Academic Procrastination in Performing EFL writing: The Main Causes that Lead Students to Procrastinate.

Abstract

The current study attempts to investigate the causes that lead students to academic procrastination in performing EFL writing. The target subjects are Master 2 students at the department of English at Ibn Khaldoun University of Tiaret. To reach this aim, this investigation is based on a relevant literature and on data collected through a mixed methodology based on both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method is presented as an email questionnaire and the qualitative consisted of an email interview. The findings revealed that respondents encounter serious problems when they try to perform any EFL writing task. Moreover, participants reported that procrastination is due to many reasons including namely: poor time management, lack of self-regulation, and anxiety. However, their degree of procrastination is still unknown. Lastly, this investigation involved a list of recommendations that may help students to face procrastination when having a writing assignment. Thus, this set of suggestions are highlighted to overcome both causes that lead students to academic procrastination and to reduce its impact.