An Investigation into Preparatory Class EFL Students’ L2 Writing Anxiety

Abstract

The current paper aims to investigate foreign language (L2) writing anxiety levels of Turkish EFL students with regard to their foreign
 language writing performance, gender, age and language level. The participants were 120 preparatory class students from A1, A2, and
 B1 levels at a state university in Turkey. The data were collected through an inventory, namely The Second Language Writing Anxiety
 Inventory by Cheng (2004a), and midterm and final exam scores. According to the results of statistical procedures, it was found that
 43.3% of the participants had high levels of foreign language writing anxiety while 34.2% of them had moderate and 22.5% of them had
 low anxiety levels. Additionally, the participants from A1 level had the highest level of writing anxiety (M=68.5). Furthermore, it was
 revealed that females had higher anxiety levels than males. The results from multiple regression analysis indicated that all variables together
 accounted for 23.3% of variance. Writing anxiety was significantly predicted by gender (β = -.33, p

A Thorough Investigation into Foreign Language Writing Anxiety in a Turkish EFL Context

“…The students might have developed avoidance as an anxietycoping strategy over time as the study results indicated an increasing trend of avoidance behaviour as the year of study advanced. The gender effect has been a controversial issue in writing anxiety research as there are studies asserting no significant effects of gender (Mulyono et al, 2020;Quvanch & Na, 2022;Zerey, 2013), whereas there are also some studies suggesting higher levels of L2 writing anxiety for female learners (Bailey & Almusharraf, 2022;Cheng, 2002;Kırmızı et al, 2015;Keyvanoğlu & Atmaca, 2023). Regarding the year of study, similar results have been yielded in previous research (Cheng, 2002;Quvanch & Na, 2022;Mulyono et al, 2020), while few contradicting findings are also available (Ekmekçi, 2018).…”

“…It is not assessed in any of the national exams (Altınmakas & Bayyurt, 2019), and contemporary and effective approaches to writing have been poorly applied in classroom practices (Graham et al, 2022). In the relevant literature, some studies have found moderate (Kırmızı et al, 2013;Li, 2022;Mulyono et al, 2020;Quvanch & Na, 2022), moderate to high (Genç & Yayli, 2019;Zerey, 2013) and high (Keyvanoğlu & Atmaca, 2023;Rabadi & Rabadi, 2020;Rezaei & Jafari, 2014) levels of writing anxiety, indicating a definite presence of at least moderate levels of learner anxiety in the L2 writing context.…”

“…In another study from Türkiye, Genç and Yaylı (2019) reported average-to-high levels of L2 writing anxiety, higher anxiety during exams; and topic selection, time constraints, generating supporting ideas and a lack of effective feedback as factors related to increased anxiety. In a recently-published work, Keyvanoğlu and Atmaca (2023) noted high levels of L2 writing anxiety predicted by student gender and L2 proficiency. In a different cultural context, Mulyono et al (2020) examined Indonesian EFL students' writing anxiety and demonstrated that all the participant students displayed writing anxiety, most commonly avoidance behaviour at a moderate level, and the variables of gender and education level did not affect the students' writing anxiety.…”

“…The above-mentioned literature providing valuable data on mostly the adverse and debilitating influence of anxiety on L2 students' writing ability appears to involve abundant research, yet further studies are still needed for several reasons. First, the relevant research demonstrates a prevailing tendency towards quantitative methodology, drawing predominantly on descriptive or correlational data (Heiderzadi et al, 2022;Keyvanoğlu & Atmaca, 2023;Kırmızı & Kırmızı, 2015;Li, 2022;Mulyono et al, 2020;Quvanch & Na, 2022;Sabti et al, 2019;Woodrow, 2011). Qualitative and mixed-method studies, which may contribute to a more profound understanding of this skill-specific and highly personalized type of anxiety, are relatively few (Genç & Yaylı, 2019;Rabadi & Rabadi, 2020).…”