STUDENTS AND LECTURERS PERCEPTION ON ACADEMIC WRITING INSTRUCTION

ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education Volume 6, Issue 2, June 2018 p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE STUDENTS’ AND LECTURERS’ PERCEPTION ON ACADEMIC WRITING INSTRUCTION Santi Oktarina Faculty of Education and Teaching, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indonesia E-mail: Emzir Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia E-mail: Zainal Rafli Postgraduate Program, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia E-mail: APA Citation: Oktarina, S., Emzir, & Rafli, Z. (2018). Students’ and lecturers’ perception on academic writing instruction. English Review: Journal of English Education, 6(2), 69-76. doi: 10.25134/erjee.v6i2.1256. Received: 21-02-2018 Accepted: 29-04-2018 Published: 01-06-2018 Abstract: The aim of this research is to gain the perception of students and lecturers toward academic writing instruction Indonesian language classes in Universitas Sriwijaya. This current research was a part of research and development study on Moodle-based teaching model for academic writing instruction in Indonesian language classes. This research and development model was carried out using survey and content analysis. The research was conducted in Universitas Sriwijaya. Questionnaire, interview and focus-group discussion (FGD) were instruments to collect data. Meanwhile, both quantitative and qualitative data analysis was used to analyze the collected data. After analyzing data from questionnaire, both students and lecturers perceived that academic writing instruction in Indonesian language classes are good and proper. However, the data from interview and FGD showed that there were different views between students and lecturers regarding to academic writing instruction in Indonesian language classes. Keywords: perception, instruction, academic writing INTRODUCTION Academic writing is writing activity in the classrooms conducted by one institution to communicate one subject of field using linear thoughts, which is scientifically thinking and reasoning and applying scientific variety of languages based on a set of scientific requirements (Hoque, 2008; Oshima & Hoque, 2007; Greane & Lidnrky, 2012). Furthermore, Bailey (2015) wrote that the purposes of writing, as follow: 1) to report what the writer has done, 2) to answer writer’s questions, 3) to discuss one specific topic and provide writer’s opinions, 4) to synthesize research conducted by someone about one topic. From the writing purposes above, it can be academic writing ability especially in higher education is very complex and difficult; therefore, Indonesian languageclasses, in which academic writing is taught and assessed, cannot be seen as solely an additional subject. Concerning to study in higher education, students are necessary to attain academic writing ability since it influences their academic achievement. On the other side, writing activity is inseparable aspect in entire learning process in higher education. Saberi and Rahemi (2013) and Silva (2014) stated that writing has the most important role in academic success. The similar idea was also expressed by Akhadiah (2015, p. 15)that “writing for scholars is a mandatory task to support academic career”. Writing also brings many advantages for college-students 69 Santi Oktarina, Emzir, & Zainal Rafli Students’ and lecturers’ perception on academic writing instruction (Akhadiah, Arsjad, & Ridwan, 2003; Oktarina, 2014). Teaching writing has to meet the standard of national education qualification framework; the process of teaching should follow a set of principles in writing instruction (Brown, 2001) and the technical guidance of personality subject groups in each institution. However, in fact, several lecturers are able to understand the principles of teaching writing, standards in process of teaching writing, and the guidance; yet, they fail in doing and implementing what they understand. Moreover, in this current technological and science era, professionalism is one of required aspects for lecturers in higher education. To support the sight, Alwasilah (2014) stated that, based on some research findings, Indonesian languageclasses are still far away from success to enhance academic writing skill; moreover, teaching Indonesian languageespecially for academic writing in some faculties/universities can be considered a failure. This encounter is something common in teaching Indonesian language. The same thought was brought by Oktarina (2014, p. 2), she noted that “students’ levels in writing academic paper are relatively low.” A view from teaching process, it can be concluded that students find difficulty and effort in writing. This indicates that they feel uneasy to brainstorm and compose ideas in written language. This barrier ends with demotivation of writing. Furthermore, from writing product presented in the class, only a few students are actively and creatively write in the classroom; meanwhile, the rest of them is still struggle. There are many strategies that can be applied to improve academic writing. At first, the use of teaching model can enhance writing skill (Elola & Eskoz, 2010; Grani, 2012; Kuiper, Smit, Wchter, & Elen, 2017). Secondly, the use of technology can also increase academic writing skill (Adas & Bakir, 2013; Wulandari, 2016, Joseph & Ghazali, 2013). The lecturers can use these strategies based on the needs of writing instruction in their classrooms. With their professionalism, they can wrap and deliver the effective writing lesson in the line with the students’ needs. To have these sights in mind, a teaching model particularly for academic writing in Indonesian language classes is necessary in Universitas Sriwijaya. Before designing a model for academic writing, need assessment is firstly conducted to gain information from students and lecturers. Their perception concerning to academic writing instruction in Indonesian language classes is one of aspects collected in this research. This present study addressed to get Lecturers and students’ perception related to academic writing instruction in Indonesian language classes in Universitas Sriwijaya. METHOD The research was carried by research and development design. Meanwhile, this current study was part of Moodle-based academic writing instruction for Indonesian language classes Universitas Sriwijaya. Within this phase, survey and content analysis, as methods used in research and development (Richey & Klein, 2007, p. 40), were used as research methods. According to Emzir (2013, p. 39), survey is a method that applied sampling and the result for describing entire population by using a set of questions in questionnaire. Moreover, content analysis is a set of technique to systematically analyze a text involving one type of communication (conversation, written text, interview, photography, etc.) which is then categorized and classified (Emzir, 2012, p.285). This present research was conducted in Universitas Sriwjijaya from February 2016 to (...truncated)