* Corresponding author IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022, 59-78 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Available online at IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education) Website: http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee STUDENTS' DESCRIPTIVE WRITING PERFORMANCES IN ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM Farida Hamid*, Siti Zulfa*, Tungky Ariwibowo, Nida Husna, Didin Nuruddin Hidayat faridahamid@uinjkt.ac.id Received: 27th January 2022; Revised: 27th May 2022; Accepted: 29th June 2022 ABSTRACT During the Covid-19 situation, the online classroom activities assist teachers and students in achieving the learning objectives. The objectives of this study were to know students' performances and obstacles in the online descriptive writing English language classroom. The qualitative method was used as the research design. The data were collected through open-ended questionnaires, semi-interviews, and documents. The study involved one teacher and 30 students in senior high school through purposive sampling. The results indicated that students' performances were mostly good in the online descriptive writing learning activities following their high motivation and great attitude to participate in the online classroom. However, some problems persisted, such as a lack of vocabulary and confusion in generic structure text and grammatical use. In addition, the internet connection has become the main problem supporting students' performance during online classroom activities. Hence, adding more supporting and proper activities that can be applied online is needed. Key Words: Descriptive text; English; online classroom; writing ABSTRAK Selama Covid-19, kegiatan kelas online membantu guru dan siswa untuk mencapai tujuan pembelajaran. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui kinerja siswa dan hambatan dalam menulis deskriptif online kelas bahasa Inggris. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui angket terbuka, semi wawancara, dan dokumen. Penelitian ini melibatkan satu orang guru dan 30 siswa SMA melalui purposive sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kinerja siswa sebagian besar baik dalam kegiatan pembelajaran menulis deskriptif online karena motivasi tinggi dan sikap mereka yang baik untuk berpartisipasi dalam kelas online. Namun, beberapa masalah masih tetap ada seperti kurangnya kosa kata dan kebingungan dalam memahami struktur teks umum dan penggunaan tata bahasa. Selain itu, koneksi internet menjadi kendala utama untuk menunjang kinerja siswa selama kegiatan kelas online. Oleh karena itu, sangat penting untuk menambah lebih banyak kegiatan yang mendukung dan tepat yang dapat diterapkan melalui online sangat diperlukan. Kata Kunci:; teks deskriptif Bahasa Inggris; kelas online; menulis How to Cite: Hamid, F., Zulfa, S., Ariwibowo, T., Husna, N., Hidayat, D. N. (2022). Students' Descriptive Writing Performances in Online English Language Classroom. IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9(1), 59-78. doi:10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 60-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license INTRODUCTION Writing performs as the central part of transferring any idea; it requires comprehensive information to create a masterpiece text. According to Klimova (2013), mastering writing requires the learners to use metacognitive and cognitive skills, which means they need to arrange writing goals structurally and its necessities as supporting sources during the writing process. Writing is crucial to conveying the message and can be improved through practice (Kaiser, 2016). There are many references and a wide area of sources that allow the learners to explore the information before creating writing; hence, English writing becomes interesting to learn as part of English learning process. A good writing skill involves comprehension and application of new knowledge by utilizing critical thinking while composing the writing idea (Defazio et al., 2010). Therefore, to produce a piece of good writing, students were required to understand the idea before and after the writing process. There are many types of writing text, one of them is writing descriptive text. According to Kurnia and Kareviati (2021), descriptive writing means describing something through words that the readers can understand by portraying someone, place, or thing related to the learners' life. The descriptive text has two parts: identification of how to introduce a person and description of something based on the writer's description (Kurnia & Kareviati, 2021). Presenting something through descriptive text engages readers to imagine it. The writing descriptive text process is similar to the artist who creates something that the audience can see clearly (Taufikurohman, 2018). It means the descriptive text should let the readers know what was being described in a detailed explanation. It was also stated that writing a descriptive text is bound to the objective and significance of the structures (Noprianto, 2017). In Indonesia senior high school, the descriptive text learned by students refers to curriculum K-13 and the syllabus. Students expect to make a good text describing something to obtain the learning goals of descriptive text activities (Widiati et al., 2017). Therefore, in comprehending how to write descriptive text, students must conceive appropriate materials and learn how to put them together, to give readers a clear idea and understand its meaning. Descriptive text means to describe something to the readers. According to Knapp and Watkins (2005), descriptive text permits the writers to interact or IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 61-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license observe something objectively or subjective; the descriptive text expands the