LINGUISTIC AFFECTIVE AND CONTEXTUAL BARRIERS TO ACADEMIC WRITING AMONG LIBYAN EFL UNDERGRADUATES A Mixed-Methods Study at the University of Zawia

Abstract

This study investigates the linguistic, affective, and contextual barriers encountered by Libyan undergraduates when completing academic writing tasks in English and explains the factors underlying those barriers from the students’ perspective. A mixed-methods triangulation design was employed, Quantitative data were obtained through an online questionnaire completed by 56 fifth- to eighth-semester students, while qualitative data were generated through semi-structured interviews with 10 students, The survey showed strong recognition of the value of writing and a high motivation to improve; nevertheless, the participants reported substantial difficulties, The highest challenge endorsements concerned vocabulary and word choice (76.8%), revision and editing (76.8%), and clear and coherent expression (71.4%), The leading contributing factors were limited exposure to English outside the classroom (71.4%), difficulty organizing and expressing ideas (69.6%), and cultural-linguistic differences (67.9%), Interview findings corroborated the quantitative patterns and revealed an interaction among limited grammatical and lexical knowledge, first-language interference, academic formality, anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, inadequate feedback, restricted resources, and insufficient practice time, The study concludes that EFL writing difficulty is not a single linguistic deficit but a multidimensional system in which language knowledge, self-efficacy, instructional conditions, and opportunities for authentic use reinforce one another, It recommends an integrated process-genre curriculum, explicit language support within meaningful writing, self-regulated learning routines, sustained reading-to-write practice, and staged feedback combining teacher, peer, and carefully supervised automated support.