FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION

TE10203 SECOND LANGUAGE AQUISITION

SEMESTER 2, SESSION 2021/2022

LECTURER: DR. ASMAA AL SAQQAF

ASSESSMENT: FINAL PROJECT

WRITING ANXIETY: FACTORS AND EFFECTS OF IT TO NON-TESL STUDENTS

VIDEO PRESENTATION LINK:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LxBLhQ5MYFqcZr_chzk4FjIJ00sEXrks?usp=s
haring

NAME MATRIC NUMBER

ALLYSA MAISARAH BINTI MORSIDI BP21110148
AIN FARAHANI BINTI JAMALUDIN BP21160624
DAYANG NUR QAMARINA BINTI AWANG JAFFRY BP21110214
IYAN YUHAIZA BINTI YUNUS BP21110184
MUHAMMAD DANIAL HAZIQ BIN SJAIFUDIN BP21110094
NUR NADHIRAH BINTI MATIN BP21110222
SAFHINA RAFA’ BP21280654
 CONTENT

ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................1
1.0 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1-2
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................................................2-3
3.0 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................4-6
3.1 Data collection procedure ..................................................................................................
3.2 Data analysis procedure .....................................................................................................
4.0 RESULT .......................................................................................................................... 6-7
5.0 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................. 7-8
6.0 CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................8-9
REFERENCE .........................................................................................................................10
 ABSTRACT

[Allysa Maisarah binti Morsidi, BP21110148]

Writing is often seen by students as difficult and a hindrance to creating high-quality content.
Additionally, anyone can experience anxiety in a range of circumstances. Learning is
significantly impacted by anxiety. Additionally, students appear to believe that learning
grammar is more difficult than learning other aspects of English since it involves a variety of
grammar rules and tenses that need to be mastered and retained by students for their
sentences to be grammatically acceptable. The purpose of the study is to identify the role that
writing anxiety plays in students' writing abilities and performance. The study is consistent
with the writing anxiety that students have while composing some sentences because they
worry that their works in their second language would be worse, and a lack of expertise in
writing in a second language might affect the students' bad performance. The researcher was
only allowed to look for studies that had been published in 2016 or earlier, so there wasn't
much information regarding how to help students with their writing anxiety in those articles.
Future studies should thus look for articles written in 2016 or after that that provide more
detailed guidance on how to handle the writing anxiety that might affect students' writing
abilities.

1.0 INTRODUCTION [Muhammad Danial Haziq bin Sjaifudin, BP21110094]

Many students view writing as a challenge and a barrier to producing quality content.
Writing, in their view, stands in the way of academic success. They frequently experience
what is known as writing trepidation or writing anxiety. According to Horwitz, Horwitz and
Cope cited by Rasuan and Wati (2021), anxiety is a part of psychological aspect which
consist of as: self-evaluation, excessive concern about failure, concern about what other think,
anxiety and worry, avoidance of the target language are less errors and excessive studying.
According to Matsumoto cited by Alamri, alanazi and Alrashedi (2021), anxiety refers to a
"fearful mood that has a vague or no specific focus and is accompanied by bodily arousal. In
addition, anxiety can be experienced by anyone in a variety of situations. Anxiety has a
significant impact on learning. Many people might experience embarrassment if they don't
know how to handle this subjective anxiety. Additionally, anxiety is a common emotion that
affects everyone's life, particularly in educational settings. It will have an impact on how well
students learn.

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According to Sulistyo cited by Alamri, alanazi and Alrashedi (2021), writing is considered a
productive skill in English as a foreign language (EFL) as it involves producing language
instead of receiving it. He defined writing as "an example of human information processing
in action. It is a highly complex task that requires the orchestration of some different
activities simultaneously and thereby places great demands on the cognitive system. Thus,
writing is therefore viewed as a mental and physical activity that allows for the expression of
thoughts, ideas, and feelings as they occur. It depends on a variety of linguistic components,
such as vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, and the learner's capacity for
thought organization. Additionally, because most students are afraid of making mistakes, they
assume that making mistakes in their writing will result in poor grades, even though some
students have demonstrated in the past that they are not afraid of learning because of various
factors, one of which is their beliefs about language learning, which can be either positive or
negative. Bruning and Horn cited by Rasuan and Wati (2021) stated that writing anxiety
occurs because of language complexity in general and complexity of writing as a skill.
Studies have also revealed that students who use productive skills, such as writing and
speaking, are found to experience a significant amount of anxiety during the learning process.