characterization of a person, place, or a thing mainly using the present tense, adjective, an adverbial phrase. The descriptive text presents the audience through their senses and imagination about the meaning and description of something (Siregar & Dongoran, 2020). The writer of descriptive text tends to give the best explanation through physical sense to obtain the information in detail. Gerot and Wignell (1994), as cited in Rojiyah (2017), mention that part of the descriptive text consists of social function, generic structures, grammatical features, and purpose. The social function means to describe a person, place, or thing. The generic structures are related to identification and description. The grammar usage in descriptive is simple present tense. Then, writing descriptive text intends to make the readers understand the text. In addition, the part of writing descriptively is important in creating outstanding writing. According to McLean (2012), the writing process structure contains pre-writing such as selecting the topic; drafting consisting of an introduction, body, and conclusion in the descriptive text; revising means focusing on coherent descriptive text; editing to notice the word and grammar; and, students could publish their descriptive writing text properly. Tracking students' performance in writing descriptive text online is necessary to know their development in getting good writing results. As one of the benefits, the descriptive text materials could be shared through the online classroom that students could access. Hendrawaty and Santoso (2016) mentioned that the online classroom media of writing descriptive text enhance students' learning quality since the media is easy to use in the learning process. In addition, the online classroom could embrace students' participation to write their idea development in writing descriptive text (Lemov, 2020). Writing need to practice by students to convey the message; hence, through online activities, students can utter their idea in writing descriptive text. Students' performance in the online classroom provides active learners by giving their opinion in creating descriptive text. Therefore, students' performance in writing descriptive text concerns their motivation and attitude during the online learning activities can be recorded when it is necessary. Students' motivation in writing appears from the inside and outside; it could influence their target in the writing learning process (Aryanika, 2016), and it could be recorded in a better way through an IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 62-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license online setting. Mosha (2014) writes that students' performance is relevant to motivation and attitudes. Students' motivation could arouse their passion for learning about descriptive text materials, while students' attitudes would indicate their readiness to write the descriptive text process. Their motivation influences students' performance in learning to write a descriptive text. Alizadeh (2016) mentions that students' motivation connects with their success in the learning process. Motivation plays a role in students' writing performance since they must achieve descriptive learning goals. Motivation connects with a person's desire to achieve something; it is divided into external and internal motivation that could direct students' performance (Harmer, 2007). In the descriptive writing text, students' external motivation could impact their performance related to their goals and curiosity. In contrast, students' internal motivation is the encouragement to be successful and their attitudes in writing descriptive text. Students' motivation in the descriptive writing activities is tied to their effort and willingness to obtain the learning objective (Purnama et al., 2019). Students could well participate in writing a proper descriptive text since they like to develop ideas about something. A good writing text grade could also influence their motivation and performance in the online learning process. Students' attitudes also could drive students' performance in the online descriptive text learning. Susanti and Mujid (2019) mentioned that attitude refers to behaviors in the learning process; students could make an optimum study. Students' nature to participate in writing descriptive text is influenced by their habit of accepting the materials. Students with a positive attitude toward writing descriptive text are related to their excellent cognitive skills (Sari et al., 2020). A good understanding of descriptive text materials boosts students to be active and have good attitudes in the learning process; hence, it is essential to direct students to perform well. Also, students' positive attitudes could assist them in obtaining descriptive writing text learning objectives (Setyowati & Sukmawan, 2016). Students with a positive attitude and intend to do better in the learning process, mainly in writing descriptive text, could develop their ability through practice. A positive attitude could direct students to do better in the online descriptive text process. Students' attitudes refer to how students think and feel during the learning process regarding descriptive text (Sari et al., 2020). Hence, students' IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 63-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license performance entangles their motivation and attitudes during online learning. However, the online classroom activities cannot be separated from the obstacle the students may face. The internet connection provided better activities in the online writing descriptive text classroom. However, the stability of the connection might hinder the process (Saminathan, 2021). It was mentioned that the online classroom requires a good internet connection; it becomes a problem if teachers and students cannot provide