“This English writing thing”: Students’ perceptions of their writing experiences at an English-medium university

This article explores five students’ perceptions of their writing experiences at an English-medium post-graduate university in a non-English speaking country as compared to writing in their home country universities in their native languages. Three types of differences are found to be relevant: language and rhetorical differences, disciplinary differences, and differences in educational systems (such as the number of assignments required, the focus of writing instruction, and feedback practices). The analysis shows that some of these differences are unexpected for the students and require a period of adjustment during their transition to an English-medium university. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for English for academic purposes.