An investigation of English academic writing strategies employed by Indonesian graduate students in a non-native English speaking environment

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4935877/v1

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An investigation of English academic writing strategies employed by Indonesian graduate students in a non-native English speaking environment

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4935877/v1

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published 02 Sep, 2025

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This study investigates Indonesian graduate students' writing strategies for academic essay assignments at Hungarian universities. The aim is to understand the specific phases and strategies used during the writing process: pre-writing, writing, and post-writing. Employing a qualitative approach, data were collected mainly through semi-structured interviews. Eleven Indonesian students from six universities in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics were involved in the study. The interviews were transcribed using the Web Speech API. Coding and theme classification were performed using ATLAS ti.

The results indicate that the students utilize a total of sixteen stages and employ 89 strategies when completing their academic essays. During the pre-writing stage, the participants engage with five specific themes: planning, assigned essay topics, the provision of data sources, literature studies, and content structuring. During the writing stage, a total of eight phases were utilized. These included preparatory stages, research and information management, fulfilling the required length of the text, enhancing language to avoid repetition, improving content and language, revising content and language, ensuring academic integrity, and maintaining motivation throughout the writing process. In the post-writing stage, three phases were implemented, which involved receiving feedback and making revisions, conducting a final review, and completing post-submission tasks.

essays

academic writing

L2 writing strategies

Indonesian students

Hungarian higher education

qualitative study

It is undeniable that writing an academic text differs significantly from writing a novel or free writing. Academic writing possesses distinct linguistic features, such as the use of specialized vocabulary, abstraction, and lexical density (Crossley, 2020; Hyland, 2022; Paltridge, 2004). This type of writing is crucial for students enrolled in higher education, as it is often considered high stakes writing that can significantly impact their academic success. For instance, graduate students are typically required to write an essay as their final assignment, demonstrating their mastery of the subject matter and their ability to communicate complex ideas effectively. Therefore, mastering academic writing is essential for achieving academic excellence and advancing in higher education.

Over the past few years, there has been a notable rise in the number of Indonesian students pursuing their studies in European nations, with Hungary being a particularly popular destination. The Stipendium Hungaricum (SH), a scholarship offered by the Hungarian government, draws the attention of several Indonesian students to study at Hungarian universities (PPI Hongaria, 2022). The Indonesian Student Association in Hungary, known as Persatuan Pelajar Indonesia di Hungaria (PPIH), has provided data indicating that over 300 Indonesian students have enrolled in Hungary for the SH programme in 2021. The significant increase in numbers indicates the growing interest and available options for Indonesian students to pursue advanced education in Hungary.

Existing literature has maintained that academic writing is a significant indicator that plays a vital role and makes students successful in their studies (Braine, 2002, p. 65; Neill et al., 2019). Irvin (2010) exemplifies this by demonstrating that students' writing assignments and tasks, like essays, necessitate the ability to construct correct sentences, organize paragraphs with topic sentences, use a high level of critical literacy, read complex texts, understand key disciplinary concepts, and employ strategies for synthesizing, analyzing, and responding critically to new information. However, producing an English academic text imposes some constraints on students who speak English as a second (L2) or a foreign language (FL) (Hyland, 2009b, p. 172; Widodo, 2000, p. 1). It is evident in the case that, unlike in English-speaking countries where the linguistic environment is fully supported naturalistically, those who study in a non-English environment seem to place ‘linguistic injustice’ and ‘unfair disadvantage’ into perspective (Hyland, 2016a, p. 59; Langum & Sullivan, 2017, p. 20). By way of illustration, research studies showed that non-native English speakers (NNESs) believe that they write slower than their native-English counterparts. The study further mentioned that NNESs need more time to write at a high level of English (see, e.g., Hwang, 2005; C. Tardy, 2004). Hence, NNESs needs to employ special strategies for producing a well-written text.

Strategies in English academic writing differ significantly from those used in general writing (Teng & Yue, 2022; Torrance et al., 2000). Strategies for academic writing often involve activities such as searching for relevant sources, using specific language and terminology related to a particular discipline, and addressing issues like citation and plagiarism (see for example Belli et al., 2020; Suardiaz, 2017). Consequently, to produce a well-written academic text, students need to employ specialized strategies. According to Crossley and McNamara (2011), these strategies help ensure that their work is not only coherent and well-organized but also adheres to academic standards and conventions.

Based on the previous background explanation, this paper investigates the strategies Indonesian graduate students utilize in writing academic essay assignments in English. The study focuses on the use of writing strategies according to the writing stages: pre-writing, writing, and post-writing. To achieve this goal, the study formulates two research questions (RQs):

(1) What phases are employed by Indonesian graduate students in writing academic essays?

(2) What relevant strategies do the students employ during pre-writing, writing, and post-writing?

Literature studies

Academic writing

It is indisputable that the process of composing a novel diverges markedly from that of composing academic texts, such as essays. Their distinctive writing styles primarily differentiate the two. For the purpose of the study, academic writing can be defined as a form of writing with specific linguistic features employed in academic settings, such as universities and research institutions marked by a clear emphasis on research problems and the presentation of a well-supported viewpoint as a means of communication and persuasion within academic communities (Irvin, 2010).

