Investigating Writing Anxiety Among the ESL Learners

Abstract

The aim of this study was to measure the level of writing anxiety experienced by the tertiary-level learners. In this research, the researcher tried to find out the factors responsible for writing anxiety among the tertiary-level learners. This study was based on quantitative research, and two questionnaires were used to collect data. The questionnaire survey result showed that there is a high level of writing anxiety in English as a Second Language among the tertiary-level learners. This study also examined the problem for the learners who feel anxious about their writing. A sample of 50 learners enrolled in the English Department was chosen to participate in the study. The researcher gave them a questionnaire adapted from the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) developed by Zhang (2004) in order to identify the causes and the most common type of writing anxiety among them. The result of the quantitative data show the most common types of L2 writing anxiety among the students were Somatic Anxiety (SA), Cognitive Anxiety, and avoidance anxiety.