<![CDATA[Authentic news is increasingly recommended in English for Specific Purposes (ESP), yet little is known about how news-based Problem-Based Learning (PBL) supports policy reasoning and academic writing in English for Political Science. This study aimed to examine how students demonstrated engagement and response quality, comparative policy reasoning and climate-policy vocabulary, and writing challenges during a four-week news-based PBL intervention. This qualitative case study, supplemented by descriptive frequency counts, analyzed written policy reflections from 19 second-year undergraduates using flood-related news from Southern Thailand and Malaysia. Directed qualitative content analysis examined response quality, comparative reasoning, climate-policy vocabulary, and writing clarity. Results showed strong topical relevance and connections to regional events, although engagement was inferred from written content rather than directly observed. Most responses remained descriptive or moderately analytical, with limited evaluative comparison, uneven use of specialized vocabulary, and recurring problems in coherence, sentence structure, verb tense, and transitions. The findings indicate that authentic news-based PBL can create meaningful ESP learning opportunities but requires explicit cognitive and linguistic scaffolding to support analytical policy writing. The study identifies where staged support is needed and informs the application of Vygotskian scaffolding concepts to policy-oriented ESP.]]>
