Indonesian EFL Undergraduate Students’ Perception of Grammatical Difficulty: A Survey Study

Abstract

This survey study described Indonesian EFL undergraduate students’ perception of English grammatical difficulty in accordance with Graus & Coppen (2015)’s 31 grammar points on grammatical difficulty. This study using selective sampling method and 90 undergraduate students in a private university agreed to participate in this study. The findings revealed that among 31 grammar points, the grammar points that the participants perceived high in grammatical difficulty are: (1) clause (M=3.20, SD=1.14), (2) unreal condition (M=3.06, SD=1.09), 3) embedded question (M=2.94 SD=1.10), (4) -s possessive, (M=2.84, SD=1.18), and (5) question tag (M=2.78, SD=1.06). The reasons cited for the perceived difficulty of clauses included complexity of use (23.3%), form complexity (34.4%), rule complexity (23.3%), L1 influence (10.0%), and input frequency (8.9%) Reasons given for the perceived difficulty of unreal condition were the complexity of use (13.3%), the complexity of form (37.8%), the complexity of rules (30.0%), the influence of L1 (15.6%), and the frequency of input (3.3 %).Reasons for finding embedded question difficult varied, with 21.1% citing the complexity of use, 38.9% citing the complexity of form, 16.7% citing the complexity of rules, 16.7% citing the influence of their native language, and 6.7% citing the frequency of exposure. Reasons for finding -s possessive difficult were also varied, with 25.6% citing the complexity of use, 33.3% citing the complexity of form, 25.6% citing the complexity of rules, 10.0% citing the influence of their native language, and 5.6% citing the frequency of input. Reasons for finding question tags difficult again varied, with 23.3% citing the complexity of use, 38.9% citing the complexity of form, 14.4% citing the complexity of rules, 10.0% citing the influence of their native language, and 13.3% citing frequency exposure. To conclude, the reason of grammatical difficulty may vary. These findings suggest that lecturers should integrate more practice and conceptual exercise on grammar points that were perceived as difficult. Further research regarding grammatical difficulty can be wider not only from students’ perspectives but also cover students' teachers’ perspectives to gain a better understanding of grammatical difficulty.