Anxiety and the Production of Writing

Abstract

The production of writing is an intentional, dynamic, and difficult linguistic, cognitive, social, and emotional problem-solving process that requires students to orchestrate multiple skills and sub-skills. At the same time, research evidence supports the important role anxiety plays during the writing process. Writing anxiety has implications for both the motivation and desire to engage in the writing process and the performance of students. The authors present data that reveal the importance of writing anxiety, its sources, its symptoms, and the ways to facilitate it. One cannot investigate the cognitive processes without taking into account the emotional processes and their effects on cognition. There is a need to design, implement, and evaluate teaching interventions to create supportive and anxiety-reducing learning environments, enhancing students, coordinating the cognitive processes, and coping with the generation of negative emotions by reducing the production of writing anxiety.