Abstrak
The objective of this research was to identify the problems in writing an expository text in the fourth semester of the English department in Universitas Borneo in the academic year of 2018/2019. The subjects include all 14 students in the class. This applied a qualitative descriptive approach. It was conducted in April-May 2020. The data collection was done by documentation and interview. The first was done by analyzing the students' expository writing to identify the mistakes there. This was to identify the various problems they have and the most dominant among them. The results indicate that they have problems in the aspects of content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and writing mechanics. The most dominant in the content is at the topic development. The one in the organization is lacking logical sequencing; and that in the vocabulary is the word accuracy, without reducing the meaning clearer. There are some dominant problems in grammar, those are verb pattern, pronouns, subject-verb agreement, and unclear meaning. Meanwhile, punctuation is the dominant issue in the mechanics. In sum, the problems have resulted from their low understanding of those five writing aspects. They are confused to start writing and to write correct and meaningful sentences.