it. Like many other online activities, the online descriptive text classroom activities need a reliable internet connection; hence, it becomes necessary to be concerned with authority. During a pandemic situation, the teaching-learning process through the online classroom assists students and teachers in keeping on going with the teaching-learning process. The students were provided “a place” to practice their writing through the online platform. The online classroom, to some extent, does not hinder the process of learning writing. Thus, the learning process still runs at a respective pace, and the online media becomes a communicative device to enhance students' motivation and serve students' own pace to explore their writing using proper grammatical rules (Sariani et al., 2021). The online classroom is like common classroom activity that aims to develop materials and engage with students (Crawford, 2020). For instance, Google Classroom, WhatsApp Group, and LMS facilitate students' writing process. The online classroom as media utilizes students' performance in writing descriptive text; learning sources, expanding the idea that could increase students' performance in writing activities. Teachers and students need to keep track of the writing process, avoiding the obstacles that could affect students' performance in writing descriptive text. According to Hendrawaty and Santoso (2016), their study proves that e- learning in writing descriptive text could improve students' motivation and writing skills. In line, the online classroom provided students to learn descriptive text. It could expand students' performance to create a proper descriptive text. The success of students' performance would face the stage with the difficulties in the learning process of writing descriptive text. According to Novita (2017), some obstacles influence students’ performance in writing descriptive text: structure, grammar, and lack of vocabulary. Students undergo hardship to construct the structure in writing descriptive text; perhaps students do not entirely understand the part of descriptive text. IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 64-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license The grammar usage and vocabulary would impact descriptive text writing since it needs to comprehend descriptions about something. Students could not embrace the materials of descriptive text; they could not follow the aspect of writing descriptive text (I. Pablo & S. Lasaten, 2018). Students' incomprehension about descriptive text subjects caused the fatal in the process of writing descriptive text. Students' obstacles in writing descriptive text relate to their competence in developing ideas. Students feel confused to share their idea in writing descriptive text (Turnip et al., 2019). Describing something requires many resources before the writing process; hence, students are obliged to know sufficient knowledge about the contents. The online writing descriptive text classroom during the Covid-19 also has internet connection issues. Atmojo and Nugroho (2020) write about the challenges in online activities related to unstable internet networking. Students could face this handicap during online learning activities. It could hamper students' performance in writing descriptive text. However, students' learning process faces difficulties in writing descriptive text. According to Ismayanti and Kholiq (2020), some students cannot devote their idea to writing descriptive text; they duplicate others' work without getting the aims and content of the text. The obstacles to developing descriptive writing ideas could hamper students from achieving their learning goals. Students' other difficulties in writing descriptive text are related to its generic structure and grammatical rules (Nurfidoh & Kareviati, 2020). Since students were confused about writing based on the structure of text or grammar, such as the verb, they could not write descriptive text correctly. Besides, vocabulary knowledge is part of the obstacle in writing descriptive text (Kristiana et al., 2021). Since students do not know the word's meaning, they cannot express their writing ideas. The students' performance in writing the descriptive text was designed to meet teaching objectives based on the basic competencies in the curriculum and syllabus. With the changing trends in conducting the learning process that pandemic Covid- 19 accelerated, the teachers should be ready with the possibility of using more than just the way of the processes. Therefore, understanding how to maximize the online way should be accompanied by some understanding of the problems that may come. Discovering the difficulties in writing descriptive text online could help students prevent and solve the obstacles. In addition, previous studies were conducted on relevant issues in IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 65-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license descriptive text. Hendrawaty and Santoso (2016) discovered that many students are writing descriptive text using the e-learning model. Novita (2017) discovers students' writing of a descriptive text and discovers the impediments of writing descriptive text. Kurnia and Kareviati (2021) focus on students' perceptions in writing descriptive activities. Shararuddin et al. (2021) find out the cause why ESL could not write a good descriptive text and find out technology approach which can help students write descriptive text properly. Turnip et al. (2019) analyze students' writing descriptive capacity. This present research intended to know students' performances in online writing descriptive text and find out the obstacles in writing descriptive process through the online classroom with the focus on senior high school students. METHODS Research design The current study employed qualitative research as a method and a case