Do you Struggle with Writing?

Writing Apprehension and

Writing Anxiety may be the reasons why
By: Elisa Ngo

Writing can be a difficult task for many people to do. In my personal experiences,
writing has always been a challenge for me since I struggle with formulating and
articulating all of my thoughts into words to create a cohesive and well structured
piece or essay. Taking English and writing courses made me feel insecure and
unconfident with my writing skills as I would often compare myself to my classmates. I
felt that the quality of my writing products could never measure up to my fellow peers
who seemed to excel in writing in the classroom.

Oftentimes, I dreaded the process of writing and going to English or writing classes
because I doubted my ability to write. I wondered if my anxiety and apprehension
towards writing plays a role in my experiences with writing. In this blog, I will uncover
the research question on the relationship between writing apprehension and writing
anxiety with writing performance and competency.

What is Writing Apprehension and Writing Anxiety?

Writing apprehension is the tendency to avoid situations that involve and/or require
writing. This is usually followed up with high-levels of anxiety when faced with the
task of writing, which refers to the term of writing anxiety.

For a person who experiences writing anxiety, it affects their behaviors and attitudes
towards writing which can be translated into their writing products.
Research on the Possible Relationship between Writing Apprehension
and Anxiety with Writing Performance and Competency

In a research experiment conducted by professors at the University of Texas at Austin,

Faigley, et al. (1981)’s findings present the differences in writing performances and
competency between high and low apprehensive individuals for different types of
essay formats. High apprehensive writers scored lower on writing skill tests, in which
they had less usage of written conventions, created shorter length and less
syntactically “fluent” essays, and a difference in quality of writing compared to their
low apprehension counterparts for the personal narrative writing. (Faigley, et al., 1981,
pp. 19-20). Their results indicate that writing apprehension plays a role in writing
performance.

Erkan, et al. (2011), Kara (2011), and Badrasawi, et al. (2016)’s research experiments
all relate to the research question revolving around the relationship between writing
apprehension and writing anxiety with writing performance, but through different
research methods and executions. Erkan, et al. (2011) and Kara (2011) both center
their research based on second language, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) or
English as a Second Language (ESL), writing students on writing anxiety and
apprehension to writing performance.

A writing apprehension test conducted by Erkan, et al. (2011), instructors at Cukurova

University in Turkey, resulted in low apprehensive students to perform better than high
apprehensive students in writing skill tests (p. 181). Additionally, their self-efficacy in
writing scale and questionnaire on attitudes towards writing presents “negative
correlations between writing apprehension and writing performance…and between
writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy…and a positive correlation between
writing apprehension and writing attitude…” (Erkan, et al., 2011, p. 184). This means
that as writing apprehension increases, writing performance decreases, and vice versa;
as writing apprehension increases, writing self-efficacy or successfulness decreases,
and vice versa. Also, as writing apprehension increases, writing attitude increases, or
as writing apprehension decreases, writing attitude decreases. This result
demonstrates that there is some relationship between writing apprehension and
writing performance, which is consistent with the findings by Faigley, et al. (1981).

Kara (2011), an assistant professor at Anadolu University in Turkey, reports ESL

students' reasons for writing anxiety and failure in writing courses, and their attitudes
towards writing from the two paragraphs the students had to write about these issues.
The results for ESL students’ reasons for writing anxiety are categorized into four
groups (Kara, 2011, p. 108):

1. Writing itself
2. Writing as a skill
3. The instructor
4. The coursebook

For the first category, students had writing anxiety due to limited experiences and
habits of writing, and they were not used to expressing themselves in writing since
their previous educational experiences only involved standard test-taking. (Kara, 2011,
p. 108). The reason for writing anxiety involving the second category is that students
lacked the necessary skills and strategies for writing such as organizing ideas,
gathering information, and combining ideas. (Kara, 2011, p. 109). For the third
category, students expressed that the instructor was not encouraging, did not provide
feedback, and was not interested in students’ writing problems, and the ineffective
teaching style were reasons for writing anxiety and failure. (Kara, 2011, p. 109).
Another reason for failure could be due to the fourth category of the coursebook, in
which the lack of examples, exercises, and explanations for writing were not enough
for students. (Kara, 2011, p. 109). The sources of writing anxiety demonstrated in ESL
students shows the effects on their writing performances and failures in writing
courses.

