<![CDATA[Academic writing is an essential competence for university students, including students of Arabic Language Education. However, many third-semester students still experience difficulties in writing journal articles despite being required to produce academic papers in the Al-Kitābah Al-Akādīmiyyah course. This study aims to analyze students’ learning needs in academic writing, particularly in relation to writing difficulties, learning material needs, and the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in learning. This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach using needs analysis as the research design. Data were triangulated through classroom observation, questionnaires, contextual information from the course lecturer, and document analysis. The participants were third-semester students of the Arabic Language Education Department at UIN Sunan Kalijaga, with 19 out of 22 students responding to the questionnaire. The findings revealed that students experienced difficulties in constructing academic sentences, developing coherent paragraphs, and determining how to begin writing journal articles. Students also required step-by-step writing guidance, intensive practice, examples from published journal articles, and structured explanations of the IMRAD model. In addition, students perceived AI tools such as ChatGPT and QuillBot as supportive technologies for idea development, paraphrasing, and sentence refinement, although lecturer guidance remained necessary to ensure ethical and pedagogically responsible use. This study provides an empirical needs analysis for Al-Kitābah Al-Akādīmiyyah course design by integrating foundational academic writing instruction with responsible AI-assisted learning.]]>