In the realm of novel writing, the approach is predominantly characterized by artistic elements, demonstrated through the utilization of intricate, sophisticated, and elaborate diction, accompanied by unique linguistic features (Tolchinsky, 2006). In addition, according to Swales and Feak (2012), such attributes may be absent or less prominent in academic essays, which adhere to a distinct set of stylistic conventions.

On the contrary, essays typically employ a more formal, scholarly, and impartial tone, reflecting the conventions and expectations of the academic community (Hyland, 2022). Moreover, the focus on evidence-based argumentation and logical organization further distinguishes essays from their novel counterparts (Toulmin, 2003).

It is worth mentioning that academic writing is challenging because it necessitates a complex combination of generating ideas, selecting ideas that are relevant to the writing task, translating these ideas into text, and polishing the text to produce a presentable document (Alamri, 2021; Ali et al., 2019; AlMarwani, 2020; Azizah & Budiman, 2017; Fernsten & Reda, 2011; Lin & Morrison, 2021; Muflihun & Tohamba, 2020; Phothongsunan, 2016; Pineteh, 2013; Sajjad et al., 2021; Tompos, 2019). It is worth mentioning that, in accordance with Xu and Zhang (2019), academic writers must confine their writing to disciplinary norms and conventions by selecting specific discursive features. Students must understand how to monitor and control the writing process. Writing strategies play an essential part because they assist writers in monitoring the writing and learning processes as a whole (Díaz Larenas et al., 2017; Fajaryani et al., 2021; Larsson et al., 2022; Raoofi et al., 2017). Writing effectively aids learners' intellectual development and academic success (e.g., Maki Haffa et al., 2021; Tsingos-Lucas et al., 2017; Waring, 2007) .

Consequently, it is imperative for the students to acknowledge the necessity of adopting academic writing strategies when producing essays for university assignments and other educational contexts. According to Mahadini et al. (2021), by adhering to the appropriate conventions and expectations of their respective genres, writers can effectively communicate their ideas and contribute to the broader discourse within their field.

Writing process

L2 writers may employ a variety of stages in their writing process. AccordingRichards and Schmidt (2010) and Johnson (2016) divide the writing stage into three stages: pre-writing, writing, and post-writing (see Fig. 1). The pre-writing stage emphasizes activities in which writers look for a topic or idea and language related to the topic before beginning to write. The planning process, considered the most significant element of writing, involves clear and accessible arguments, ensuring that the reader can logically connect and easily understand the ideas presented in the texts. Furthermore, there are several techniques for developing the idea while still writing a text, such asGilliland's (2016) spidergrams andJohnson's (2016) semantic webs.

The second stage is the writing stage, which is another crucial part of the writing process. Writers typically begin by creating drafts. In this drafting phase, they have the opportunity to explore various aspects in greater depth, ensuring the text becomes cohesive and well-structured (Asser & Poom-Valickis, 2001). Furthermore, during the writing stage, writers can modify and reshape the text based on their initial plans and ideas. This flexibility is essential for organizing the content into a meaningful sequence that is logical and coherent (Louwerse et al., 2002; Mohseni, 2019). By revisiting and revising their drafts, writers can improve the clarity, flow, and overall quality of their work, ultimately producing a well-written text.

The final section of writing as a process involves revising, editing, and sharing. During the drafting stage, Widodo (2000) encourages students to prioritize fluency over grammatical accuracy and revises clarify meaning. Revising and editing can occur throughout the writing process, with proofreading reserved for the final stage, ensuring correctness before submission (Munoz-Luna, 2015). Proofreading combines reading and writing abilities, requiring L2 writers to examine each word for meaning clarification, omissions, repetitions, spacing, format, punctuation, and typographical errors. Based on the studies of Mustafa et al. (2022) and Ratnawati et al. (2018), novice writers may struggle to remember linguistic features when proofreading due to unfamiliar sentence patterns. Providing specific strategies, such as modifying the normal reading process with a pointer, finger, or pencil to closely examine each word and punctuation mark, can help students improve their language process of proofreading and ultimately produce well-written texts (Clark, 2014; Teng & Yue, 2022). The final step in the post-writing stage is sharing, marking the readiness to send or submit the text. For instance, students can submit their texts to their teachers, while authors can submit their work to journals for publication.

Writing strategies

The general concept of writing strategies is based on Oxford’s (1990) concept of language learning strategies. Oxford focuses primarily on individual learning strategies when acquiring a second language through all skills. Learners devise a strategy as a deliberate plan to achieve a specific goal or complete a specific task (El-Koumy, 1991). According to Richards and Schmidt, strategy refers to ‘procedures used in learning, thinking, and other activities to achieve a goal’ (2010, p. 559). In general, language learning strategies refer to ‘behaviors or actions that learners use to make language learning more successful, self-directed, and enjoyable (Oxford, 1989).

