Examining Academic Writing Proficiency and Self-perception among Non-English Major Students in a Thai Regional University

Authors

  • Arnon Chaisuriya

    School of Foreign Languages, Institute of Social Technology, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
  • Pongsatean Luengalongkot

    Faculty of Political Science and Law, Burapha University, Chonburi 20131, Thailand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i6.10044
Received: 16 May 2025 | Revised: 26 May 2025 | Accepted: 10 June 2025 | Published Online: 4 June 2025

Abstract

In an English for academic purposes (ESP) course at a Thai regional university, evaluations primarily consist of multiple-choice exams. This approach can put students at a disadvantage when facing international standardized exams with essay writing. Therefore, this mixed methods research examined whether non-English majors at a regional university were adequately prepared for academic writing tasks and to analyse their self-perception regarding writing proficiency and needs. The participants comprised 166 sophomores and juniors enrolled in two ESP classes. They were tasked with writing an essay like those in the IELTS. Subsequently, a questionnaire was administered to gauge their perceptions of their performance. The results from the questionnaires showed that students lacked confidence in their own writing abilities. They felt that their abilities to write seemed insufficient for standardized English exams and expressed a need for a course on academic English writing, given that their future careers would require proficient English writing abilities. The results of comparing perceptions of readiness in essay writing show that students who obtained an A grade for this ESP course had more confidence only in reading prompts and writing a topic sentence than those who received a B, a C, and a D. Moreover, the results from essay grading corroborated that assessing students with multiple-choice exams might not be adequate for measuring proficiency in essay writing. Thai regional university students would benefit from an evaluation scheme that incorporates essay composing to gain more understanding and writing experiences.

Keywords:

English Writing; Thai Students; CEFR; Academic Writing; IELTS; TOEFL-iBT

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How to Cite

Chaisuriya, A., & Luengalongkot, P. (2025). Examining Academic Writing Proficiency and Self-perception among Non-English Major Students in a Thai Regional University. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(6), 331–341. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i6.10044

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 6 (July 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Arnon Chaisuriya, Pongsatean Luengalongkot

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.