EFL Graduate Students’ Scholarly Writing Proficiency and Publication Challenges: Evidence from Some Indonesian State Universities

Abstract

This study investigated the academic writing proficiency and publication-related challenges of EFL graduate students from three state universities in the southern region of Sumatra, Indonesia. The study employed a quantitative descriptive design involving 84 graduate students enrolled in the Master's Program in English Education. Data were collected through an academic writing proficiency test and a Likert-scale questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that the students’ academic writing proficiency was generally at a moderate level, with mean scores of 67.51, 77.38, and 77.00 across the three universities. The questionnaire results indicated that students encountered considerable challenges in publication-oriented academic writing, particularly in grammar, paraphrasing, analytical writing, coherence development, citation and referencing practices, and identifying reputable journals for publication. Grammatical difficulties emerged as the most dominant challenge across the three universities. In addition, the students demonstrated weaknesses in applying APA 7th citation conventions, evaluating academic sources, and constructing analytical arguments and developing research novelty. These findings suggest a mismatch between the increasing institutional expectations for scholarly publication and graduate students’ actual readiness for publication-oriented writing. The study concludes that success in academic publication requires not only English proficiency but also rhetorical competence, critical thinking skills, and publication literacy. Therefore, universities should strengthen academic writing instruction and provide structured support in paraphrasing, analytical writing, citation management, and scholarly publication practices to better prepare graduate students for academic publishing.