As for the concept of ‘writing strategy’, De Silva (2015) defines a writing strategy as a conscious mental activity employed in pursuit of a goal, often to solve a problem in writing within a learning situation, and an activity that is transferable to other situations and tasks (p.320). Torrance et al. (2000) highlights it as the sequence in which a writer engages in planning, composing, revising, and other writing-related activities (p. 182). Peñuelas (2015) stated that writing strategies are seen as a way for the writer to control the goals, compensate for the limited capacity of human cognitive resources, and overcome the problems that authors pose to themselves. According to Okasha and Hamdi (2014), writing strategies control the writing process to produce well-organised, high-quality writing (2014, p. 675). Furthermore, Abdul-Rahman (2011) interprets writing strategies as conscious decisions writers use to solve a writing problem (p. 39). For this study, writing strategies refer to the use of specific techniques or methods employed by learners to improve the success of their writing efficiently and effectively.

Strategies in English academic writing

According to Cohen's (2014, pp. 7–8) definition of learner strategies, academic writing strategies involve a deliberate selection of thoughts and actions by writers to enhance the efficiency of their writing. This conscious decision-making process allows writers to systematically approach their tasks, ensuring that each step contributes effectively to the overall quality of their work. By operationalizing these strategies, writers can streamline their workflow, tackle complex writing challenges, and produce more coherent and well-structured texts (Mallia, 2017; Mu, 2005). Essentially, these strategies serve as tools that writers use to manage their cognitive resources, organize their ideas, and refine their arguments, ultimately leading to more polished and impactful academic writing.

Research concerning academic writing strategies in EFL/ESL contexts primarily adopted two distinct directions. The first method entailed employing Oxford's (2017) writing taxonomies, whereas the second cantered on the categorization of L2 writing strategies throughout the pre-, during-, and post-writing stages (Johnson, 2016a). The following paragraphs present studies that focus on academic writing strategies employed by students in EFL/ESL environments.

In terms of the taxonomy, cognitive and metacognitive strategies play a crucial role in the study of writing strategies. Tsai (2004) investigated these strategies in the context of ESL academic writing and found that metacognitive strategies significantly impacted text generating processes, while cognitive strategies directly influenced writing performance. Silva's (2015) study reinforced these findings, showing that EFL learners who employed cognitive and metacognitive strategies experienced significant improvements in their writing performance. In like manner, Alamri (2019) examined ESL writers' metacognitive strategies during essay writing and found that students employed planning, monitoring, and evaluation strategies.

Mu (2005) has developed a taxonomy that can be used to analyze AWS. The taxonomy, which is based on ESL writing strategies collected from previous studies relevant to academic writing strategies, includes rhetorical (e.g., use of L1, genre consideration), metacognitive (e.g., planning, monitoring), cognitive (e.g., generating ideas, summarizing), communicative (e.g., reduction), and social affective strategies (e.g., getting feedback, rest). Although these L2 English AWS may not be comprehensive, they can be helpful for future studies on classifying academic writing strategies, as they provide a solid theoretical foundation to build upon. Despite the limitations of Mu's (2005) ESL writing strategies taxonomy, its importance in ESL writing and teaching cannot be overlooked, particularly due to its clarity and ease of understanding for novice ESL writers. As a result, this taxonomy serves as a valuable starting point for researchers seeking to explore the field further and provides a beneficial framework for those new to ESL writing research.

Two years subsequently, Mu and Carrington (2007) conducted a further study focusing on academic writing strategies employed by three Chinese postgraduate students in an Australian higher education institution. This study was collected through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, retrospective post-writing discussions, and written drafts of papers. The findings reveal that the participants utilized rhetorical, metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies in their writing. The study the study found differences between writing processes in an L2 and an L1 involving rhetorical strategies and linguistic aspects. Furthermore, the study revealed that metacognitive, cognitive, and social/affective strategies were effectively applied across both L1 and L2 writing processes. However, rhetorical strategies, specifically those concerning paragraph organization, did not transfer as positively between the two languages.

Zhao and Liao (2021) also investigated metacognitive strategy use among EFL students at Macau universities. The study found that students employ five main strategies in their academic texts. The strategies include task interpretation, planning, translating, evaluation, monitoring, and revising. The study also revealed that translating harms writing scores, whereas task interpretation and planning positively contributed to L2 writing, although slightly. Zhao and Liao (2021) argue that writing is dynamic and recursive, and separating evaluation and monitoring seems tricky. It means various strategies may apply over different stages of the composting cycle. Evaluating and monitoring the composting process are not separable. In other words, evaluating does not have to wait until the essay is finished, and monitoring can take place at any time while the writer is still working on the task.

Furthermore, the importance of metacognitive strategies in supporting students writing performance was also studied by Teng and Yue (2022). They explored writing strategies employed by English learners enrolled in an English academic writing course at a mainland Chinese university. The study showed that metacognition plays a significant role in enhancing academic writing performance, and critical thinking skills are important for academic writing. University students with a higher level of metacognitive awareness were more likely to think critically, resulting in better academic writing performance. The study also revealed that metacognitive strategies can enhance learners' critical thinking skills, and a strong correlation exists between metacognition and writing. Overall, the research highlights the importance of metacognition and critical thinking in predicting academic writing performance.