study as a design. The use of the qualitative method to know respondents' experiences through a natural setting toward the issues of study (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). It attempts to explain the case and peoples' effect on education. Besides, the use of a case study aims to get in- depth information for the issue's discussion (Creswell, 2014). Case studies fit the education field to execute the problem and its impact. This research finds out students' performance in writing descriptive text in online classrooms and the obstacles to online writing in English language classrooms. Research site and participants The research participants are the primary data cause the resulting participant's obtained data toward the study issue (Given, 2008). This study involves 30 pupils using purposive sampling in a private Islamic senior high school and one English teacher. Data collection and analysis This research employs questionnaires, interviews, and documents to collect the data. Creswell (2012) writes that collecting the data in qualitative research is necessary to get respondents' approval to collect their data and information. In addition, the questionnaires consist of students' performance in online writing descriptive text and the obstacle in the online classroom; the questionnaires were adopted from Nurfidoh and Kareviati (2020), Kurnia and Kareviati (2021), and Riyanti (2015). The questionnaires were administered through Google Form. Then, the researchers used a semi-interview IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 66-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license through telephone involving some participants. Also, the documents were used as evidence about students' performance in online writing descriptive text English language classroom. In addition, the data analysis employs the theory of Miles and Huberman (1994). First, the data reduction, the researchers select the data related to the issues and also make the themes. Next, the data display was organized, presenting the data through detailed explanations related to the literature review. Last, draw a conclusion; it gives the essence of study objectives. Data were analyzed in a manual by the researchers. The result of questionnaires observes participants' points of view related to the issue. The interview data analyze through coding and transcript of the call conversation. The researchers conduct data analysis by synchronizing the data questionnaire and interview. Then, both data are combined and equalized into the result of the research. The final finding of the study could determine the research topic and literature review based on facts data. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Findings The study of students' performances in online descriptive writing in English language classrooms proves that students could follow the online activities but also face difficulties during the learning process. Student' Performances in Online Descriptive Writing English Language Classroom The data of students' performances entangles students' motivation and attitude in online descriptive writing learning. Students' performance data shows that they know the materials and like to study online descriptive text writing; "Because the descriptive materials were fun learning, not boring, and easy to understand." (Student 9). It is convinced that the materials of descriptive writing are uncomplicated for students. Also, students could achieve learning objectives by getting good grades in descriptive text materials; "I understand enough about descriptive text materials so that I could get a satisfactory grade" (Student 4). Students' performance in online descriptive text demonstrates that students could well participate in the learning process. Besides, through the online descriptive writing classroom, students could be more prepared to study; "I understand enough the material because I have time to translate the English words that I do not know" (Student 22). The online descriptive text classroom provided students to study more about the materials, so it assists students and IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 67-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license teachers in obtaining the learning goals. The English teacher mentioned, "Students do not have difficulties understanding the descriptive materials since they have a background. The learning result was appropriate with the learning objective." Students' performances are supported by their ability and learning situation that could arouse their participants in the online descriptive text. The writing process for students demands time to develop their ability; hence, when students have more time to prepare and practice their performance in writing, it could establish adeptly (Kurniasih et al., 2020). Students who have substantial effort in writing the descriptive text process could enhance their writing activities (Sabti et al., 2019). Students' and teachers' points of view in online descriptive writing indicate that students' performance is mostly good in the learning activities. In addition, students' performance is also involved students' motivation in conducting online descriptive writing learning. Students who like to write something would be more engaged in descriptive learning; "I like to write anything about the lesson or story" (Student 1). It could promote students' performances in writing descriptive text activities since they are familiar with writing. Besides, by mastering writing ability, students could well participate in a discussion of descriptive text materials; "I motivated to ask about the descriptive text materials so I could more understand" (Student 13). Students' motivation contributes to their performance in writing descriptive text to gain more knowledge by asking for the materials. Students also feel a different