Academic Challenges Faced by English-Major Freshmen in Their First Year

Abstract

Freshmen in their first year are in the phase of transition where they have to adapt to the new academic settings. According to Bunrosy et al. (2024) the majority of first-year students perceive adjustments and adaptations in their academic lives when they move from high school to university. This transition is an important phase for them which is frequently comes with academic, social, and institutional challenges. Among those challenges, academic challenges such as struggles with courseworks or assignments, time management, and adapting to university-level learning, have a big impact in shaping freshmen‟s experiences. Freshmen face multiple difficulties during their transition to university such as time management, increased workload, and other‟s expectations (Brooker et al., 2017; Mulaudzi, 2023). Therefore, I focus on the academic challenges that students faced in their first year. The aim of this research was to shed light on the academic challenges encountered by English major freshmen in their first year, offering insights that can inform educators, academic advisors, and institutional support systems. I carried out the research at one of the universities in Indonesia including freshmen of English Education Program. The participant criteria for this research were (1) enrolled as English-major freshmen, (2) currently completing or having recently completed the second semester and (3) able to clearly communicate their academic experiences. The research used qualitative research design focusing on a descriptive case study. I collected the data by employing a semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews allow participants to freely express their academic experiences. The research used qualitative research design focusing on a descriptive case study. I collected the data by employing a semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews allow participants to freely express their experiences while still providing a clear structure to guide the conversation (Creswell & Poth, 2018). Taken from several reference research from Ivashova et al. (2020); Akhtar & Akhtar (2024); Huang et al. (2022); Cameron & Rideout