In more recent work, Bui et al. (2023) adopt a content-based approach to qualitative data analysis, drawing upon a comprehensive research-based taxonomy for L2 academic writing strategies. This taxonomy encompasses rhetorical, metacognitive, cognitive, and social affective strategies. The results revealed that teacher participants most frequently used rhetorical, metacognitive, and cognitive strategies. Furthermore, the study showed that self-efficacy and self-regulation played a crucial role in determining the teachers' use of strategies during the writing process. The findings carry important implications for L2 writing classrooms, emphasizing the need to focus on academic writing strategies to enhance pre-service teachers' writing quality.

The study utilized a qualitative approach and collected data through semi-structured interviews to address the questions. The interview aimed to investigate the natural phenomena of society, with a particular focus on the process, meaning patterns, and structural features (Busetto et al., 2020; Creswell, 2014; Dornyei, 2007; Patton, 2015). In addition, the utilization of semi-structured interviews can serve as a valuable tool in accomplishing the objectives of this study. By employing open-ended questions, which offer substantial flexibility during the process of data collection, researchers can gather valuable information (Creswell, 2014; DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006). Moreover, employing semi-structured interviews enables participants to freely and openly delve into their thoughts (Hyland, 2016b). The interview consists of sixteen questions adopted from the interview studies by Mazgutova (2021) and Munoz-Luna (2015), which focus on the activities the students use during pre-writing, writing, and post-writing. Face-to-face and online sessions in Indonesian conducted the interview, lasting approximately 35–45 minutes. The use of L1-Indonesian for the interview is to assist the participants in exploring their feelings, experiences, and thoughts, as well as to make the students feel more relaxed when answering the questions.

A total of 11 Indonesian graduate students, consisting of 7 females and 4 males, were involved in this study. These students were enrolled in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics at six different Hungarian universities. The students were enrolled for the academic period spanning from 2019 to 2022. The participants were chosen from the student databases that were active from 2019 to 2022. After choosing the participants from the list, we proceeded to send an invitation to potential students to take part in the study through the WhatsApp application. Afterwards, we included the students who agreed to participate in the study to the roster and obtained their signatures on the consent letter. The study solely comprised the students who were enrolled in a master's degree programme. The reason for this is that the students demonstrate a higher degree of genuineness and proficiency when writing academic essays in the English language. The following Table 1 provides the participants' background information.

Table 1

Participants’ background information
Code Number	Pseudonym	Gender	Age	IELTS/CEFR	Universities
1	Ani	Female	25	6.5/ B2	Corvinus
2	Tutik	Female	25	6.5/B2	Corvinus
3	Sri	Female	24	6.5/B2	Pécs
4	Yanti	Female	28	6.5/B2	ELTE
5	Bambang	Male	25	6.0/B2	Széchenyi István
6	Budi	Male	29	6.0/B2	BME
7	Eko	Male	26	7.5/C1	Corvinus
8	Lilis	Female	26	7.0/C1	Szeged
9	Novi	Female	27	7.5/C1	Corvinus
10	Rina	Female	25	7.0/C1	Pécs
11	Triono	Male	23	7.5/C1	Corvinus

The study utilized Web Speech API Demonstration (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/demos/speech.html) to produce interview transcriptions and assess their precision. The transcription files were transferred to the ATLAS.ti 21.51.05 version for the purpose of codification. Following that, the classification of thematic codes was applied to identify the emerging patterns within them. Afterwards, we authorized and classified the strategies mentioned by the students as legitimate.

The explanation of concise translated excerpts, such as brief passages, is written based on the codification number found in the ATLAS.ti programme (see Fig. 2). The translated excerpts will be annotated with two numerical labels indicating the corresponding transcriptions. For instance, the phrase ‘1:32 translated extracts’ indicates that it was spoken by participant No. 1 during the interview and refers to quotation number 32.

RQ1. What phases do the students use in writing academic essays?

The analysis results indicate that the students utilized a total of 16 phases while composing their academic essay assignment. These phases were categorized as follows: prewriting stage (n = 5), writing (n = 8), and post-writing (n = 3). Table 2 displays the categorization of the phases.

Table 2

The phases of academic writing strategies used by Indonesian graduate students
Writing stages	Phases
Pre-writing	planning
	assigned essay topics
	the provision of data sources
	literature studies
	content structuring
Writing	preparatory stages
	research and information management
	required texts’ length fulfilments
	language enhancement for avoiding repetition of words
	content and language improvement
	content and language revision
	academic integrity assurance
	the maintenance of motivation during the writing stage
Post-writing	feedback and revisions
	final review
	post submission

RQ2. What strategies do the students employ in successfully writing English academic essay assignments?

The strategies the students employ in the pre-writing stage

In relation to the pre-writing stage, the participants used 32 strategies when writing academic essays in English, which were divided into five phases. The first phase is related to planning (n = 4), including drawing up a timetable, brainstorming, recalling previous knowledge, and being fresh and comfortable enough before start writing. The second phase focuses on assigned essay topics (n = 8), which are looking up in the (online) university library, undertaking preliminary research by reading current and highly cited articles, narrowing down the topics, looking for a definition of the assigned topics, consulting the topics with the lecturers, asking for help from classmates, and observing the assigned topic from YouTube. The third phase is relevant to the provision of data sources (n = 7), consisting of collecting extensive data (primary and secondary) from Google Scholar, the official websites, social media, and Wikipedia, reading widely from book and journal portals, downloading subscribed articles with the students’ institutional accounts, reviewing teachers’ secondary resources, turning on Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access restricted resources, and creating database resources. The fourth phase concerns for literature studies (n = 13), which includes reading the abstracts of research articles, selecting relevant information, commanding shortcuts (e.g., CTRL + F), displaying dual screens, highlighting the text, notetaking, organizing key points, writing a short summary, translating, annotating, skimming and scanning the text, synthesizing, and re-writing the theory from the reading articles. The fifth phase emphasizes content structuring (n = 2), which are mind mapping and designing a general layout.

