AN ANALYSIS OF EFL STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN WRITING THESIS FOR THE FINAL PROJECT

This research aims to determine the extent to which psychological, sociocultural and linguistic factors influence student thesis writing at a university in Malang. The research method used is a mixed approach using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews as data collection instruments. Data analysis was carried out through descriptive statistical analysis for quantitative data and thematic analysis of the Miles and Huberman model for qualitative data. Data collection was carried out for one month, from 10 October to 10 November 2023, involving 86 students from the class of 2020 who were writing their theses. The research results show that psychological factors such as motivation and anxiety, sociocultural factors such as social support from friends and interactions with supervisors, and linguistic factors such as grammar and vocabulary skills significantly influence the difficulties students face in writing their thesis. Self-esteem has proven essential in motivating students and helping them manage anxiety when writing their thesis. However, the anxiety felt by students can be a motivation or cause difficulties for students depending on the practical guidance from the supervisor. Apart from that, social interactions with peers and supervisors are beneficial, but the lack of clear guidance from supervisors can cause anxiety. Linguistic factors also pose a significant difficulty, with students often relying on digital tools to overcome this deficiency. For future researchers, it is recommended to conduct research with a larger sample and involve additional variables that might influence the difficulty of writing a thesis, such as economic factors and access to academic resources. In addition, further research could use longitudinal methods to see changes in the influence of these factors over time.