Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar FKIP Universitas Pasundan
Abstract
Writing is an important skill to be mastered by students. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to identify the challenges faced by students in writing descriptive texts about local places and to describe how they deal with these challenges. A descriptive-qualitative approach was used, with document analysis and questionnaires as the instruments. There were 30 students from 3E class in the EFL Essay Writing Course at the University of Mataram who participated in this study. The findings revealed that limited vocabulary and difficulty organizing the text were the main challenges students faced in writing descriptive texts about local places. In addition, in order to deal with the challenges, they employ a variety of strategies to navigate the complexities of writing about local places. The strategies include thorough observation and research, engaging in comprehensive pre-writing activities, meticulous revision before completion, seeking out examples and references, actively soliciting feedback from peers, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI), utilizing visual aids, and recognizing the importance of regular practice
