The relationship between Writing Anxiety and Students’ Writing Performance at Wolkite University First Year English Major Students

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between second language writing anxiety and students’ writing performance .The study employed correlation and descriptive study design. First year English language and literature students of Wolkite University were the participants of the study and they were selected by using simple random sampling technique. Questionnaire, writing performance tests and semistructured interview were used as data collecting instruments. These data were analyzed using Pearson’s Product moment correlation, qualitative description of students’ interview results and one way ANOVA. In order to identify the significance of differences between the pairs of SL writing anxiety, multiple comparisons or post hoc test was also conducted .The results revealed that there was a significant, negative correlation between SL writing anxiety and writing performance. The semi-structured interview revealed that linguistic difficulties, insufficient writing practice, fear of tests, lack of topical knowledge and low self-confidence in writing performance. The results of the questionnaire showed that there is statistically significant difference in level of anxiety among high, average and low achievers and Avoidance Behavior and Cognitive anxiety are the most common and dominant type of ESL/FL writing anxiety. The investigation results also showed that the mean differences were statistically significant between the low anxiety and average anxiety, low anxiety and high anxiety and average anxiety and high anxiety. Keywords— Writing Anxiety, Writing Performance, correlation analysis. I. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Writing performance of an English learner can reflects the learner’s knowledge in English language patterns through the written discourse they present (Hartono, 2012:107). As many ESL/FL researchers and ESL teachers’ assertion, teaching second language writing is difficult task (Barkaoui, 2007:35). Evidence from a number of local studies (e.g. Abate, 1996; Alamirew, 2005; Yonas, 1996 & Italo, 1999) on English performance of Ethiopian ESL/FL students’ show those learners’ repeated failure in English Examinations could potentially imply their incompetence to use the language when demanded. In connection with this, students’ ESL/FL proficiency might be attributed to factors such as motivation anxiety (Abate, 1996) and efficacy beliefs. Therefore, there are reasons why the second or foreign language writing performance and writing anxiety are negatively or positively correlated or related to each other in ESL/FL contexts and why the second or foreign language learners feel anxious when writing might be different and multiple. II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Many language learners found that writing as the most difficult skill to master or handle (Latiff, 2007; Kurt & Atay, 2007). In spite of unclear investigation on the area, there was the prevalence of reluctance to write in English, the levels and sources of fear of writing on the EFL learners. Currently, in Ethiopia education policy, students are exposed to practice writing skill in early grade level since English is taught as a subject starting from primary level and used as a medium of instruction starting from secondary schools in many parts of the country. However, some local studies revealed that the writing performances of students of Colleges and Universities were found to be below the expectation though they have learned the language from primary level to University level (Amlaku, 2013; Alamirew, 2005). Besides this, some researchers (Abate, 1996; Melese, 2007; Dangachew 2013) also tried to find the impact of anxiety on the students’ writing performance. According to these International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-4, Issue-6, Nov – Dec 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.46.14 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 1708 researchers, most of the problems were related to foreign language anxiety, foreign language writing anxiety on EFL College students’ performance, impacts of EFL writing anxiety on preparatory students ‘writing performance and EFL writing test anxiety on students’ writing performance .For instance, Abate (1996) studied English language classroom anxiety, performance on classroom tasks and in tests at Addis Ababa University. In his finding, he indicated that learners’ anxiety scores were negatively and significantly associated with their language performance and the results implied the harmful effects of anxiety and the tendency of low anxious students to perform relatively better than high anxious learners. The things that make differ this study from previous studies were, by way of investigating the relationship of English writing anxiety and students’ writing performance within particular language skill, to fill the gap seen in the previous local studies and though locally there have been many studies done in the area in different EFL skills and levels, the researcher couldn’t find any relational or correlation study done in Wolkite university. III. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The general objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between writing anxiety and students’ writing performance of first year English major students at Wolkite University. To this end the specific objectives of the study were to: \uf0d8 Determine the relationship between writing anxiety and students’ writing performance. \uf0d8 Identify the general causes of writing anxiety. \uf0d8 Examine whether there is statistically significant difference in level of anxiety among low, average and high achievers. \uf0d8 Identify the dominant type of writing anxiety the students’ experience. IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1 Research Design This study employed a correlation research design to correlate writing anxiety and students’ writing performance. Creswell (2012:20) explained that” correlation research is associating or relating variables in a predictable pattern for one group of individuals” This research design more focuses on examining the association or relation of one or more variables than in testing the impact of activities or materials. 4.2 Population of the Study The total number of students who were selected to the study was 80 (53 males and 27 females). The participants were selected from two freshmen groups (first year English major students). The reasons for selecting this study area are: 1) the researcher of this study has been teaching in the study area, and closely experienced the complex or difficult nature of writing skill in teaching and learning process and 2) experienced teachers /instructors are assumed to be available in the study area. 4.3 Sample and Sampling Techniques The participants of this study were 80 students out of 120 of English Department. Therefore, 67% of students from the total were selected to this study. Out of 80 students who filled the questionnaire, 10 students were chosen from three levels (High-anxiety, Moderate-anxiety and Low-anxiety) for the interview, giving equal proportion (chance for each of them. 4.4 Data Collection Instruments The research instruments used in this study include document, Questionnaires (for only students)-the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), writing comprehension test and semi-structured interview. 4.4.1 Written Descriptive task (Indices of English writing performance) The participants’ grades on a 30-minute English composition and English writing comprehension test were both used as indices of their writing performance. In order to ensure whether there is significant difference among participants regarding to their writing performance and to investigate whether time constraint affects FL students’ writing composition or not, participants were asked to write an English composition within 30 minutes in class, which administrated and evaluated by their instructor who has fiveyear experience as an ESL writing instructor. Each composition was graded on a25-point scale 4.4.2 Semi-structured interview Semistructured interview questions were prepared for 10 students out of 80 participants (3 from High-anxious and 3 from Moderate-anxious, and 4 from Low-anxious) and asked the students to specify the major causes of writing anxieties in which they feel anxious to write, and the difficulties they experience when they write in English. V. DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES The researcher selected a specific design for the study which is consistent with the objectives of the research and employed multiple procedures to collect data from the International Journal of English, Literature and Social Sciences (IJELS) Vol-4, Issue-6, Nov – Dec 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.46.14 ISSN: 2456-7620 www.ijels.com Page | 1709 sample subjects in which the translated version of SLWAS was piloted on twenty students who were not the subjects of the study. These enabled the researcher to see whether the tools were practical or not. After the researcher collected the participants’ information from the stream and pilot test, he asked sample students to write English composition under time constraint (30 minutes) at the beginning of an English writing class. The interview was also administered to 10 students to triangulate the data and reach at more in-depth information. The study used descriptive correlation research design and the researcher employed Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient to measure the relationship between writing anxiety and students’ writing performance and calculated to show the relationship between two variables. Correlation analysis is used to describe the strength and direction of the linear relationship between two variables. According to Hatch and Farhady (1981; cited in Language Learning Journal of the relationship between listening anxiety and listening comprehension, 2017), there are some underlying assumptions that have to be met for Pearson correlation analysis. The assumptions are: 1. The two variables are continuous, 2. Scores on X