Table 3 demonstrates strategies the students utilize in writing English academic essays with regard to the pre-writing stage including extract examples.

Category 1: The pre-writing stage

Table 3

Indonesian graduate students’ English academic essay writing strategies with regard to the pre-writing stage
Phases	Strategies	Extract examples
Planning	drawing up a timetable	9:15 ‘I made a list of essay assignments given at the beginning of the class’.
	brainstorming	6:12 ‘First, I need to think about what I want to write’.
	recalling previous knowledge	3:44 ‘I have prior writing experience with the subject’.
	being fresh and comfortable enough	1:34 ‘I need to take a bath first and eat before I start writing’.
Assigned essay topics	looking up keywords in the (online) university library	6:50 ‘I went to the CEU’s library to gain some information about my topic ‘.
	undertaking preliminary research by reading current and highly cited articles	7:21 ‘I usually try to find a new released and highly cited articles about the topic’.
	narrowing down the topic	9:6 ‘I've been given a broad topic and must narrow it down’.
	looking for a definition of the assigned topics	3:28 ‘I need to find a clear definition of the Chicken Game Theory’.
	consulting the topic with the lecturer	1:12 ‘If I couldn't find enough information, I asked the lecturer for assistance’.
	asking for help from classmates	5:30 ‘Due to a difficult topic, I asked my friend to help me explain the topic’.
	observing the assigned topic from YouTube	2:21 ‘Sometimes I seek the topic on YouTube’.
The provision of data sources	collecting extensive data (primary and secondary) from Google scholar, the official websites, social media, and Wikipedia	3:7 ‘I did some research on Google scholar’.
		11:5 ‘I read several information from the European commission and ASEAN websites’.
	reading widely from online books and journal portals	2:15 ‘…read papers from Google Scholar because it provides good source’.
	downloading subscribed articles with the students’ institutional accounts	2:30 ‘Entering my institutional account allows me to download the article from Science Direct’.
	reviewing teachers’ secondary resources	3:25 ‘My lecturer has provided reading recommendations in Moodle that I can use for my references’.
	turning on VPN to access restricted resources	9:56 ‘To download restricted articles, I must now use a VPN’.
	creating a source database	1:17 ‘I compile all available information and store it in a database.’
Literature studies	reading only the abstracts of research studies	2:1 ‘I only read the abstract from each article I have found’.
	selecting relevant information	8:4 ‘I must select relevant information to put into the text’.
	commanding shortcuts	2:25 ‘I use control + F to find the word …’.
	displaying dual screens	2:35 ‘I divided the screen into two sides, with Microsoft Word on one side’.
	highlighting the text	2:25 ‘I …highlight relevant information’.
	notetaking	2:16 ‘I take notes on every aspect of the literature I have read and ...’.
	organizing key points	2:16 ‘… organize key points into a logical order’.
	writing a short summary	3:41 ‘I make detailed summary of the article’.
	translating	11:16 ‘I translated the article because it was written in Chinese’
	making an annotation	15:16 ‘I created an annotated bibliography as well’.
	skimming and scanning the text	4:22 ‘I often quickly scan the text to ensure that the ideas are relevant to my topic’.
	synthesizing	5:7 ‘I only synthesized information on topics relating to China’.
	re-writing the theory from an article	5:15 ‘Sometimes I rewrite the theory from the articles I've read’.
Content structuring	mind mapping	6:17 ‘I represent the idea with some arrows.’
Content structuring	designing a general layout	5:2 ‘…layout starts from the beginning’.

The strategies the students employ in the writing stage

The study has identified 51 strategies utilized by the participants during the writing stage of English academic essay writing, organized into eight phases. These include the preparatory stages (n = 2), which involve drawing an outline and drafting and its management. The phase of research and information management (n = 4) encompasses using a Google search engine to gather information, employing Google Translate, consulting online thesauri and dictionaries, and maintaining notes and information digitally in the OneNote application. The phase dedicated to fulfilling the required text length (n = 3) comprises writing long sentences, using footnotes, and expanding paragraphs. Language enhancement to avoid word repetition (n = 3) includes using writing tools for alternative suggestions, substituting repetitive words with synonyms, and employing new vocabulary found in the reading articles.

