Melola Discovery

← Melola Discovery

Open access Jurnal

Exploring the Most Challenging Academic IELTS Tested Skills for Indonesian Test Takers

ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities · Vol. 7 No. 2 (2024) · pp. 331–338

DOI
10.34050/elsjish.v7i2.35271
ISSN
2621-0835, 2621-0843
Published
2024-06-13
Publisher
Hasanuddin University
Language
en
License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

Abstract

Academic IELTS test has been widely used by Indonesia people to indicate their academic English proficiency. According to the IELTS official website report 2022, Indonesian people found that writing test as the lowest average score. This study aimed to examine the most difficult test according to the Indonesian test taker’s perception and score result. The study also explored the reasons why they performed lowest in a particular skill. There were 17 Indonesian people who have taken academic IELTS responded our survey. They were from Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan with different academic background from fresh graduates of senior high schools and master’s graduates. The open-ended question responses were analyzed thematically to find out the challenges the test takers encountered. The result showed that according to the student’s perception and score in each band, some students found listening, reading and speaking as the most difficult skill however majority experienced writing as the most challenging skill. There were five reasons for their poor performance in writing test, they are less writing practice, lack of vocabulary, poor understanding on academic writing structure, time constrain, and unfamiliar topics. The findings of the research should be considered and become a topic of development for Indonesian people who plan to take academic IELTS test.

Keywords

Collaboration network of the authors

32 authors · 103 co-authorship links · 10 across different organisations

Hover or tap a name to highlight its co-authors. Double-click to open the author's page.

  • Universitas Islam Malang
  • State University of Malang
  • University of Technology Malaysia
  • Universitas Halu Oleo
  • Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kendari
  • Bandung Islamic University
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Different organisations
  • Same organisation
  • Affiliation unknown
  • Thicker line = more joint articles · bigger circle = more articles
Show as table
Co-authorOrganisationJoint articles
M. Faruq UbaidillahState University of Malang1
Erfan Nurkholis EfendiUniversitas Islam Malang1
Ronald RonaldUniversitas Islam Malang1
Huan Yik LeeUniversity of Technology Malaysia1
Eka Lestari AriyantiAffiliation unknown1
Rahmat JahuddinAffiliation unknown1
Kobajashi Togo IsamuAffiliation unknown1
Suwarjoyowirayatno SuwarjoyowirayatnoAffiliation unknown1
Hermanto HermantoUniversitas Halu Oleo1
SRI WAHYUNIAffiliation unknown1
Ayu WulandariInstitut Agama Islam Negeri Kendari1
Adnan NasutionAffiliation unknown1
Nurdin NaraAffiliation unknown1
Muhammad NursadikAffiliation unknown1
Hamsinah DjaingAffiliation unknown1
Zul Jalal HadiAffiliation unknown1
AchbanAffiliation unknown1
Dian Endang LestariAffiliation unknown1
Didik PratamaAffiliation unknown1
Huda RiskikaAffiliation unknown1
Iwon SusilowatiAffiliation unknown1
Muhammad Thoyyib FuadyAffiliation unknown1
Nabilah Nisa’uzzakiyyahAffiliation unknown1
Nurul Wisa AdianaAffiliation unknown1
Edy HeriantoAffiliation unknown1
Irma Yulita SilvianyBandung Islamic University1
Fahmi Fatwa Rosyadi Satria HamdaniAffiliation unknown1
Intan Manggala WijayantiAffiliation unknown1

Affiliations come from OpenAlex; journal OAI-PMH metadata carries none. Authors without an OpenAlex ID are matched by name, which can merge or split people.

Metadata source: OAI-PMH (metadata jurnal) https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/jish/oai, first harvested 3 Nov 2026, last seen 3 Nov 2026.
Original metadata (oai_dc) 
<oai_dc:dc xmlns="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/  http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
	<dc:title xml:lang="en">Exploring the Most Challenging Academic IELTS Tested Skills for Indonesian Test Takers</dc:title>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Syamsu, Awaluddin</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Yunus, Muhammad</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Ismail, Astri Arsi</dc:creator>
	<dc:creator xml:lang="en">Bahtiar, Dewi Pratiwi Oktavia</dc:creator>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Academic IELTS</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Difficulties</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Indonesian People</dc:subject>
	<dc:subject xml:lang="en">Writing Skill</dc:subject>
	<dc:description xml:lang="en">Academic IELTS test has been widely used by Indonesia people to indicate their academic English proficiency. According to the IELTS official website report 2022, Indonesian people found that writing test as the lowest average score. This study aimed to examine the most difficult test according to the Indonesian test taker’s perception and score result. The study also explored the reasons why they performed lowest in a particular skill. There were 17 Indonesian people who have taken academic IELTS responded our survey. They were from Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, and Kalimantan with different academic background from fresh graduates of senior high schools and master’s graduates. The open-ended question responses were analyzed thematically to find out the challenges the test takers encountered. The result showed that according to the student’s perception and score in each band, some students found listening, reading and speaking as the most difficult skill however majority experienced writing as the most challenging skill. There were five reasons for their poor performance in writing test, they are less writing practice, lack of vocabulary, poor understanding on academic writing structure, time constrain, and unfamiliar topics. The findings of the research should be considered and become a topic of development for Indonesian people who plan to take academic IELTS test.</dc:description>
	<dc:publisher xml:lang="en">Hasanuddin University</dc:publisher>
	<dc:date>2024-06-13</dc:date>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/article</dc:type>
	<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion</dc:type>
	<dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
	<dc:identifier>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/jish/article/view/35271</dc:identifier>
	<dc:identifier>10.34050/elsjish.v7i2.35271</dc:identifier>
	<dc:source xml:lang="en">ELS Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities; Vol. 7 No. 2 (2024): JUNE; 331-338</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2621-0835</dc:source>
	<dc:source>2621-0843</dc:source>
	<dc:source>10.34050/elsjish.v7i2</dc:source>
	<dc:language>en</dc:language>
	<dc:relation>https://journal.unhas.ac.id/index.php/jish/article/view/35271/11649</dc:relation>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">Copyright (c) 2024 Awaluddin Syamsu, Muhammad Yunus, Astri Arsi Ismail, Dewi Pratiwi Oktavia Bahtiar</dc:rights>
	<dc:rights xml:lang="en">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0</dc:rights>
</oai_dc:dc>