Transcript FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR WRITING APPREHENSION OF …

FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR WRITING
APPREHENSION OF VIETNAMESE EFL
UNDERGRADUATES
Tran Hoa Mi
Tin T. Dang
1
Introduction
2 Literature review
3 Methodology
4 Findings
5 Implications and Further Research
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• Significance of achieving proficiency in writing in
English (Lindemann, 1995; Pingping, 2006)
• Effects of EFL learners’ writing apprehension on
their outcomes (Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012)
• Little research on writing apprehension of
Vietnamese EFL undergraduates
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• To understand Vietnamese EFL undergraduates’
levels of writing apprehension
• To examine factors that might mediate
students’ writing apprehension
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- Writing apprehension (WA) is a person’s
tendencies to approach or avoid writing
situations accompanied by some amount of
perceived evaluation (Daly & Wilson, 1983).
- WA is a “distress associated with writing and
a profound distaste for the process” (Madigan,
Linton & Johnson, 1996, p. 295).
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Aspects
Written products
Sources
Daly, 1977; Faigley, Daly & Witte, 1981; Hassan, 2001
Writing competency Daly, 1978; Faigley et al., 1981; Lee & Krashen, 2002;
Singh & Rajalingam, 2012
Writing process
Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012; Gungle & Taylor, 1989; Masny
& Foxall, 1992; Self, 1981
Behaviors in writing Daly & Miller, 1975b; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Masny &
Foxall, 1992; Selfe, 1981; Singh & Rajalingam, 2012
Attitudes towards
writing
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Daly, 1978; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Selfe, 1981; Singh &
Rajalingam, 2012
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Avoidance
Behaviors
Low self-confidence
Unpleasantness
Attitudes
Fear of evaluation
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Factors
Sources
Learning experience
Latif, 2007; Lee, 2002; Powell, 1984
Lack of linguistic knowledge
Latif, 2007; Öztürk & Çeçen, 2007
Comparison deficiency
Daly, 1985
Misunderstanding of composing process
Lee & Krashen, 1997
Perceived writing performance
improvement
Instructional practices
Latif, 2007
Nature of writing task
Faigley et al., 1981; Huwari & Aziz, 2011
Time constraint
Raisman, 1982
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Latif, 2007
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2. Literature review
Not learning writing previously
Negative results in L1 learning
Learning
experience
Factors
Lack of
linguistic
knowledge
Low grades in previous essay
exams
Lack of teacher’s feedback
Teacher’s ineffective feedback
Teacher’s criticism
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• To what extent do Vietnamese EFL undergraduates
experience writing apprehension?
• What are factors that might mediate students’
writing apprehension?
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Vietnamese EFL undergraduates at Nguyen Tat Thanh
University, HCMC, Vietnam
a questionnaire designed in a five-point Likert scale format
1: strongly disagree
2: disagree
3: uncertain
4: agree
5: strongly agree
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Personal
information
Gender
Year of birth
Avoidance
WA Scales
Behaviors
Attitudes
Questionnaire
Low self-confidence
Unpleasantness
Fear of evaluation
Not learning writing previously
Factors
accounting
for WA
Negative results in L1 learning
Learning experience
Low grades in previous essay exams
Lack of teacher’s feedback
Lack of linguistic
knowledge
Teacher’s ineffective feedback
Teacher’s criticism
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WRITING APPREHENSION SCALES
Evidence of WA
Avoidance
N of
items
6
Samples
If possible, I will not choose jobs that
require me to write in English.
Behaviors
Low selfconfidence
Unpleasantness
Attitudes
Fear of
evaluation
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6
5
I’m not good at writing in English.
I find writing in English unrewarding.
I don’t like my English writings to be
evaluated.
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FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR WRITING APPREHENSION
Factors
Samples
N of
items
I did not learn how to compose English writings in my lower
Learning Not learning writing
4 levels of education.
experience previously
I experienced negative outcomes in learning Vietnamese.
Negative results in L1
6
learning
I got low scores in my previous final English essay exams.
Low grades in
3
previous essay exams
My teacher did not give feedback on my English writings.
Lack of teacher’s
5
feedback
My teacher’s feedback on my English writings was
Teacher’s ineffective
5 incomprehensible
feedback
Teacher’s criticism
Lack of linguistic knowledge
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My teacher overused criticism of my English writings.
5
My deficient English linguistic knowledge hinders my English
writing ability.
