Adi Iwan Hermawan, Maman Suryaman, Kastam Syamsi
This study analyzes students' needs and constraints in learning narrative writing at the junior high school level in Sorong Regency, Indonesia. Narrative writing is a fundamental component of literacy development because it enables students to express experiences, construct meaning, and develop critical thinking through written language. However, many students in the West Papua region, specifically in Sorong, still encounter significant difficulties in generating ideas, organizing narrative structures, and developing conflicts in their stories due to limited exposure to diverse pedagogical models. This research employed a quantitative descriptive design involving 80 seventh-grade students from two public junior high schools in Sorong Regency. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of 26 validated items that measure students' interests, understanding of narrative structure, learning needs, learning obstacles, learning media preferences, and environmental support. The instrument demonstrated high reliability with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.91. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with the assistance of SPSS version 25. The results indicate that students generally have a positive attitude toward narrative writing ( M = 3.62 ) and show a strong motivation to improve their writing abilities. Nevertheless, their understanding of narrative structure and elements remains at a moderate level ( M = 3.21 ). Students demonstrate a high need for structured instructional support, particularly in the form of teacher guidance, clear writing procedures, narrative text examples, and gradual writing practice. The main constraints experienced by students include difficulties in generating story ideas and organizing plot sequences. Furthermore, students express an urgent need for engaging learning media, such as images and videos, to bridge the gap between their strong oral traditions and formal written requirements. These findings highlight the importance of developing a contextualized and inclusive narrative writing model that integrates explicit instruction and culturally relevant media to support students' literacy development in the unique sociolinguistic context of Sorong. Therefore, this study aims to provide a baseline for designing pedagogical interventions that are responsive to the specific linguistic and cultural backgrounds of students in Papua. Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Indonesian Language Education Study Program, Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Culture, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia; Elementary School Teacher Education, Faculty of Language, Social and Sports Education, Universitas Pendidikan Muhammadiyah Sorong, Indonesia