atmosphere in online writing descriptive text classroom; "At the beginning of online classroom, I did not have any spirit and lazy. Then, I tried to adapt with a new situation and feel comfortable" (Student 16, interview). The rapid transformation of the face-to-face learning process into online activities might confound students and teachers, but online learning could offer different learning experiences. Also, the English teacher pointed out that "Students were active to participate in the online classroom when I stimulate through questions, then they would answer enthusiastically." The online writing descriptive text process involves students' motivation. The impulse from students to write descriptive text occurs when they have high motivation to master the writing process (Sabti et al., 2019). The learning process and motivation presence could evoke students' progress to develop their ability to write a descriptive text. Motivation in the writing process refers to an inner power that comes from students; they could reinforce a willingness to do better in writing IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 68-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license (Aryanika, 2016). It could determine that the student's motivation could influence the learning activities about the descriptive text materials. Moreover, students' performance is also related to their attitude. Students could feel the great spirit of learning the descriptive materials since they could understand them; "I have a great passion for understanding the descriptive text materials better, being active students, and learning more" (Student 6). Also, students feel satisfied doing the descriptive text task since they thought it was not hard material and could follow the learning process; "I satisfied with the descriptive text task, and it proves that I understand the materials" (Student 14). Students' attitudes in the online descriptive writing classroom could direct students to perform better in the lesson. Besides, students' attitude in the online descriptive learning could be discovered by their ability to write descriptive text; "I can write descriptive text well, and it is easy materials for me" (Student 30). Since students could follow the online descriptive process, also, they could develop their writing ability. The English teacher mentioned that attractive media and methods could influence the online writing descriptive activities; "We used pictures and text as media in online descriptive text, then I implemented a guided question technique to enhance students' participation." Besides students' active participation in developing their descriptive writing ability, the attitudes could guide students to perform better. The role of students' attitudes in the language learning process, particularly in writing descriptive text, is necessary to make them enjoy the learning experiences (Harmer, 2007). Students' attitude intends to reassure their process in writing to do better (Sari et al., 2020). It proves that students with high intention to participate in online descriptive text classroom activities could perform better. The Obstacles in Online Descriptive Writing English Language Classroom The different learning environments in the online classroom make students face obstacles in learning descriptive text materials. It could influence students' performance in the online descriptive classroom; it related to their understanding of the materials; "I do not understand well about the grammatical rule and its structure" (Student 7). The descriptive text ties with its structure and mainly uses the simple present tense; students struggle to write descriptive text properly. Also, vocabulary issues become the main obstacles for students in writing descriptive text. "I do not know the meaning of a word in the text. I IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 69-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license have more time to understand the materials. In online activities, the internet connection also disturbing me" (Student 4). Students lack vocabulary knowledge, which could hamper them in online descriptive writing; also, online learning could obstruct students from studying more. The English teacher admits that mainly the obstacle related to vocabulary, the structures, and internet connection. Students' lack of vocabulary is mainly a problem in the learning process related to the descriptive text. Also, the trouble of internet connection could hamper the learning activities." In addition, students' performance in writing descriptive text could determine their ability to implement the material through the online learning process. In the following example of descriptive text by Student 16: Another place that you can visit in Indonesia is Yogyakarta. This place has beautiful cultural tourism. Tourism object like Borobudur Temple is popular over the place. This is because, in Borobudur Temple, you can learn about its historical history, and it is a good spot to see the sunrise. Moreover, Yogyakarta is also well- known as kota Pelajar because there are many education institutes over the place. (Student 16, document). The text has clear content and organization (identification and description). However, the grammar usage and mechanism are still unclear and have misspellings. The use of vocabulary is standard to describe the topic. However, there are solutions to the obstacles faced by the students. The teacher's method assists students in facing the obstacle of online descriptive writing; "The teacher delivers descriptive materials fit students' ability and easy to understand" (Student 12). The teacher's role becomes necessary in the online descriptive text to assist students in understanding the materials. The teacher also gave a solution to utilize a translation machine to understand the descriptive text better; "Since