Students’ Motivations in Developing Writing Skills Through Letterboxd Application

Writing motivation plays a key role in helping EFL students develop their writing skills, yet it remains underexplored in informal digital settings. This study investigated the motivations of EFL students who used Letterboxd, a niche film review platform, to enhance their writing proficiency, as well as the platform features that support their writing improvement. This study used a qualitative approach within a case study design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews from five purposefully selected EFL students from one of the state universities in Malang, Indonesia. The findings reveal that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation played an important role for participants’ efforts to develop their writings better through two recurring patterns - a deeply meaningful film triggering emotional reflection and longer writing. Three supporting factors were also identified, namely community feedback, topic choices, and perceived improvements. This study also recommends that students need to build intrinsic and extrinsic motivation through using any beneficial application which can support them to develop and improve their writing.