Richard. (2010). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. Pierson
Education Limited. London
Voyage Web. (n.d.). Hungary (map). Wikivoyage. Retrieved February 2025, from https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Hungary
Xia, T. (2017). Application of Metacognitive Strategies in EFL Writing Instruction. 142(Icelandic), 159–165.
https://doi.org/10.2991/icelaic-17.2017.35
Zhao, C. G., & Liao, L. (2021). Metacognitive strategy use in L2 writing assessment. System, 98, 102472.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102472

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