EFL University Student’s Writing Anxiety in Essay Development

Abstract

<p class="8Abstractcontent"><span lang="EN-US">Among the numerous research of writing anxiety in EFL writing instruction, the investigation of writing anxiety during the creation of argumentative essay remains limited. This current research, therefore, was purposed to examine the levels and specific manifestations of writing anxiety for the development of argumentative essay. Guided by descriptive quantitative research framework, 53 university students in writing course were asked to fill out the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) in a small-scale survey. The results shows that 78% of students experienced moderate levels of anxiety when engaged in the development of argumentative essays, with only a small percentage reporting high or low level of anxiety (11%). An analysis of the anxiety levels across all respondents revealed a prevailing trend of moderate anxiety. Moreover, cognitive anxiety was the predominant category, followed by somatic anxiety and avoidance behavior respectively.</span></p>