Students’ essay writing anxiety: A narrative study of Indonesian tertiary EFL learners
-
(1) Dinda Faismaul Ro’ufiyati Universitas Islam Jember
Indonesia
(2) * Moh. Arif Mahbub
Universitas Islam Jember
Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Recent years, numerous studies across the world have examined EFL learners’ writing anxiety through their writing test. Yet, there is limited study on investigating learners’ anxiety in essay writing, particularly contextualized in Indonesia. Viewed from the lens of narrative study, this article explores the lived-experience of the university students’ essay writing anxiety situated in a private university in the eastern Java, Indonesia. Two students enrolled in “Critical Essay Writing” Course (KBI112) volunteered to be involved in the study. Grounded in the thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) as an analytic lens, findings indicate that the major factors significantly contribute to learners’ essay writing anxiety include: low level writing skill and confidence; learners’ self-efficacy; self-esteem; lack of grammatical knowledge; gender; instructor’s negative feedback; and writing motivation level. Empirical data also reveals that the students with higher writing anxiety level tend to produce low quality writing products and vice versa. This empirical evidence suggests that both teachers and students are highly required to intensify their efforts to create positive learning environment that can make the students to manage their feelings so that they can produce the better quality of essay writing products. This article also discusses pedagogical implications for classrooms and further research, limitations and recommendations.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Learners' writing anxiety was significantly affected by both internal and external factors.
- Learners with higher level of anxiety tend to produce lower writibg performamce.
- Managing learners' emotional feelings is a must-do action to reduce their writing anxiety.
Downloads
References
Alfarwan, S. (2022). Is it all bad ? Saudi EFL student perceptions of the role of anxiety when writing. Saudi Journal of Language Studies, 2(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJLS-10-2021-0019
Allen, M. (2017). The SAGE encyclopedia of communication research methods. In M. Allen (Ed.), SAGE Publication (1st ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483381411
Arici, A. F., & Kaldirim, A. (2015). The effect of the process-based writing approach on writing success and anxiety of pre-service teachers. The Anthropologist, 22(2), 318–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2015.11891883
Arnold, J. (1999). Affect in Language Learning (pp. 1–24). Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3587794
Atkinson, P. (2012). Exploring correlations between writing apprehension, academic rational beliefs, and stress and coping behaviors in college students. Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association, 2010(2011), 1–24. http://docs.rwu.edu/nyscaproceedings/vol2010/iss1/1/
Bani Younes, Z., & Salamh Albalawi, F. (2015). Exploring the Most Common Types of Writing Problems Among English Language and Translation Major Sophomore Femal Students At Tabuk University. Asian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 3(2), 7–26. http://www.multidisciplinaryjournals.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/FULL-PAPER-EXPLORING-THE-MOST-COMMON-TYPES-OF-WRITING-PROBLEMS.pdf
Barkhuizen, G., Benson, P., & Chick, A. (2014). Narrative inquiry in language teaching and learning research (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203124994
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Cheng, Y.-S. (2002). Factors associated with foreign language writing anxiety. Foreign Language Annals, 35(5), 647–656. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2002.tb01903.x
Cheng, Y. (2002). Factors associated with foreign language writing anxiety. Foreign Language Annals, 35(5), 647–656. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-97
Cheng, Y., Horwitz, E. K., & Schallert, D. L. (1999). Language anxiety : Differentiating writing and speaking components. September, 417–446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00095
Choi, S. (2013). Language anxiety in second language writing: Is it really a stumbling block? Second Language Studies, 31(2), 1–42. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/40722
Cohen, A. D., & Cavalcanti, M. C. (2017). Feedback on composition: Teacher and student verbal reports. In Second Language writing: Research insights for the classroom (Issue May, pp. 155–177). Cambridge University Press 0267-1905/01. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139524551.015
Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2–14. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X019005002
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design (L. Habib (ed.); 3rd ed., Vol. 148). SAGE. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/qualitative-inquiry-and-research-design/book246896
Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. In SAGE Publication (4th ed.). SAGE. https://books.google.co.id/books?id=4uB76IC_pOQC&printsec=copyright&hl=id#v=onepage&q&f=false
Daly, J. A., & Miller, M. D. (1975). Apprehension of writing as a predictor of message intensity. The Journal of Psychology, 89(2), 175–177. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1975.9915748
