A REPORT PAPER

Muhammad Mas’ud MS
19716251057
PBI Class B

“A Need Analysis in Academic Writing by Using Integrative-based

Approach: from the Perspective of Students”
Helaluddin, Hengki Wijaya, Nurmadinah, Susanna Vonny N. Rante, & Harmelia
Tulak.

1. Introduction
One of skills that students commonly consider difficult in learning language
is writing. It is because writing requires the integration between grammatical
accuracy and plenty of good ideas in a certain topic given by a teacher or a
lecturer. Occasionally, several students are good at grammatical accuracy but poor
at developing ideas or they are good at developing ideas but poor at grammatical
accuracy.
Writing competence in school level is different from writing competence in
university level. Students in both primary and secondary school tend to write a
free, fiction, or imaginative topic like poetry, short stories, tale, or legend whereas
students in university level tend to write a topic academically or what so called
academic writing.
Most of university students realize the importance of academic writing in
supporting their studies. They realize that a good academic writing will help them
be able to meet with what the lecturer expects from their writing assignment,
summary, review, report, paper, research and so on. The students’ awareness of
the importance of academic writing has attracted students’ attention to develop
their academic writing. However, there are some problems commonly done by
lecturers that bring failure to the well development of students’ academic writings.
Those are; (1) In assessing students’ academic writings, lecturers only focus on
language errors (2) Most of lecturers give low scores to students who have many
grammatical mistakes without considering the quality of students’ ideas (3)
Students got pressure in the process of learning writing (4) Lecturers only use one
of the three approaches in teaching academic writing; Product Approach, Process
Approach or Genre Approach. This phenomenon has lead the researchers to
develop ideas in teaching academic writing for university students named the
integrative approach by integrating or combining the three approaches of teaching
academic writing in order to overcome this crucial notion as soon as possible.
2. Literature Review
a. Need Analysis
The term need analysis or also known as need assessment is claimed to be
an essential part of the curriculum planning process in language learning.
Hutchinson & Waters (1987) state that need analysis is the most prominent
feature of language learning in designing more specific subjects. Needs
analysis is even stated as a starting point for creating courses and is an
essential part of the curriculum and syllabus development (EshteRhadi, 2017).
b. Academic Writing
Academic writing cannot be separated from academic literacy, which is
one genre in the educational field (Stahle, 2016).
c. Approaches in Learning of Writing
 Product Approach
Product Approach is defined as an activity in producing material forms
appropriately and based on the topic determined at the sentence and
discourse level (Tuyen, 2016). The characteristics of this approach are; (1)
students are directed to highlight the product (essay) rather than how the
process of writing (2) This approach views writing activity as centerd on
knowledge of language structure (3) The development of writing is seen as
the result of imitation (example) in the form of text provided by the
teacher.
 Process-based Approach
Process-based Approach is the ability to develop ideas and use writing
processes such as revising or editing (Tuyen, 2016). The characteristics of
this approach are; (1) This approach can be seen as a writing activity that
is not only concerned with grammar but also for finding meaning and
 beliefs (2) It give students opportunities to receive feedback and then give
time to reflect, look for input as a reform of plans, ideas, and languages.
 Genre Approach
Genre Approach is the ability to write based on a given purpose, a
communication function, and to satisfy community discourse based on the
structure and content of the dissertation (Tuyen, 2016). The characteristics
of this approach are; (1) It is a concept of learning that affects the process
of language education and teaching (2) It is an approach that emphasizes
social and cultural dimensions in language and text (3) the genre is
reflected as a social product and as an institutional context.
d. Integrative-based Approach
The integrative-approach is a combination of process models and genre
theories that are present as a realization of the limitations of both
approaches for developing students’ writing skills (Babalola & Litinin,
2012). According to Badger and White, this approach focuses on
knowledge of the language (product and genre approaches), context and
purpose of writing (genre approach), and abilities needed in the use of
language or process approaches (Pramila, 2017).
3. Method
This research is a Research & Development (R & D) that uses a qualitative
approach. The participants of the study were 60 first semester students in Banten
Province, Indonesia. The instrument used in the study was questionnaire. The
questionnaire was a closed-ended question questionnaire containing 15 questions
by providing several alternative answers. The questionnaire design used was a
questionnaire developed from a framework of a need analysis by Hutchinson &
Waters (1987) grouped into three main parts, namely: 1) student’s language level,
2) student’s language problem, and 3) student’s language needs.
4. Results & Discussion
The result of this study is derived into two notions; students’ language level
and students’ language needs.
a. Students’ Language Level
Academic Writing learning in Indonesian Language courses at
universities is significant benefits for students.
Strongly Agree 80%
Agree 20%
Neutral -
Disagree -
Strongly Disagree -

Do you like the learning of writing?

Strongly Agree 75%
Agree 17%
Neutral 8%
Disagree -
Strongly Disagree -

b. Students’ Language Needs

Intensive lecturer guidance is needed in learning to write before writing
individually.
Strongly Agree 83.3%
Agree 16.7%
Neutral -
Disagree -
Strongly Disagree -

Elements that need to be developed intensively by students.

Sentence Structure 20%
Develop Writing Ideas 46.6%
Vocabulary Mastery 16.7%
Spelling 10%
Other Aspects 6.7%
 Social elements as parts of text construction need to be studied in writing
learning.
Strongly Agree 40%
Agree 33.3%
Neutral 20%
Disagree 6.7%
Strongly Disagree -

5. Conclusion
The results of the needs analysis through questionnaire indicate that all
students like the learning of writing. However, most students are not familiar with
writing in academic genres. They write more frequently on non-academic or non-
scientific writing such as poetry, short stories, diaries through blogs, and so on.
Regarding the integrative approach to writing, the majority of students need
this approach in learning. It can be seen from students’ voices on several things:
(1) lecturers must play and active role in helping students in writing, (2) the need
for social aspects and constructs to be studied before writing activities, and (3)
The evaluation of academic writing should not only focus on aspects of grammar
and spelling but also focus on issues of ideas raised in writing.