students did not know the meaning of the text, they could not ask about it. Hence, they could use Google translate." The online learning process utilizing any application could help students and teachers improve students' performance in the online descriptive writing classroom. In addition, the obstacles of online descriptive writing could hamper students' performance. Students face difficulties having a piece of knowledge in expanding their writing (Dabbagh, 2017). Since writing descriptive text contains factual information about something, students need to develop their wisdom. Also, the main concern in writing descriptive text related to grammatical and vocabulary that students found difficult in the IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 70-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license writing process (Kristiana et al., 2021). Creating a proper descriptive text involves proper word choices and verbs. The obstacles to writing descriptive text force students to enhance their writing performance. Hence, students need to practice and learn more to have better quality in writing descriptive text. Discussion Their performance and obstacles influenced students' writing process in the online English classroom. Students' performance online descriptive text writing process directs them to engage more in classroom activities. This finding is supported by He (2019) mentioned that engaging students in writing descriptive text could grow self- discipline in students' performance. Students who get good scores in online descriptive writing have good performance in the learning process. Komba et al. (2012) mentioned a dependency between students' performance and ability in writing; students' performance in online writing establishes their ability to write, which leads to getting good grades and comprehending the materials. In addition, online descriptive writing activities facilitate students to understand the materials better. This finding is reinforced by Lemov (2020) that online classroom activities embrace students with sufficient time to grasp writing materials. Students could find the resources and practice writing descriptive text. Students' performance in the online descriptive text is influenced through practice to perform better in the learning process (Shahzadi & Ahmad, 2011). Besides, their background knowledge of descriptive text materials supports students' performance in online writing descriptive text. Sulistyo et al. (2019) found that online writing activities connect to students' background knowledge which could increase their writing performance. Students' requirement to fulfill the learning process of descriptive text materials makes them give the finest effort in the writing that could establish students' writing performances. In addition, students' performance in online writing descriptive text involves their motivations and attitudes. The criteria of students' performance embrace motivation and attitudes that could lead the way students participate in the learning process and directly obtain the learning objectives (Mosha, 2014). Students capable of delivering their ideas in writing are influenced by their motivations to develop their understanding of writing descriptive text. It is reinforced by Purnama et al. (2019) that the motivation could IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 71-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license encourage students to write a descriptive text accurately since they have the confidence to do better. A positive mind with great motivation could enlarge students' performance to convey their idea in writing descriptive text. Students could get comprehension about descriptive text materials endorsed by their motivation. This finding confirms by Gai mali (2015) that students' motivation contributes to the writing process since they can understand it. In addition, students' motivation in online writing descriptive text could drive them to participate more in a writing classroom. This finding is reinforced by Shararuddin et al. (2021) mentioned that students feel motivated to write descriptive text correctly since they utilize the online writing activities to establish students' performance. Students could experience the convenience of the online classroom in their writing process. Besides, the role of teachers in online writing descriptive text could evoke students' motivation to understand writing materials. This finding is supported by Rakic et al. (2019) that online activities entangle teachers in facilitating better online classroom activities to enhance students' performance. Thus, students' motivation is connected with students' performance, particularly in online writing descriptive text. Moreover, students' attitudes in online writing descriptive text assist students in gaining better writing performance. During the online writing process, students with good attitudes are willing to participate in comprehending descriptive text materials actively. It is confirmed by Setyowati and Sukmawan (2016) that positive attitudes could direct students to commit to giving outstanding writing in the learning process. Then students performance needs to understand the process of writing descriptive text by gaining more information in writing. When students master writing, their writing descriptive text process is influenced by their attitudes to learning more. The finding supported by Susanti and Mujid (2019) mentioned that students' attitudes connect to their behavior in writing. Students with a sufficient understanding of descriptive text materials would easier grasp the idea in the writing process. Using online learning in writing descriptive text could establish students' performance since it is significant to implement the media that could direct students to be capable (Wati, 2018). In addition, students' attitudes drive them to