English Morphological Awareness and Cultural Mindset in Indonesian College Students’ Descriptive Text Writing: Challenges, Strategies, and Digital Technology Utilization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35961/salee.v7i2.2886Keywords:
English Morphological Awareness, Cultural mindset, Writing descriptive textAbstract
English morphological awareness, cultural mindset, writing experience, and digital technology utilization significantly influence writing development, yet their interaction effects remain underexplored. Integrated investigation of morphological, cultural, experiential, and technological influences on writing development remains warranted. This study employed qualitative descriptive study. A total of 92 non-EFL Indonesian undergraduate students voluntarily participated in this study. The findings revealed morphological errors in students’ descriptive texts, comprising derivational and inflectional errors. Inflectional errors predominantly involved incorrect present-tense forms, followed by incorrect noun formation, comparative forms, third-person singular verb forms, and adverb formation. Moreover, students demonstrated that cultural mindset can influence vocabulary choice, word formation, expressions, focus of description, and the details students include in their descriptive texts. With regard to writing experience, most participants perceived English writing as challenging due to limited writing practice, inadequate vocabulary mastery, grammatical inaccuracy, and low self-confidence. To address these difficulties, participants identified several effective strategies, including peer feedback, regular writing practice, gradual writing development from simple structures, vocabulary enrichment, extensive reading, grammar improvement, and confidence building. The participants also reported that digital applications, such as Grammarly, grammar checker, DeepL, Google Translate, Duolingo, and ChatGPT, positively supported their writing development. This study concludes that integrated morphological awareness, cultural understanding, learning strategies, and digital technologies strengthen English writing proficiency.References
Afiliani, A., Tupalessy, P., & Talaohu, B. S. (2023). Exploration of the Use of ChatGPT as A Writing Assistance for EFL Students: A Literature Review. MATAI International Journal of Language Education, 4(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.30598/matail.v4i1.11885
Ajaka, L., & Nabhan, R. J. (2019). Challenges and Opportunities for English Literature Majors in the New Century. CARL Linguistics Journal, 9, 4. https://doi.org/10.60149/zznw4699
Anggraeni, N. K. P. (2018). Morphological And Syntactical Errors In English Essays Written By EFL Students. Inference: Journal of English Language Teaching, 1(3), 74–81. https://journal.lppmunindra.ac.id/index.php/inference/article/view/5624
Apel, K., & Tate, S. T. (2009). Morphological Awareness Skills of Fourth-Grade African American Students. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40(3), 312–324. https://doi.org/10.1044/0161-1461(2009/08-0015). PMID: 19564444
Arviyolla, N. M., Delfi, S., & Dahnilsyah. (2022). The Correlation between Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Mastery of The Fifth Semester Students of English Department of FKIP Universitas Riau. J-SHMIC?: Journal of English for Academic, 9(1), 60–72. https://doi.org/10.25299/jshmic.2022.vol9(1).8617
Asaad, H. Q. M. (2024). The Role of Morphological Awareness in L2 Postgraduates’ Academic Writing: is Vocabulary Knowledge a Mediating Variable? Cogent Education., 11(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2024.2327787
Asaad, H. Q. M., & Shabdin, A. (2019). Importance of Morphological Awareness To Academic Writing Among Second Language Postgraduate Students. Journal English, 4(3), 156–167. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1307432
Asaad, H. Q. M., & Shabdin, A. (2021). The Predictive Role of Morphological Awareness and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge In L2 Postgraduate Students’ Academic Writing. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 24–44. https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.911149
Borges, V. P., & Matzenauer, C. L. B. (2022). Morphological Awareness: the Use of Agentive Suffixes by Illiterate Children and Children in the Literacy Process. Revista de Estudos Da Linguagem, 30(3), 1365–1396. https://doi.org/10.17851/2237-2083.30.3.1365-1396
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2008). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 37–41. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Chandler, B. W., & Sayeski, K. L. (2024). Teaching Writing Through Content: Six Instructional Activities to Improve Students’ Sentence-Level Writing Skills. TEACHING Exceptional Children (TEC), 56(5), 336–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/00400599211050087
Chhetri, D. J. (2023). Role of English Language for Business Activities at the Present Era of Global Marketing. Multidisciplinary Journal., 6(1), 25–33. https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/medha/article/view/63954
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. In Journal of Reproductive Health (Vol. 2, Issue 3). Sage Publication,Inc.
