Academic writing challenges among Indonesian EFL university students: An integrative review of students’ and lecturers’ perceptions

Abstract

Academic writing is essential for Indonesian EFL university students, yet reviews have synthesised mainly students’ difficulties and strategies, largely overlooking lecturers’ perspectives. This integrative review examined how students perceive learning, and lecturers perceive teaching, academic writing in Indonesian EFL higher education. Following PRISMA 2020 reporting logic, Google Scholar was searched for studies published between 1 January 2016 and 12 September 2026. Of 500 records identified, 44 full texts were assessed, and nine empirical studies met eligibility criteria: five from students’ perspective, three from lecturers’, and one from both. Studies were appraised for reporting transparency and thematically synthesised. Four themes emerged. Students reported (1) linguistic difficulties in grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics, and (2) low writing self-efficacy, weak motivation, and pressure, including writer’s block. Lecturers reported (3) product- and grammar-oriented pedagogy with predominantly summative assessment, despite valuing formative feedback, and (4) limited institutional support for academic integrity and their own development as writers. Linguistic difficulty and low confidence appear mutually reinforcing, and product-oriented instruction does little to interrupt this cycle. Courses should therefore integrate focused linguistic support with process-oriented formative feedback, planned writing conferences, and confidence-building tasks, backed by clear institutional integrity policies. Given limited, small-scale qualitative lecturer evidence, these conclusions remain tentative.