THE EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON BUILDING UP INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN THE CLASSROOM

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to find out the English Department
students' Difficulties in writing argumentative essay. The research is designed as a
mix method. The population of the research is the sixth semester students of
English Department at University of Bengkulu in academic year 2017/2018. This
research use total sampling technique in deciding the sample. The samples are 74
students. The students are asked to write an argumentative essay within 60
minutes. The instruments of this study are essay writing test and interview. The
essay writing test is conducted to know the score of the students in writing
argumentative essay. It is analyzed by using assessment rubrics adapted from
Schwalm (2007) and Jacobs et.al in Weigle (2002). The result shows that the
students have four category of difficulties; difficulty in organization, content,
language use, and mechanic. Then, interview is conducted to support and confirm
the data found through the essay writing test on the difficulties of the students in
writing argumentative essay. The result of interview shows the students have the
same difficulties as found in essay writing test (organization, content, language
use and mechanic). From those categories, there are fourteen difficulties that are
faced by the students.
Keywords: writing, argumentative essay