Dlaska, A. (2010). Language , Culture and Curriculum Integrating Culture and Language Learning in Institution-wide Language Programmes. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 13(3), 247–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310008666602
Giyatmi, G. (2017). Morphology for English Language Teaching. The 2nd International Conference on Language, Literature and Teaching, 33–41.
Handoko, M. D. (2019). English Morphology. Lampung: Tim CV. Iqro’.
Haspelmath, M. (2002). Understanding Morphology. London: Arnold.
Huang, J. (2026). Understanding Pride and Anxiety in Writing: The Contributions of Peer Support and Writing Self-Concept. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 35(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-026-01115-z
Huang, T., & Guo, J. (2026). Investigating Critical Language Awareness and Critical Cultural Awareness in EFL Materials Use. Language Awareness, 3(5), 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2024.2434012
Husain, B., Safrina, R., & Gandana, I. S. S. (2025). Teachers’ Beliefs of Culture in Intercultural Language Learning: A study in North Maluku. LETS: Journal of Linguistics and English Teaching Studies, 7(1), 139–160. https://doi.org/10.46870/lets.v7i1.1822
Hyland, K. (2026). Tomorrowland? Technical Innovation and Feedback on Writing. RELC Journal, 57(1), 233–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/00336882251357675%0A
Ikhsan, M. K. (2019). Morphological Errors Made By The Third Semester Students Of The English Department Of STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat In Writing Argumentative Essays. Komposisi: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa, Sastra, Dan Seni, 20(2), 155–168. https://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/komposisi/article/view/9828
Irawansyah, I., Stefani, I., Imtinan, H. A., & Jasmine, A. (2024). An Analysis of College Students’ Morphological Error in Translating Recount Text from Indonesia to English Using Surface Strategy Taxonomy. Journal of Linguistics, Culture and Communication, 2(1), 89–102. https://doi.org/10.61320/jolcc.v2i1.89-102
Junaidi, E., & Zaim, M. (2022). Morphological Errors Found in Indonesian Students’ English Compositions of Application Letter. Journal of English Language Teaching, 11(1), 50–64. https://doi.org/10.24036/jelt.v11i1.109357
Katamba, F. (2005). English Words. London: Routledge.
Khan, I. A. (2014). Teachers ’ Perceptions of the Significance of Local Culture in Foreign Language Learning. Journal of English Language and Literature, 1(3), 65–70.
Lestari, S., Sukmaningrum, R., & Widhianto, E. S. (2022). Error Analysis of Descriptive Writings by Pre-Service EFL Teachers: A Case Study in Indonesia. SALEE: Study of Applied Linguistics and English Education, 3(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.35961/salee.v3i1.384
Lim, W. M. (2025). What Is Qualitative Research? An Overview and Guidelines. Australasian Marketing Journal, 33(2), 199–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/14413582241264619
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1986). But is it Rigorous? Trustworthiness and Authenticity in Naturalistic Evaluation. New Directions for Program Evaluation, 30, 73–84. https://doi.org/doi:10.1002/ev.1427
Lockley, T., & Yoshida, C. (2014). Language and Culture Exchange in Foreign Language Learning: An Experiment and Recommendations. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 10(3), 238–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2014.960419
Mazloomi, S., & Khabiri, M. (2016). The Impact of Self-Assessment on Language Learners ’ Writing Skill. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(1), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2016.1214078
McCarthy, A. C. (2002). An Introduction to English Morphology: Words and Their Structure. Edinburgh University Press Ltd.