write descriptive text correctly during online classroom activities. Hendrawaty and Santoso (2016) emphasize that the online writing of descriptive text IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 72-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license arouses self-learners and collaborative learning in the learning activities. Students' performance writing descriptive text through online activities involves active participation and awareness to write appropriately. Also, students' attitudes are influenced by the interactive activities in online writing descriptive text. Students' attitudes followed their writing descriptive text process, which could obtain in an online writing classroom that could direct establish students' performance (Albana et al., 2020; Sulistyo et al., 2019; Trisnaningrum et al., 2019). Hence, students' attitudes could embrace students' performance in writing descriptive text process. However, students' performance influences the obstacles in online writing descriptive text. Students face difficulties understanding the language features, such as the tenses in writing descriptive text. This finding was confirmed by Noprianto (2017) that mentioned students' inadequate understanding of the social function, structures, and language features could interrupt writing a descriptive text. The obstacles could hamper students' performances in online writing descriptive text. In line, Ismayanti and Kholiq (2020) emphasized that most students could not write descriptive text appropriately due to the generic structure, grammar, and word spelling. Also, students find difficulties in comprehending descriptive text structure. The topic or object described in descriptive text requires a clear description. Describing the object in a text must undergo sequentially following a descriptive text structure consisting of identification and description (Novita, 2017). Besides, students need to understand writing rules for a descriptive text and the grammatical use, which could confuse students in accurately writing a descriptive text. Students' obstacles related to grammatical errors include using the verb and unnecessary words in a descriptive text (Suryana, 2019). An ideal descriptive text is a good creation connecting the language rules and art words to make readers understand the descriptive text. In addition, many students find it hard to know the proper word or meaning when writing a text; it obstructs them from writing descriptive text. This finding is supported by Jayanti (2019) that good writing of descriptive text requires rich vocabulary use to furnish a descriptive text, but students face obstacles toward lack of vocabulary. It was challenging for students to establish descriptive writing since it needed rich vocabulary to furnish descriptive text. During the online writing of the descriptive text, students face obstacles related to the IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 73-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license internet connection that could hamper their performance in the writing process. Atmojo and Nugroho (2020) confirmed that the online writing activities of descriptive text require a stable internet connection, but inequality of facilities could hamper students' participation in the learning process. Besides, students require an approach that makes it easy to express their idea in writing descriptive text (Fadhly & Nurendah, 2014). Using online writing descriptive text could assist students in the learning process, enhancing students' ability to write a descriptive text despite the obstacles. Hence, students need to know about the obstacles to writing better descriptive text. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION Students' performance in the online descriptive writing English language classroom indicates their readiness to follow the learning activities. Students could participate well in the online writing process since their motivation and attitudes influence their performances. High motivation and great attitudes could direct students' performance in the online writing descriptive text to obtain the learning objectives. However, students also face obstacles in the learning process of writing descriptive through the online classroom. The most difficulties of online descriptive writing are related to the lack of understanding of vocabulary, generic structure, grammar, and idea expression. Also, the internet connection could hamper students' performances in the online classroom. Therefore, teachers and students need collaboration to enhance the online learning process in writing descriptive text, for instance utilizing more media to engage the activities, selecting fun and proper activities online, and guiding students to be brave in expressing their idea to write a descriptive text perfectly. The online learning process needs to provide a stable internet connection to support students' activities, leading to better performance in online writing descriptive text. Students' and teachers' contributions could assist the learning process, particularly in writing descriptive text materials to accomplish the learning objective and write masterpiece descriptive text. This study's limitation focused on students’ performance in the senior high school context of online descriptive text writing. For further research, it would be interesting to discover students' performance on the other types of writing text in embracing online classroom activities. IJEE (Indonesian Journal of English Education), 9 (1), 2022 74-78 http://journal.uinjkt.ac.id/index.php/ijee | DOI: http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v9i1.24498 P-ISSN: 2356-1777, E-ISSN: 2443-0390 | This is an open access article under CC-BY-SA license REFERENCES Albana, H. H., Marzuki, A. G., Alex, & Hidayat, D. N. (2020). 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