L2 Academic Writing Difficulties & Tutors' Written Feedback

There is an increasing amount of research investigating the difficulties encountered by international students while writing academic English to help them overcome these problems and improve their academic styles. As research in the Libyan context is scarce and concerns with the Libyan postgraduates are almost nonexistent, the purpose of the study is to explore Libyan postgraduates' academic writing difficulties and their views and attitudes towards tutors' written feedback. To investigate these points, questionnaires were sent to Libyan postgraduates and their tutors. Samples of tutors' feedback also were collected to have more valid and reliable data. Students (n = 73) were asked to report the type of difficulties they encountered while writing and the strategies they used to conquer their problems. They were also asked about their views on tutors' written feedback and whether they thought this feedback helped them improve their academic writing styles. Tutors (n = 8) were asked about the purpose of their feedback and the problems they noticed in Libyan postgraduates' academic writing. Additionally, feedback samples were analysed and compared with the other data.