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW [Nur Nadhirahbinti Matin, BP21110222]

According to Nor Shidrah Mat Daud, Nuraihan Mat Daud and Noor Lide Abu Kassim
(2005), Studies have demonstrated that pupils' writing abilities and anxiety are associated. It
is unclear whether anxiousness contributes to or is a result of poor writing. Studies have also
revealed that students who use productive skills, such as writing and speaking, report feeling
a lot of anxiety when learning. The deficit model is one that can be used to explain student
performance. According to this paradigm, poor performance results from a lack of skill which
in turn causes anxiety. There is another one theory that can explain this matter, namely the
interference model. According to the theory, anxious pupils do poorly because of a deficit in
the acquisition stage. It is because of poor study habits or a lack of talent. The discussion of
the study shows that students with low proficiency tend to be more anxious that is caused by
poor writing skills. The study suggests that more exposure to the English language can be the
solution for this matter. Nevertheless, there have been many studies conducted regarding this
matter, to add, they used different samples and research methods which may give different
results. Hence, we are not sure what causes writing anxiety in some people.

Choi (2013), defined writing anxiety in a more positive way. The study claimed that
social-psychological and emotional aspects are crucial to second language learning and

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cannot be ignored if we want to have a complete understanding of second language learning.
The development of hypothesis-driven research on the effects of anxiety on language
acquisition may aid the process of guiding L2 learners towards a more enjoyable learning
experience in the long run. Based on the result of the study, due to their limited vocabulary
knowledge, some students found it challenging to write in English. Others felt comfortable
trying to write in English on their own without much guidance or support. Additionally, it is
said that some students may have heightened writing anxiety simply from the thought of
having their writings shared. This suggests that teachers should be more understanding of
their students' concerns when it comes to sharing their writings. However, we cannot really
rely on this study, because this study only used a small group of students as its sample of
research which will lessen the accuracy of the study.

Zulfikri B. Rasuan and Lindra Wati (2021), stated that everyone can experience
anxiety in a variety of contexts. The impact of anxiety on learning is significant. Additionally,
anxiety is a frequent emotion that affects everyone's life, particularly in educational situations.
It will have an impact on how well pupils learn. According to the research's findings,
students' writing anxiety is now dominated by their cognitive anxiety. It might be inferred
that students who struggle with cognitive anxiety worry when they believe their English
compositions are significantly worse than others' and worry when they believe their
composition will receive a low score if it is evaluated. Additionally, variables that contribute
to writing anxiety include a lack of experience writing in a foreign language, a lack of
proficiency with writing mechanics, and ignorance of the subjects being covered. The
pressure to write flawlessly in a foreign language, the lack of confidence, and having
numerous linguistic issues are other factors that cause students to experience writing anxiety.
However, this research only used the sample from one group age only which made the results
not really accurate. This is because different age groups have different levels of maturity and
thinking which will affect the result of study.

According to Hayat Rasheed Alamri, Ashwag Rakad Alanazi and Sarah Marzoug
Alrashedi (2021), due to individual differences, language learning challenges, and the worry
of being evaluated and receiving a low grade, language learners frequently suffer anxiety
when learning a new language. An essential problem that might hinder writing abilities and
result in underperformance is writing anxiety. Based on the discussion of the study, when
following teachers' instructions, when brainstorming ideas, and in the areas of confidence
developing writing skills and structuring thoughts, EFL learners' ability to arrange paragraphs

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frequently generates anxiety. This might be the case since techniques like brainstorming,
concept mapping, visual organisers, and guiding questions have not been taught to EFL
university learners. Another factor is that EFL university students are unwilling to improve
their writing abilities because they undervalue their significance in all areas. According to
the findings of the second research question, EFL university students occasionally experience
anxiety when it comes to producing proper sentences with appropriate syntax, vocabulary,
and spelling. When applying proper grammatical rules like verb tenses, word order,
connectors, determiners, and prepositions, EFL learners and non-native speakers may become
confused. Frequent on detailed correction in writing, inaccurate vocabulary use and spelling
errors also can create anxiety in learners. However, this study has its own weakness because
it only uses samples from female groups. Thus, we cannot attain an accurate result of what
causes anxiety because it only studied females.

