Academic Writing Difficulties Among EFL Kurdish Undergraduates: A Qualitative Inquiry

Mastering writing in a foreign language remains one of the most formidable challenges for language learners. This study mainly seeks to elucidate the difficulties Kurdish English-majoring undergraduates encounter in academic writing. Although academic writing is a pivotal skill demonstrating students' ability to communicate ideas effectively and engage in critical thinking, EFL students often encounter significant difficulties in this domain. Utilizing thematic analysis, this investigation employed a qualitative method and used one-on-one interviews with 10 university instructors. The findings revealed that students' challenges predominantly stem from linguistic, cultural, and psychological factors. Further, the difficulties were caused by the impact of educational background and psychological and motivational barriers, in response, instructors have proposed solutions including targeted instruction and practice, expanding vocabulary stock and the necessity for Feedback. This article discusses the implications of these findings for teaching and learning academic writing in the EFL Kurdish context and provides seminal recommendations for future research.