Daniels, S., Mccurdy, M., Whitsitt, L., Christopher, H., Schwartz-micheaux, J., & White, J. (2019). Evaluating the effects of a writing self-efficacy intervention on writing quantity in middle school students. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 0(0), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2019.1618226
Derakhshan, A., & Karimian Shirejini, R. (2020). An Investigation of the Iranian EFL Learners’ Perceptions
Towards the Most Common Writing Problems. SAGE Open, 10(2), 215824402091952. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020919523
Faigley, L., Daly, J. A., & Witte, S. P. (1981). The role of writing apprehension in writing perfonnance and competence. The Journal of Educational Research, 75(1), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1981.10885348
Hammersley, M., & Traianou, A. (2012). Ethics in qualitative research: Controversies and contexts. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473957619
Harris, J., & Grandgenett, N. (1992). Writing apprehension, computer anxiety and telecomputing: A pilot study. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 1(1), 101–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/0962029920010107
Hassan, A. (2001). The relationship of writing apprehension and self-esteem to the writing quality and quantity of EFL university students. Mansoura Faculty of Education Journal, 39(1), 1–36. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED459671
Hidi, S. B., & Boscolo, P. (2007). Writing and motivation (G. Rijlaarsdam (ed.); 1st ed.). Elsevire. https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/23236?language=en
Holland, R. (2014). Writing experiences of community college students with self-reported writing anxieties and linguistic insecurity: A perspective for college counselors. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 37(4), 278–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668920903527084
Huang, Y. (2015). My teaching experience with Navajo college students , writing anxiety , contrastive rhetoric , and some suggestions. SAGE Open, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015603105
Huerta, M., Goodson, P., Beigi, M., & Chlup, D. (2017). Graduate students as academic writers: writing anxiety, self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(4), 716–729. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2016.1238881
Ivankova, N. V., Creswell, J. W., & Stick, S. L. (2006). Using mixed-methods sequential explanatory design: From theory to practice. Field Methods, 18(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X05282260
James, N. (2018). Using narrative inquiry to explore the experience of one ethnically diverse ESL nursing student. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 13(1), 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2017.08.002
Janesick, V. J. (2015). Peer debriefing. In The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (pp. 2–3). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosp014.pub2
Jebreil, N., Azizifar, A., Gowhari, H., & Jamilinesari, A. (2015). Investigating the relationship between anxiety and writing performance among Iranian EFL learners. Iranian EFL Journal, 11(3), 49–60. https://www.elejournals.com/iranian-efl/the-iranian-efl-journal-june-2015/
Jones, E. (2008). Predicting performance in first-semester college basic writers: Revisiting the role of self-beliefs. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(2), 209–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2006.11.001
Jupp, V. (2006). The sage dictionary of social research methods. In SAGE Publication Ltd. SAGE Publications, Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020116
Kellogg, R. T., & Whiteford, A. P. (2009). Training advanced writing skills: The case for deliberate practice. Educational Psychologist, 44(4), 250–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520903213600
Kim, J.-H. (2016). Understanding narrative inquiry: The crafting and analysis of stories as research. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071802861
Latif, M. M. A. (2012). Sources of L2 writing apprehension: A study of Egyptian university students. Journal of Research in Reading, 00(00), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2012.01549.x
Lea, M. R., & Street, B. V. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23(2), 157–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079812331380364
Lew, L., & Y. Tang, T. (2017). ‘Beyond EFL writing anxitey’: Tapping into the individual emotioinally of proficient EFL writers through semi-structured analysis and wearable sensing technology. 170–181. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58515-4_14
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic Inquiry (1st ed., pp. 290–294). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315169804-6
Lubis, A. H., & Rahmawati, E. (2019). Literature-circles-based cooperative writing: From the perceptions of Indonesian university EFL learners with writing anxiety. The Journal of Asia TEFL, 16(4), 1422–1431. https://doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2019.16.4.26.1422
Th McLeod, S. (1987). Some thoughts about feelings: The affective domain and the writing process. College Composition and Communication, 38(4), 426. https://doi.org/10.2307/357635
Megawati, F. (2016). Tertiary level exchange students’ perspectives on self-efficacy: Toward EFL writing. JEES (Journal of English Educators Society), 1(2), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.21070/jees.v1i2.441
Pajares, F. (2003). Self-efficacy beliefs, motivation, and achievement in writing: A review of the literature. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 19(2), 139–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/10573560308222