Moelyono, T. P. A., Murtisari, E. T., Kurniawan, D., & Thren, A. (2023). Google Translate in EFL Freshmen’s Writing Assignments: Uses, Awareness of Benefits and Drawbacks, and Perceived Reliance. Vision: Journal for Language and Foreign Language Learning, 12(1), 47–66. https://doi.org/10.21580/vjv12i217446
Murdoch, Y. D., Lim, H., & Cho, J. (2021). Writing Center Visitors: Influence of L1 Writing Skills on Students’ Exophonic Writings. Sage Open, 11(4), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211062234
Nagy, W. E., Kealoha, A. K., Xinchun, W., Wenling, L., Anderson, R. C., & Xi, C. (2002). The Role of Morphological Awareness in Learning to Read chinese in: Wenling, L., Gaffney, J.S., Packard, J.L. (eds) Chinese Children’s Reading Acquisition. In Springer, Boston, MA. (pp. 59–86). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0859-5_4
Nasution, J. S., Sembiring, A. B., Sukma, D. P., & Juliani, S. F. (2024). Evaluasi Pembelajaran Menulis di Kelas Tinggi. Jurnal Nakula, 2(4), 288–294. https://doi.org/10.61132/nakula.v2i4.993
Naveed, A., Shah, S. K., & Shaber, N. (2023). The Relationship Between Morphological Knowledge And Writing Proficiency Among Pakistani IELTS Examinees. Global Language Review., 8(1), 401–417. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2023(viii-i).38
Noviyenty, L., Astuti, M., Fakhruddin, & Morganna, R. (2020). Tertiary EFL Students’ Morphological Awareness of English. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching (IOJET), 7(2), 486–497. http://iojet.org/index.php/IOJET/article/view/837
Oyserman, D. (2011). Culture as Situated Cognition: Cultural Mindsets, Cultural Fluency, and Meaning Making. European Review of Social Psychology, 22(1), 164–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2011.627187
Padma, A. (2021). A Survey on Importance of English skills for Academics and Future Growth of Scholars. In Writing skills for academic research (pp. 1–18). Royal Book Publishing. https://doi.org/10.26524/royal.55.1
Poilema, E., Hambandima, E. S. N., & Nenotek, S. A. (2025). Correlation Between Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Mastery of Fourth-Semester Students of English Education Study Program At Artha Wacana Christian University. Journal on Language, Education, Literature, and Culture, 2(2), 20–28. https://doi.org/10.33323/l.v2i2.52
Pratama, R. D., Widiati, U., & Hakim, L. N. (2025). Effects of Human-AI Collaborative Writing Strategy on EFL students’ Argumentative Writing Skills. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 1(32). https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2025.2503900
Ramadhan, R. A., Abdul Rahim, Darmanto, & Paris, A. S. (2024). Enhancing Academic Writing through Digital Tools: A Systematic Review. Journal of Language and Literature Studies, 4(4), 707–770. https://doi.org/10.36312/jolls.v4i4.2342
Safitri, N., Alisha, F., & Santoso, I. (2019). Students Difficulties in Writing EFL. PROJECT: Professional Journal of English Education, 2(1), 20–25. https://journal.ikipsiliwangi.ac.id/project/article/view/1659
Santoso, A. (2018). Morphological Error Analysis on Student’s English Narrative Composition: A Survey at Private University in East Jakarta. Scope?: Journal of English Language Teaching, 1(02), 110. https://doi.org/10.30998/scope.v1i02.2256
Shahsavar, Z. (2019). Diagnosing English Learners ’ Writing Skills: A Cognitive Diagnostic Modeling Study. Cogent Education, 6(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2019.1608007
Wahid, R., & Farooq, O. (2019). The Influence of Derivational and Inflectional Morphological Awareness on the Writing of Undergraduate EFL Students: An Empirical Study. Arab World English Journal, 10(1), 242–258. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol10no1.21
Wang, Z. (2023). Writing is an Interactive Process. Writing Across the University of Alberta, 3, 17–20. https://doi.org/10.29173/writingacrossuofa41
Wardana, I. K. (2023). The Impact of English Morphological Awareness on Vocabulary Enrichment: A Causal-Affect Relationship Research. REiLA?: Journal of Research and Innovation in Language, 5(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31849/reila.v5i1.11200
Xu, J., Gao, J., Gong, X., Shadiev, R., & Li, Y. (2024). The Impact of Using ChatGPT on EFL Students’ Writing. 2024 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT), 126–128. https://doi.org/10.1109/icalt61570.2024.00043
Yao, G., & Fan, L. (2026). Self-Efficacy in AI-Assisted L2 Academic Writing: Scale Development and Validation. BMC Psychology, 14(814). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04503-8
Yuan, S., & Dao, P. (2026). ESL Tertiary Learners ’ Engagement in ChatGPT-Assisted Second Language Writing. Language Awareness, 35(3), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2026.2652333
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Suadi Suadi, Fitriani, Sulaiman
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