Moreover, the content and language improvement phase (n = 17) comprises strategies, such as making use of discourse markers, offering examples to buttress claims or arguments, defining concepts, connecting a specific paragraph to a theory, maintaining neutrality when discussing a controversial issue, providing numerical results, and enhancing vocabulary diversity. This phase also includes strategies like creating sub-topics, utilizing in-text citations, adding charts, figures, or tables, learning from other people’s writing, comparing with other classmates’ writing styles, using passive forms, practicing code switching, employing fixed phrases, and generating automatic citations and inserting bibliographies using tools like Mendeley, Google Cite, and Microsoft Word features. The content and language revision phase (n = 7) focuses on strategies such as re-reading the text after writing several paragraphs, deleting redundant segments, operating language error detectors and correctors like Microsoft Word and Grammarly, proofreading the text, and making immediate corrections.

Additionally, the phase of academic integrity assurance (n = 4) contains giving credits to the original sources, paraphrasing with Quillbot, writing lengthy sentences, and utilizing plagiarism checkers such as Grammarly, Urkund, Bibme, and Edubirdie. Lastly, maintaining motivation (n = 11) during the writing stage encompasses adhering to essential course requirements, making phone calls to family and friends, writing in a quiet and comfortable environment, taking a few days off, avoiding hasty completion of writing assignments, thinking about the readers, engaging in stress-relieving activities, striving to produce one page per day, building confidence, striving for an excellent grade, and meeting writing deadlines.

Table 4 provides a comprehensive summary of the various phases and strategies implemented by the students, complete with extract examples.

Category 2: The writing stage

Table 4

The students’ English academic essay writing strategies with regard to the writing stage
Phases	Strategies	Extract examples
Preparatory stages	drawing an outline	9:27 ‘I made an outline so I could start writing’.
Preparatory stages	managing the drafts	2:1 ‘I wrote several drafts and put them into a folder’.
Research and information management	using a Google search engine to obtain information	5:24 ‘Google is a big help to me’.
	attempting to use Google Translate	10:21 ‘Sometimes when I'm confused, I use the help of Google Translate’.
	consulting in online thesauri and dictionaries	7:29 ‘I usually search on the Google-Oxford dictionary …’.
	keeping all of notes and information in the digital Onenote application	8:10 ‘I rarely write in my notebook because I keep everything in OneNote apps. So, I can easily trace everything back without worrying about where I got the source.
Required text-length fulfilment	writing in long sentences	4:53 ‘I use long sentences in my writing to meet word count requirements’.
	footnoting	8:16 ‘To fulfil word requirements, I use footnote’.
	expanding paragraphs	4:27 ‘Of course, I make the paragraph longer by adding some detailed information’.
Language enhancement for avoiding repetition of words	employing writing tools to suggest an alternative	11:23 ‘ Typically, Grammarly suggests alternatives for words or phrases that I can modify’.
	replacing repetitive words with synonyms	7:29 ‘I usually search on the Google-Oxford dictionary to find a synonym by typing X means on Google’.
	using new vocabulary found in the reading articles	10:20 ‘I used new vocabulary I have learnt from the article’.
Content and language improvements	making use of discourse markers	8:30 ‘I add a conjunction such as ‘moreover’, ‘however’ to explain previous sentences’.
	providing examples to support claims or arguments	01:17 ‘I provide an example of how Agua is a reusable bottle...this will serve as evidence for my argument’.
	defining concepts	7:53 ‘I separate into three parts: defining the concepts, ….’.
	relating a specific paragraph to a theory	2:2 ‘I pointed a paragraph that I believe is relevant to the theory about teenagers’.
	remaining neutral when discussing a controversial issue	2:55 ‘When given a controversial topic, I attempt to steer clear of pros and cons at that moment’.
	providing results in numbers	4:52 ‘The results typically have to be presented as numbers’.
	enhancing vocabulary diversity: employing concise and specific vocabulary	7:22 ‘I am conscious of using specific vocabulary, such as the fact that in my field, ‘purchasing’ is frequently substituted for ‘buying’.
	creating sub-topics	8:9 ‘I usually create several subtopics during the drafting process to help me structure my essay’.
	presenting personal viewpoints	13:23 ‘I briefly add my personal opinions’.
	utilizing in-text citations	10:30 ‘For the quotations, I typically utilize in-text citations’.
	adding charts, figures, or tables	8:13 ‘I include charts to support my analysis’.
	learning from other people’s writing	9:39 ‘I usually learn how other people have written’.
	comparing with other classmates’ writing style	9:40 ‘I also look at my friend's essay to compare his/her writing style’.
	using passive forms	5:44 ‘I use passive forms to emphasize something’.
	practicing code switching	5:20 ‘Depending on the topic, I may use either English or French’.
	using fixed phrases	3:35 ‘I always use phrases like ‘this is mainly because’ to connect each sentence...’.
	generating automatic citations and inserting bibliography (e.g., Mendeley)	6:23 ‘I cite with the help of Mendeley’.
Content and language revisions	re-reading the text after writing several paragraphs	6:18 ‘I read the text again after writing three paragraphs to ensure that …’.
	delating redundant paragraphs	7:23 ‘If the text is too lengthy, I occasionally erase it’.
	reorganizing the paragraph	6:14 ‘I usually rearrange the text if it seems not logical’.
	breaking-up complex sentences	10:38 ‘If a sentence is longer than one and a half lines, I have to stop writing it’.
	operating language error detectors and correctors (e.g., Microsoft Word features)	5:31 ‘I activate the automatic correction features in Microsoft Word’.
	proofreading the text	3:19 ‘I did proofread with Grammarly’.
	making immediate corrections	2:6 ‘If there is a mistake, I will fix it right away’.
Academic integrity assurance	giving a credit to the original source	4:11 ‘To prevent plagiarism, I must cite the original source whenever I use someone else's words’.
	paraphrasing with writing tools (e.g., the Quillbot)	8:22 ‘I've used Quillbot a few times for paraphrasing…’
	writing in long sentences	8:27 ‘I often use longer sentences with multiple clauses to ensure that my writing is original and avoid unintentional plagiarism’.
	performing plagiarism checkers (e.g. Edubirdie)	9:21 ‘Edubirdie helps me check the rate of plagiarism’.
Maintaining motivation during the writing stage	complying with essential course requirements	4:1 ‘Writing an essay is one of the tasks you must complete to pass the course’.
	making a phone call to family and friends	1:42 ‘I call my family when feeling demotivated’.
	writing in a quiet and comfortable environment	2:8 ‘I visit the library when I'm frustrated’.
	taking a few days off	2:56 ‘If I experience writer's block, I stop writing for two to three days before starting up again’.
	avoiding rushing in completing the essay assignments	2:9 ‘I came to realize that we cannot write in a mad rush. For instance, don't think that tomorrow is the deadline, so we have to write quickly. As a result, coming up with an idea may be challenging’.
	thinking about the readers	4:52 ‘The lecturer will read my essay, so I need to make sure everything I said is clear’.
	engaging in stress-relieving activities	3:39 ‘It was difficult to start writing without listening to the music’.
	producing one-page per day	4:10 ‘I have to write at least one page per day’.
	building confidence	4:69 ‘...,I have realised that my writing isn't that horrible’.
	striving for an excellent grade	4:70 ‘One goal is to achieve a five’.
	meeting a writing deadline	8:39 ‘Whether I like it or not, I have to finish my essay by the deadline’.

