Exploring Bangladeshi STEM students’ academic writing challenges

Abstract

While academic writing is an integral part of students' lives; it is frequently observed that students find academic writing challenging to learn due to its complex and multifaceted nature. Yet, very little attention has been given to Bangladeshi STEM students’ academic writing experience. Therefore, this study aims to explore Bangladeshi STEM students' academic writing challenges and present feasible measures to reduce these challenges. It adopts a qualitative phenomenological research approach and collect data through semi-structured interviews. 10 STEM participants from two Dhaka based privet institutions join and share their academic writing experiences. The findings reveal, Bangladeshi STEM students face several challenges in academic writing which include; lack of vocabulary, organisation challenges, redundancy, formatting, insufficient feedback and writing support, limited facility and academic resources, poor conceptual understanding and psychological challenges. This study found lack of writing practice in STEM discipline and indifferent writing attitude are resulting students’ poor academic writing performance. However, STEM students try to counter these challenges by using digital tools, peer support and engaging in extramural English language activities. Insights from this study can be used by the STEM educators and curriculum developers to increase writing support and opportunities for STEM students and reform the STEM education practice.