English Language Teaching; Vol. 9, No. 9; 2016 ISSN 1916-4742 E-ISSN 1916-4750 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 74 Improving Academic Writing Skills through Online Mode of Task-Based Assignments Sugeng Purwanto 1 1 Stikubank University Semarang, Central Java Indonesia Correspondence: Sugeng Purwanto, Faculty of Language and Cultural Studies, Stikubank University Semarang, Indonesia. Tel: 62-812-289-5927. Email: drpsugeng@yahoo.com Received: July 3, 2016 Accepted: July 30, 2016 Online Published: August 1, 2016 doi: 10.5539/elt.v9n9p74 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n9p74 Abstract This is to report a 2-Year Research Project (2015-2016) funded by the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, which aims at justifying whether or not the online mode of task-based writing assignments (of various genres of English texts) could improve the writing skills of the students at higher education. An action research was conducted in College of Economics and Business Studies, Stikubank University (UNISBANK) Semarang, Central Java Indonesia in response to the lack of time allocated to students’ writing activities in their English class. Three cycles of treatments were employed—each with five phases, (1) identification of problem area, (2) collection and organization of data, (3) interpretation of data, (4) action based on data and (5) reflection of action. The findings showed that—compared with the initial condition— there was a mean increase of 31% and an increase of 121% in the students’ scores beyond the passing score of 61. Also, the students’ writing motivation increased considerably (>86% toward positive attitudes) as revealed in the survey at the end of the treatment program. Keywords: academic writing skills, genre, online mode, task-based assignments 1. Introduction Despite the fact that writing is an important aspect of English proficiency, it is still considered supplementary as compared to the other language skills. Only recently—as Purwanto (2015) claimed— have writing skills been specifically tested in an international English language proficiency test, such as TOEFL although IELTS had launched ‘the writing test’ since its inception. In the writing test, the test takers are required to write essays which are scored using a special rubric for judgment and evaluation. Meanwhile, it is evidently true that writing is never easy at all levels, even in one’s own language, let alone in a foreign language such as English in Indonesian contexts. In other words, writing skills are both difficult to learn and teach. Furthermore, Indonesian graduates of various disciplines have been said to have English proficiency levels. As Purwanto (2015) revealed, quoting AntaraNews.Com (2011) ‘at the moment, only 5% or 12 million people of the whole population are English language users in various fields of business encounters’. Indonesia was the 34 th state out of 44 states of non-English users, with score of 44.78. It is therefore ranked very low in terms of English language proficiency. According to English First (EF) proficiency index (2011), the mastery level of English is closely related to the income per capital of a country. That is the higher the level of English language proficiency of the population, the higher level of income per capital. This is very relevant to the recent context of Asian Economic Community (AEC) that would take effects in 2015. Thus, Indonesia as it belongs to the region, cannot be separated from the necessity of English mastery—in order to succeed in business competition. Many efforts have been made with respect to developing the four language skills of English as a foreign language in Indonesia. These efforts have been undertaken in line with the recent trends in language teaching methodology, one of which is to make the best use of social networks or media, such as Facebook or Tweeter, by means of PCs, laptops, mobile phones or smartphones. It can be assumed, that everyone has access to such media. It was reported that the sales of smartphones increased by 67.6% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the third quarter of 2009 (International Data Corporation, 2010). Thus, it is time that online media be used as an alternative mode of learning and teaching either as a sole course in itself or supplementary activities in addition to the main course of studies (combined modes of off- and on-line learning).