Students' Difficulties in Translating Narrative Text from Indonesian into English: A Systemic Literature Review

This study aims to investigate the common difficulties faced by Indonesian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students in translating narrative texts from Bahasa Indonesia into English. Employing a systemic literature review approach, this research analyzes 21 empirical studies published between 2020 and 2024, covering various educational levels from high school to university. The findings reveal four major categories of challenges: linguistic difficulties, cultural and idiomatic barriers, cognitive and comprehension limitations, and pedagogical factors. Linguistic issues such as tense confusion, sentence structure errors, and pronoun misuse were among the most frequently reported problems. In addition, many students demonstrated a literal approach when translating culturally bound expressions and idioms, leading to meaning distortion. Cognitive challenges—including limited reading comprehension and poor understanding of narrative structure—also impacted translation quality. Furthermore, the reliance on traditional teaching methods and the absence of explicit translation strategy instruction were identified as contributing pedagogical factors. The review suggests that addressing these challenges requires a more holistic instructional approach that integrates genre-based pedagogy, cultural literacy, cohesive device training, and digital tool awareness. Overall, this study highlights the importance of equipping EFL students not only with linguistic competence but also with narrative, cognitive, and cultural translation strategies. These insights can inform future curriculum development, teaching practices, and further research in the fields of translation studies and EFL education.