3.0 METHODOLOGY [Dayang Nur Qamarina BP21110214]

3.1 Data collection procedure
To collect the data for this research, an instrument called the questionnaire was used
and being distributed to students at university, pre-university/form 6, and secondary schools.
The questionnaire contains the information of demographic and two section of research
objectives. The first objective is to determine the factors contributing to writing anxiety
meanwhile the second objective is to investigate the effect of writing anxiety among the non-
TESL students, both objectives consist of 10 questions. The researchers used the Likert scale
method to obtain the data for both objectives. According to author of encyclopaedia of
Britannica (n.d.), Likert scale is a rating system used in questionnaires that is designed to
measure people’s attitudes, opinions, or perceptions. The participants that received the
questionnaire are required to select the level of agreement towards the questions asked. The
researchers of this study prepared five level of agreement which are Strongly disagree (1),
Disagree (2), Neither agree nor disagree (3), Agree (4) and strongly disagree (5).

The questions for the first objective (Research objective 1) and the second objective
(Research Objective 2) will be shown in the table below.

No. Questions
Research Objective 1
1 When writing English essay, I feel worried if I do not use grammar correctly.
2 When writing English essay, I am afraid that the teacher will not understand what I

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 am trying to express.
3 When writing English essay, I do not know when to put a suitable proverb at that
time.
4 When writing English essay, I do not understand the question and I feel worried if
my essay does not answer the given question.
5 I feel anxious if I could not finish the English essay in a limited time.
6 I feel anxious when I run out if idea when writing English essay.
7 When writing English essay, I am worried if I misspelled a certain word because I
do not know a wide range of vocabularies.
8 When writing English essay, I am afraid that I do not meet the expectation from the
teacher
9 Due to less exposure to English language, I tend to translate from Malay to English
when writing English essays. Hence, I feel worried if I translated the sentence
wrongly.
10 I often double check my English essay because I am afraid if I have used the tense
and grammar incorrectly.
Research Objective 2
1 I usually feel my whole body rigid and tense when I write English compositions.
2 Writing anxiety affects my academic performance.
3 Writing anxiety weaken my ability and confidence about writing achievement.
4 Writing anxiety affect my motivation to write as I feel my writing might be judged.
5 I feel stress when I do any writing activities.
6 I never seem to enjoy what I write in English.
7 I often feel lazy to attend writing class as I know that the class going to be
complicated.
8 I feel that writing anxiety lead me to isolate myself from other people.
9 Usually, I did not fulfil the writing tasks that the teacher asked as I am afraid people
will laugh reading my writing.
10 I feel depressed every time I get my result in any writing tests.

Table 1 Questions for Research Objective 1 and Research Objective 2

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3.2 Data analysis procedure
In this study, two informational items were evaluated which are the factors contributing to
writing anxiety and the effect of writing anxiety. The two components will be analysed and
examined according to the demographic information obtained from the questionnaire. The
quantitative results will be presented in table form in the result sections.

4.0 RESULT[Ain Farahani binti Jamaludin, BP21160624]

The findings of this study can be categorized into two parts according to its research
objectives which include the factors contribute to the writing anxiety and the effects of writing anxiety
among students. From the responses of the respondents to the items in questionnaire, there are several
factors that contribute to high level of writing anxiety among students as compiled in the following
Figure 2:

Figure 2 (Dominant Factors of Writing Anxiety)

Figure 2 indicate that afraid of grammatical errors has the highest percentage of respondents
who respond strongly agree (57.5%) or equally of 23 out of 40 respondents. It appeared that
grammatical errors are the most contributing factor of students’ anxiety towards writing as
Farooq, 2012 as cited in Atashian and Al-Bahri, 2018 stated that English Second Language
students considered difficulties in grammar as the most difficult field in writing. Also,
students seemingly feel that learning grammar is more complicated than other English
components as it has various types of grammar rules and tenses that should be understand and
remembered by students in order to ensure their sentences is correct grammatically. The
second highest percentage of respondents (42.5 %) is on language use that make students feel

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afraid of readers do not understand their writing and followed by afraid of running out of
ideas (40%) and anxious of misspelled words that cause by lack of vocabulary (25%).

The second research objective is the effect of writing anxiety towards students. The
findings through questionnaires illustrates few common effects of writing anxiety as Figure 3
below:

Figure 3 (Effects of Writing Anxiety)

Figure 3 shows that affect academic performance has the highest percentage of respondents
(30%) or equivalent to 12 respondents who rated “Agree” on the questionnaire. The quality
of performance for students who experienced writing anxiety during an examination is poorer
than non-anxious examinees (Herwitt and Stephenson, 2011 as cited in Miri and Joia, 2018).
The students potentially get lower grades as they experienced writing anxiety that made them
to do errors and simple mistakes in examination that surely affected their academic
performance. Body rigid and tense when write English composition is the second highest
percentage of respondents (25%) and followed by weaken confidence (22.5%) and affects
motivation due to afraid of being judged (20%).