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1995). Narrative configuration in qualitative analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 8(1), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839950080103
Raoofi, S., & Maroofi, Y. (2017). Relationships among motivation (self-efficacy and task value), strategy use and performance in L2 writing. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 35(3), 299–301. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2017.1391706
Rennie, D. L., & Brewer, L. (1987). A grounded theory of thesis blocking. Teaching of Psychology, 14(1), 10–16. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top1401_2
Reynolds, B. L., Kao, C.-W., & Huang, Y. H. (2021). Investigating the effects of perceived feedback source on second language writing performance: A quasi-experimental study. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00597-3
Reynolds, B. L., & Kao, C. (2019). The effects of digital game-based instruction, teacher instruction , and direct focused written corrective feedback on the grammatical accuracy of English articles feedback on the grammatical accuracy of. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 0(0), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2019.1617747
Riffe, D., & Stacks, D. W. (1992). Student characteristics and writing apprehension. The Journalism Educator, 47(2), 39–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769589204700206
Sabti, A. A., Md Rashid, S., Nimehchisalem, V., & Darmi, R. (2019). The impact of writing anxiety, writing achievement motivation, and writing self-efficacy on writing performance: A correlational study of iraqi tertiary EFL tearners. SAGE Open, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019894289
Saghafi, K., Mohammad, S., Adel, R., & Zareian, G. (2017). An ecological study of foreign language writing anxiety in English as a Foreign Language classroom. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, September, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2017.1367954
Salovey, P. (1990). The efficacy of cognitive-behavior therapy and writing process training for alleviating writing anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14(5), 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01172971
Sanders-reio, J., Alexander, P. A., Reio, T. G., & Newman, I. (2014). Do students’ beliefs about writing relate to their writing self-efficacy, apprehension, and performance? Learning and Instruction, 33, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2014.02.001
Schwandt, T. A. (2007). The SAGE dictionary of qualitative inquiry (3rd ed.). Sage Publication, Inc. https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-sage-dictionary-of-qualitative-inquiry/book237361
Stephens, L. E., Kim, G., Fogle, E. V, Kleinbort, T., Duffy, N. L., Powell, G. M., Olsen, L. K., Coleman, K. K., & Gremillion, P. (2021). Reducing writing apprehension in undergraduate parks, recreation, and tourism management students. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 0(0), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1937156X.2020.1860668
Teichman, M., & Poris, M. (1989). Initial effects of word processing on writing quality and writing anxiety of freshman writers. Computers and the Humanities, 23(1985), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00144729
Tomlinson, B. (1981). Reducing student writing anxiety. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Western College Reading Association, 14(1), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/24699365.1981.11669757
Waer, H. (2021). The effect of integrating automated writing evaluation on EFL writing apprehension and grammatical knowledge. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 0(0), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1914062
Wilson, J., & Roscoe, R. D. (2019). Automated writing evaluation and feedback: Multiple metrics of efficacy. 39(1), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633119830764
Wynne, C., Guo, Y. J., & Wang, S. C. (2014). Writing anxiety groups: A creative approach for graduate students. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 9(3), 366–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2014.902343
Yaman, H. (2010). Writing anxiety of Turkish students: Scale development and the working procedures in terms of various variables. International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2(1), 267–289. https://iojes.net/?mod=makale_tr_ozet&makale_id=41392
Zabihi, R. (2018). The role of cognitive and affective factors in measures of L2 writing. Written Communication, 35(1), 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088317735836
Zabihi, R., Mousavi, S. H., & Salehian, A. (2018). The differential role of domain-specific anxiety in learners narrative and argumentative L2 written task performances. Current Psychology, 39(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9850-6
Zajacova, A., Lynch, S. M., & Espenshade, T. J. (2005). Self-efficacy, stress, and academic success in college. Research in Higher Education, 46(6), 677–706. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-004-4139-z
Zamel, V. (1985). Responding to student writing. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language, Inc. (TESOL), 19(1), 79–101. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586773
Zhang, X. (2019). Exploring the relationship between college students’ writing anxiety and the pedagogical use of online resources. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0149-y
Copyright (c) 2023 Moh. Arif Mahbub
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
