British Journal of English Linguistics Vol. 10, Issue 3, pp.1-11, 2022 Online ISSN: 2055-6071 (Online) Print ISSN: 2055-6063 (Print) 1 @ECRTD-UK: https://www.eajournals.org/ Publication of the European Centre for Research Training and Development -UK Academic Writing Difficulties Encountered by University EFL Learners Dr. Shaban Aldabbus Bahrain Teachers College, Bahrain University EnNaji Almansouri Faculty of Education, Benghazi University ABSTRACT: The present study was conducted with the aim to discover the major difficulties encountered by some university students in academic writing. It also aimed to find out the factors that hinder their academic writing skills. 36 students majoring in English at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi took part in this study. A questionnaire with 25 items was utilized to answer the stated research questions. The data analysis revealed that both graduate and undergraduate students have some problems in academic writing such as choosing the appropriate academic words, difficulty in developing a thesis statement, organizing ideas, and writing coherent paragraphs. These challenges were influenced by a lack of resources followed by a low English language proficiency and a lack of writing practice opportunities. It is hoped that the findings of this research would provide great benefits to the instructors of the English language and curriculum designers to address the writing difficulties that might be encountered by learners of English. KEYWORDS: writing difficulties, academic writing, university students, INTRODUCTION Academic writing is a formal style of writing used by university students, instructors, and researchers. It is different from everyday writing as it has certain features, a specific format, uses more academic words, and complex sentences, and the argument is logically progressed taking into consideration the audience for whom it is written. Moreover, the language used in academic writing should be clear and precise to ensure that the reader can easily understand the meaning and avoid any bias or ambiguity (Pratiwi,2016; Fadhel ,2019). Academic writing is a common method of assessing students at the university level, where students are expected to do different written assignments and conduct research, meanwhile, it is not an easy task for many students to acquire (Al-Marwani, 2020). At the university level, students should be able to generate their ideas and organize their writing into paragraphs that are logically linked and smoothly developed. That is, they should do some reading about the topic, write a clear outline, decide what should be written in the introduction, how would the main body be developed, and state a strong conclusion. Moreover, academic writing should be based on documented evidence not on the writer’s personal views or opinions. Therefore, students need to develop their research skills, summarizing and paraphrasing information, and using a direct quotation with an accurate referencing system (Abdulkareem, 2013). Based on what has been introduced above, it can be inferred that effective academic writing appears to be very important for every university student as most of the assessment methods used in higher