The strategies Indonesian graduate students utilize in the post-writing stage

According to the research findings, the students employed six strategies in completing English academic essays during the post-writing stage. These strategies are divided into three phases: feedback and revision (n = 4), final review (n = 1), and post submission (n = 1). The evaluating content phase consists of having consultation with the lecturer and asking for help to proofread the content and language. The ensuring task fulfilments and compliance phase involves making certain that the aims are met, analyzing plagiarism, and conducting final proofreading. Lastly, the relaxing phase includes one strategy, which is taking a well-deserved rest. Table 5 illustrates the outcomes for the aforementioned phases and strategies, along with example extracts.

Category 3: The post-writing stage

Table 5

Strategies Indonesian graduate students utilize in English academic writing in the post-writing stage.
Phases	Strategies	Extract examples
Feedback and revision	having consultation with the lecturer	3:56 ‘Before submitting the essay assignment, I had one opportunity to meet with my lecturer’.
	asking for help to proofread the content and language	6:48 ‘To ensure that my writing makes sense, I asked my friends to review it.
	ensuring that the aims or objectives of the assignment have been fulfilled	3:21 ‘I will make sure I have achieved the aims of …’.
	analysing plagiarism	1:25 ‘I check plagiarism before submission and …’
Final review	Conducting a final review of the content, structure, and formatting before submission	5:30 ‘I need to double-check the text’ length to see if it meets the requirements”.
Final review		4:11 ‘The last step before submission is reference checking’.
Post submission	Celebrating completion of the task and taking time to rest and rejuvenate	3:47 ‘I need to finish it and then get some sleep’.

This study is aimed at investigating English academic writing strategies utilized by Indonesian graduate students at Hungarian universities under the faculty of social science and economics focusing on the writing stages: pre-writing, writing, and post-writing. To achieve the aim, two proposed requestions have been formulated. RQ1 addresses the phases the students utilized in In the pre-writing stage, the students applied writing strategies that can be classified into several phases such as planning (e.g., brainstorming), assigned essay topics (e.g., undertaking preliminary research), the provision of data sources (downloading subscribed articles), literature studies (e.g., reading only the abstract of relevant research studies), and content structuring (e.g., designing a general layout). The themes are related to collecting data information before the students start actual writing. Johnson (2016a) argues that the pre-writing stage is a crucial step in the writing process as all relevant strategies can help the students gather background information from various activities aimed at organizing and structuring students’ thoughts and generating ideas prior to the beginning of writing academic essays. Hence, by engaging in this process, the students can manage and direct their writing more effectively, resulting in a more well-rounded and adequate preparation. Moreover, based on the findings of the current study, the students also utilized recalling previous knowledge in the planning phase. This strategy plays a significant contribution in the successful accomplishment of the students’ essay assignments. As maintained by Mukminin et al. (2015), recalling previous experiences related to academic writing can build upon their existing knowledge, identify areas for improvement, and develop more comprehensive and well-informed arguments in their writing.

