Writing Anxiety among Indonesian EFL Students: Factors and Strategies

Abstract

Writing anxiety is a term for a wide variety of apprehensive and pessimistic feelings about writing. The purpose of this study is to identify factors contributing to writing anxiety experienced by EFL students in writing essays and the strategies they apply to manage it. The possible factors of the anxiety were elaborated into close-ended questionnaire items that were distributed to the sampled students followed by open-ended questionnaire item on strategies to deal with the anxiety. The findings indicate that from several potentially anxiety producing factors of essay writing, essay assignment that must be done in the class is the most dominant factor of writing anxiety experienced by the students. Collaborative works in pairs or small groups for idea development and essay construction are the common strategies adopted to minimize the anxiety. The findings imply that when students are given the opportunity to use the preferred strategies, their writing anxiety can be manageable.

Analysis on the Sources of L2 Writing Anxiety*

“…In their research Negari and Rezaabadi (2012) found that students with higher level of anxiety performed better in all aspects of their writing assignment. Such finding strengthens the dichotomy of the role of anxiety in student's writing performance (Jawas, 2019).…”

Writing Process Approach and Its Effect on Students’ Writing Anxiety and Performance

“…Some scholars agree that linguistic difficulties (spelling, grammar, and vocabulary), test anxiety (especially fear of unfamiliar content), lack of topical knowledge, low self-confidence in writing, and fear of teachers' negative comments, and lack of writing practice (Cheng, 2002;Zhang, 2011;Jennifer& Ponniah, 2017) are the major causes of anxiety. Furthermore, Jawas (2019) found that students become more anxious when they are given an in-class assignment. In addition, Kelly & Gaytan (2019) added that instructors' immediate behaviors and instructional clarity are two factors causing anxiety.…”

Students Anxiety Experiences in Higher Education Institutions

“…Jawas [6] found Indonesian students also have English language anxiety because they lack proficiency in writing, and the instructors present them with class essay assignments that probably increase their anxiety because of the limited time in class to finish the assignment with the appropriate answer. Also, some Indonesian students have anxiety when giving a presentation.…”

“…Also, video games online can improve communication among students, increase students' confidence, and reduce their anxiety [34]. Collaborative work among students can also reduce students' anxiety, and they should be encouraged to use the strategies they prefer in learning [6].…”