Analyzing Students’ Needs for Essay Writing Course at University

Abstract

As a part of research and development, this research aimed to identify students' need in Essay Writing course at higher education. This descriptive research was conducted by administering a needs analysis questionnaire to the fifth semester students as well as by conducting an interview to the Writing lecturer and the head of English Education Department. The questionnaire and interview guideline were elaborated from the needs analysis indicators including the purpose of learning Essay writing, the methodology, available sources, students' characteristics, and the setting of the course. The results revealed that (1) Essay Writing course was dominantly delivered by having presentation and discussion; (2) Students were motivated to learn through various techniques and strategies providing more opportunities to practice writing, to participate in tasks to develop their writing ability, to access various learning sources and examples, and to get guidance from the lecturer to revise their writing; and (3) Essay Writing course needed to facilitate learning which assisted students to take control and become active participants in their own learning. Overall, this research implied the need of an appropriate learning model which provided an insight and guidance to fulfill the needs in order to enhance students' ability in writing an essay.

Coordinating conjunction in students’ recount text: A sentence construction analysis

“…During the last few years, research on teaching writing in the context of secondary schools has attracted teachers' and researchers' attention because writing is a crucial skill, especially in writing essays, scientific papers, etc. as a higher context of writing in students' academic life (Sue, 2019;Putri, 2019;Taufiq, et al 2021). Writing is a way to convey ideas in written language and an indirect communication tool to express what someone thinks and feels.…”