In a research study by an assistant professor, professor, and associate professor at the

International Islamic University Malaysia, Badrasawi et al. (2016) presents interviews
of a writing instructor and student’s perception on the relationship between writing
apprehension and writing performance. The instructor and student both state that
writing apprehension has a negative impact on writing performance. The instructor
mentions, “dealing with the apprehensive’[s] problems affected the flow of the lessons
[and they] needed a lot of time to try [to] reduce the level of the apprehensive’[s]
anxiety.” (Badrasawi, et al., 2016, p. 140). Also, the student expresses that he, “was
not able to produce or organize his ideas properly [and] demonstrated that writing
apprehension usually hindered his quality of writing.” (Badrasawi, et al., 2016, p. 140).
This qualitative study explores the direct experiences of a writing teacher and student
on the negative effects of writing apprehension on writing performance.

Suggestions and Strategies from the Research to Reduce Writing

Apprehension

Erkan, et al. (2011), Kara (2011), and Badrasawi, et al. (2016) all suggest possible
strategies to apply in writing courses to reduce writing anxiety and apprehension in
students. Kara (2011) implies that when writing instructors and teachers are
confronted with any anxious and apprehensive writers, they should refer to the four
categories of reasons for writing anxiety and apprehension in students in order to
prevent anxiety and apprehension. (p. 109). Similarly in the study by Erkan, et al.
(2011), the researchers suggest that writing competency in apprehensive students can
be built from confidence through self-efficacy in examples such as completing tasks,
feeling accomplishment and success after completing tasks, and receiving messages
from authority figures. (pp. 184-185).

The interviews from Badrasawi, et al. (2016) displays the strategies used by a writing
teacher to reduce writing apprehension. From that study, the instructor would help
train the student on how to manage time for writing exams, give advice and exercises
to learn how to organize ideas, provide writing samples to use, encourage the student
to read to understand vocabulary, expressions, and structures, and tried to mitigate a
negative attitude towards writing by telling the student that they possess the ability to
write and motivate them to be patient. (Badrasawi, et al., 2016, p. 141). Additionally,
the student provided suggestions for teachers including, “know the students’ problem
well; teach seriously in the class; summarize the lessons at the end of the classes;
check the students’ writings; and teach more writing strategies.” (Badrasawi, et al.,
2016, p. 141). Another implication that was referred to reduce writing anxiety can be
through providing a comfortable and safe space to write since students will be free of
the pressures caused by teachers, friends, and classroom activities. (Badrasawi, et al.,
2016, pp. 140-141).

After reading and comprehending these research implications to reduce writing

apprehension, the strategies seem reasonably effective to use in the classroom since a
teacher and student interaction and the type of classroom environment should be the
most important things to consider for a student to gain confidence and improvement in
writing.

To the fellow first language and second language students who also have writing
apprehension and anxiety, do you want to see these strategies be implemented into
your writing courses? Why or why not? Do you think these resolutions will be effective
strategies to reduce apprehension? I would like to hear your thoughts in the comment
section below!

Final Thoughts

There is a relationship between writing anxiety and writing apprehension with writing
performance and competency that is seen within the studies by Faigley, et al. (1981),
Erkan, et al. (2011), Kara (2011), and Badrasawi, et al. (2016). These studies
demonstrate that there is a negative correlation and negative effect of writing
apprehension, anxiety, and attitudes towards writing on a student’s writing
performance, competency, and self-efficacy. (Faigley, et al., 1981; Erkan, et al., 2011).
Kara (2011) and Badrasawi, et al. (2016) present the sources of writing anxiety and
apprehension in students through the direct experiences expressed by students and
writing instructors, and mention strategies for instructors to reduce writing
apprehension by first taking notice of anxious and apprehensive writers and learning
how to lessenthose issues, as well as using new writing techniques and strategies to
help improve students’ writing skills.

As an anxious and apprehensive writer myself, it was difficult to describe how I felt
about writing, but these studies have helped clearly express the negative reasons why
students have writing anxiety and writing apprehension. I hope that these reasons will
help teachers become aware of these issues about writing apprehension and to learn
how to mitigate them in order to build more confident and successful writing students.
 Works Cited

Badrasawi, K. J., Zubairi, A., & Idrus, F. (2016). Exploring the relationship between writing

apprehension and writing performance: A qualitative study. International Education

Studies, 9(8), 134-143.

Erkan, D. Y., & Saban, A. İ. (2011). Writing performance relative to writing apprehension,

self-efficacy in writing, and attitudes towards writing: A correlational study in Turkish

tertiary-level EFL. The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly March 2011 Volume 13, Issue,

13(1), 164-192.

Faigley, L., Daly, J. A., & Witte, S. P. (1981). The role of writing apprehension in writing

performance and competence. The Journal of Educational Research, 75(1), 16-21.

Kara, S. (2011). Writing anxiety: A case study on students’ reasons for anxiety in writing classes.

H. Ferhan Odabaşı, 103.