The Senior High School Student’s Self-Efficacy and Difficulties in Academic Writing: Input to The Development of The Handbook on Improving Academic Writing Skills

The main objective of this study was to investigate the senior high school students’ self-efficacy and difficulties in academic writing. Specifically, it aimed to further determine the sex-aggregated self-efficacy in academic writing in terms of research writing, business letter writing, journal article review, and position paper; common difficulties in academic writing; perception of the academic writing curriculum in terms of delivery of instruction, instructional material used, and writing activities; strategies/practices to improve the academic writing skills. The quantitative research method was used and a survey questionnaire was the main data-gathering instrument of the study. In addition, a total of two hundred seventy (270) respondents randomly participated in the study. The responses and results were tallied, tabulated ,and analyzed to provide appropriate conclusions and recommendations for the paper. The findings of the study revealed that the respondents have difficulties in academic writing and the strategies that appeared highly useful were writing an introduction first, followed by acknowledging the feedback of the teachers, and reading the required topic. Thus, the researchers recommended the proposed handbook about strategies, seminars, and innovative lectures that can be used to improve the academic writing skills