5.0 DISCUSSION [Safhina Rafa’, BP21280654)

The study aimed to show data collection research on writing anxiety in students. The
researcher wants to find a factor of writing anxiety in students' writing performance and the
effect of writing anxiety on students' writing skill. The data shows that the four articles
explain more about the factors that can cause inhibition of writing skills in students and
measure writing anxiety in students. The study is consistent with the writing anxiety which
students are experiencing in producing some sentences because they worry about their second

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language compositions being worse and lack of practice in writing using a second language
can affect poor performance for the students.

There is a deficiency in this study. The researcher was restricted to searching for
articles published in 2016 or above 2016 and the researcher just found a little information
about the method to develop writing skill in writing anxiety in students in the articles.

Accordingly, future research should find articles published in 2016 or above with
more specific information to deal with writing anxiety that can cause problems on students'
writing skills.

6.0 CONCLUSION [Iyan Yuhaiza binti Yunus, BP21110184)

The current study aims to explore non-TESL learners’ anxiety in writing skills
regarding the factors and effects of it. The researcher formulated a questionnaire that
consisted of two sections that were answered by 40 students from various education stages
which are secondary school, pre-university, and university students. The result reveals that
most of the learners' writing anxiety is caused by having a problem with their grammar skill
that makes them feel anxious when writing in the English language. Moreover, the result also
showed that most students agree that due to their writing anxiety their academic performance
in English-related subjects is substandard.

In conclusion, this study has several limitations. First, this research report only
focuses on writing anxiety. It is important to remember that to have excellent English
proficiency students need to excel in writing, reading, and speaking skills. Hence, this
research can only provide aid in writing skill enhancement. Furthermore, some cited articles
that are used as references in this research are made from the year 2010, it is difficult to
determine whether the articles used are still equivalent to examining student writing anxiety
these recent years. Some cited articles have low cite scores, indicating that the research article
is poor in quality. Aside from that, this research only aims for two main objectives, which are
the effect and factors of writing anxiety, making the matter of writing anxiety not fully
discussed. Moreover, this study only provided learner views on their writing anxiety, to add
to the research body in this area educators' concerns regarding this matter should be
conducted.

The importance of this study is that it will help future researchers to perform research
regarding writing anxiety. Other than that, this article also provides a better understanding to

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the researcher regarding writing anxiety. This study also provides lots of information
regarding the causes and effects of writing anxiety among non-TESL learners, hence future
ESL teachers can use this information to create a useful strategy to teach ESL in the
classroom. However, because this study only focuses on the effect and factors of writing
anxiety, it is suggested that more elements should be examined such as ways to overcome
writing anxiety to provide a better-quality research article for future researchers.

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REFERENCES
Alamri, Hayat Rasheed., Alanazi, Ashwag Rakad and Alrashedi, Sarah Marzoug. (2021).
Anxiety In Writing Skills: The Voices of EFL University Learners. International
Journal of English Language Teaching. 9(6), pp, 33-51.
Atashian, S., & Al-Bahri, K. (2018). Towards Arab Students’ Grammatical Errors in
Academic Writing & their Perception. Arab World English Journal, 140-145
https://www.awej.org/images/conferences/Proceedingsof1stMECTESOLConference20
18/10.pdf

Choi, S. (2013). Language Anxiety In Second Language Writing: It Is Really A Stumbling

Block? Second Language Studies, 31(2). pp. 1-42.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Likert scale. Britannica Academic.

https://academic-eb-com.ezproxy.ums.edu.my/levels/collegiate/article/Likert-
scale/605393

Mat Daud, Nor Shidrah, Mat Daud, Nuraihan and Abu Kassim , Noor Lide (2005) Second
language writing anxiety: cause or effect? Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, Inaug.
pp. 1-19. ISSN 1511-8002.

http://irep.iium.edu.my/32800/

Miri, M. A., & Joia, J. (2018). Writing Anxiety in an Afghan EFL Setting: Voices from Five
Afghan Students. Journal of Foreign Languange Teaching and Learning, 3(1), 14-29
https://doi.org/10.18196/ftl.3125

Rasuan, Zulfikri, B. and Wati, Lindra. (2021). Students’ Writing Anxiety and Its Correlation
with Their Writing Performance. English Education Journal. 1(1). pp. 20-29.

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