In terms of RQ2, the study suggests that in the writing stage, the classification of the strategies was divided into several themes that were connected the actual writing practices including preparatory stages (e.g., managing draft), research and information management (e.g., consulting in online thesauri and dictionaries), required text-length fulfillment (e.g., footnoting), language enhancement for avoiding repetition of words (e.g., employing writing tool to suggest alternatives), content and language improvement (e.g., providing examples to support claims or arguments), content and language revision (e.g., deleting redundant paragraphs), academic integrity assurance (e.g., performing plagiarism checkers), and maintaining motivation during the writing stage (e.g., taking a few days off). The themes are strongly associated with metacognitive activities underlining planning, monitoring and revising, as this stage is the core of the writing stage in which the students produce a well-qualified academic essay writing. This finding is relevant to the studies conducted by Mu and Carrington (2007) and Xia (2017), which state that metacognitive strategies play a significant role in academic writing performance. Hence, the employment of the metacognitive strategies in English academic essays is richly varied in this stage.

As for the post-writing stage, the themes deals with feedback, revision, final review, and submission. The students received feedback from the lecturers as the support to help them improve their academic essays by ensuring the aims or objective of the assignment have been fulfilled, for example. On the other hand, the students have chance to meet with the lecturer to ask the feedback, and this is the strategy that the students utilized after completing their writing. This strategy align with the findings of Hyland and Hyland (2019) and Flowerdew (2013), who emphasize the importance of receiving feedback from experts or peers to enhance the quality of written work. Moreover, Hyland (2003) argues that integrating external feedback into the writing process can help non-native English speakers develop their academic writing skills. By seeking guidance and clarification directly from the lecturer, students can gain valuable insights and ensure that they are on the right track with their assignments (Hyland, 2019; Jones, 2011).

For the final review, the participants mentioned that it is essential to comprehensively examine the content, structure, and formatting of the essay before submission. By conducting a thorough final review, the students can make necessary revisions to enhance the overall quality of their work and submit a polished essay.

Finally, after the essay submission, the participants celebrate the completion of the task and take time to rest and rejuvenate. This phase allows them to alleviate stress and anxiety associated with the essay writing process. This strategy underscores the significance of well-being and mental health for academic success (Roboh & Tedjaatmadja, 2016). Murray and Moore (2006) assert that taking breaks and allowing time for relaxation can help students avoid burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Therefore, the students prioritize a good rest, such as sleeping, after submitting essay assignments.

Writing an academic text is a challenging task for students who are learning English as a second language (L2), as they must utilize specific features of academic writing. For those studying in English-medium higher education, academic writing is a high-stakes assessment that can significantly impact their academic success. Consequently, composing an academic text in this context requires specialized strategies throughout the writing process, including planning, revising, editing, and submitting. It is important to note that the strategies employed by students are often recursive, meaning that writers can revisit their text multiple times to recheck and revise. This iterative process helps ensure that the final document is coherent, well-organized, and meets the rigorous standards of academic writing.

The findings of this research can be highly beneficial in aiding students with their academic writing tasks in a pedagogical setting. Through comprehending the efficient strategies and practices identified in the research, teachers can enhance their ability to provide guidance to their students in the writing process. This guidance can assist students in adopting a methodical approach to their assignments, thereby improving their capacity to strategize, structure, and carry out their writing tasks with greater efficiency. Consequently, students have the ability to greatly enhance the caliber of their papers, rendering them more cohesive, well-organized, and academically rigorous. This study has validated the suggested questions that highlight the various stages and the use of various strategies when writing a text. However, the research is limited to a small number of students and cannot be generalised to all Indonesian students enrolled in Hungarian higher education. Exploring the subject further by conducting research with a larger sample size and focusing on writing as a product could be a promising area of study.

The Ethics Declaration

All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Doctoral School of Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

Funding Declaration

This study was funded by the Institute of Research and Community Outreach at Universitas Muhammadiyah Metro, Lampung, Indonesia (number:16/II.3.AU/C/LPPM/2024)

Human Ethics and Consent to Participate declarations

not applicable

Author Contribution

DS wrote the draft of the paper and collected the data. CS supervised, and validated research instruments and research method conceptualization. FT prepared resources, project administration, and funding acquisition. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Universitas Muhamamdiyah (UM) Metro for helping to enable our research collaboration with Pazmany Peter Catholic University (PPCU). We also thank the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for providing open access to publications via the Electronic Information Service National Programme (EISZ) and the PPCU open-access publication databases. We express our gratitude to the Indonesian students who took part in this research.

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No competing interests reported.

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An investigation of English academic writing strategies employed by Indonesian graduate students in a non-native English speaking environment

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Abstract

Figures

Introduction

(1) What phases are employed by Indonesian graduate students in writing academic essays?

(2) What relevant strategies do the students employ during pre-writing, writing, and post-writing?

Literature studies

Writing process

Writing strategies

Strategies in English academic writing

Methodology

Results and Discussion

RQ1. What phases do the students use in writing academic essays?

RQ2. What strategies do the students employ in successfully writing English academic essay assignments?

The strategies the students employ in the pre-writing stage

Category 1: The pre-writing stage

The strategies the students employ in the writing stage

Category 2: The writing stage

The strategies Indonesian graduate students utilize in the post-writing stage

Category 3: The post-writing stage

Conclusion

Declarations

Author Contribution

Acknowledgement

References

Additional Declarations

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Journal Publication

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