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Analyze
Distribute
Revise
Consult
Translate
Design
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Aspects
N of
Cronbach’s Mean SD
alpha
items
Avoidance
6
.886
2.681 .996
Low self-confidence
6
.703
3.898 .517
Unpleasantness
3
.928
2.390 1.196
Fear of evaluation
5
.910
3.036 1.067
Table 4.1. Evidence of writing apprehension
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Learning
experience
Factors
Not learning writing previously
N of Cronbach’s
items
alpha
Mean
SD
3
.811
3.048 1.056
Negative results in L1 learning
6
.843
1.607
.624
Low grades in previous essay exams
3
.776
3.454
.752
Lack of teacher’s feedback
4
.845
2.810
.961
Teacher’s ineffective feedback
4
.747
2.540
.713
Teacher’s criticism
4
.815
2.198
.751
5
.909
3.139 .953
Lack of linguistic knowledge
Table 4.2. Factors accounting for writing apprehension
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Not
Low grades
Negative
Teacher's
Lack of
learning
in previous Lack of
Teacher’s
results in
teacher's ineffective
linguistic
criticism
writing
essay
feedback feedback
knowledge
previously L1 learning exams
Avoidance
Pearson
Correlation
.250**
-.030
.083
.202*
.306**
.195*
.231*
.007
.752
.374
.030
.001
.036
.013
.206*
-.079
.161
.224*
.065
-.040
.266**
.026
.398
.085
.016
.486
.672
.004
-.089
-.043
-.024
.214*
.118
.094
.131
Sig. (2-tailed)
.344
.649
.799
.021
.208
.313
.161
Pearson
Correlation
.064
-.071
-.051
.156
.073
-.016
.136
Sig. (2-tailed)
.493
.448
.587
.095
.437
.864
.144
Sig. (2-tailed)
Low selfconfidence
Pearson
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
Unpleasantness
Fear of
evaluation
Pearson
Correlation
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
N = 116
Table 4.3. Correlations among factors accounting for WA and evidence of WA
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• Students reflected their WA in two aspects:
low self-confidence and fear of evaluation.
• Three factors caused WA for students: (1) Not
learning writing previously, (2) Low grades in
previous essay exams, and (3) Lack of linguistic
knowledge.
• Avoidance and low self-confidence behavior
correlated to many factors.
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• Build students’ confidence
• Avoid formal evaluations of early essays
• Handle factors that contribute to students’
apprehension about writing
• Treat factors that affect students’
manifestations of WA
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• cover a more varied range of factors
• invite a larger number of participants
• conduct in-depth interview
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REFERENCES
Al_Sawalha, A. M. S. & Chow, T. V. F. (2012). The effects of writing apprehension in English on the
writing
process of Jordanian EFL students at Yarmouk University. International
Interdisciplinary Journal of Education, 1 (1), 6 – 14.
Daly, J. A. (1977). The effects of writing apprehension on message encoding. Journalism
Quarterly, 54(3), 566-572.
Daly, J. A. (1978). Writing apprehension and writing competency. The Journal of Educational
Research, 72, 10-14.
Daly, J. A. (1985). Writing apprehension. In M. Rose (Ed.), When a Writer can’t Write (pp. 43-82).
New York: Guilford.
Daly, J. A., & Miller, M. D. (1975b, winter 1975). Further studies in writing apprehension: SAT
scores, success expectations, willingness to take advanced courses and sex differences.
Research in theTeaching of English, 9 (3), 250-256.
Daly, J. A., & Wilson, D. A. (1983). Writing apprehension, self-esteem, and personality. Research in
the Teaching of English, 17, 327-341.
Faigley, L., Daly, J. A., & Witte, S. P. (1981). The role of writing apprehension in writing
performance and writing competency. Journal of Educational Research, 75, 16-21.
Gungle, B. W., & Taylor, V. (1989). Writing apprehension and second language writers. In D. M.
Johnson, & D. H. Roen (Eds.), Richness in writing: Empowering ESL students (pp. 235248). New York: Longman.
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REFERENCES
Hassan, B. (2001). The relationship of writing apprehension and self-esteem to the writing
quality and quantity of EFL university students. Mansoura Faculty of Education
Journal, 39, 1-36.
Huwari, I. F., & Aziz, N. H. A. (2011). Writing apprehension in English among Jordanian postgraduate
students at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM). Academic Research International, 1 (2), 190 –
198.
Latif, M. A. (2007). The factors accounting for the Egyptian EFL university students’ negative
writing affect. Essex Graduate Student Papers in Language & Linguistics, 9, 57-82.
Lee, S. Y., & Krashen, S. (1997). Writing apprehension in Chinese as a first language. ITL: Review of
Applied Linguistics, 115-116, 27-37.
Lee, S. Y. (2002). The influence of cognitive/affective factors on L1/L2 literacy transfers. Studies in
English Language and Literature, 10, 17-32.
Lee, S. Y., & Krashen, S. (2002). Predictors of success in writing in English as a foreign
language:
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532-543.
Lindemann, E. (1995). A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University
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Madigan, R., Linton, P., & Johnson, S. (1996). The paradox of writing apprehension. In L. Gregg & E.R.
Steinberg (Eds.), Cognitive processes in writing (pp.295-307). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
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REFERENCES
Masny, D. & Foxall, J. (1992). Writing Apprehension in L2. Washington DC: Office of
Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 352844)
Öztürk, H., & Çeçen, S. (2007). The effects of portfolio keeping on writing anxiety of
EFL Students. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 3 (2), 218 – 236.
Pingping, H. (2006). An exploratory study of English writing strategies. CELEA Journal,
29 (2), 61 – 70.
Powell, B. J. (1984). A comparison of students' attitudes and success in writing. Journal
of Negro Education, 53, 114-123.
Raisman, N. (1982). I just can’t do English: Writing anxiety in the classroom. English in
the Two-Year College, 9 (1), 19-23.
Selfe, C. L. (1981). The composing processes of high and low writing apprehensives: A
modified case-study. Washington, DC: Educational Resources Information
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Singh, T. K. R., & Rajalingam, S. K. (2012). The relationship of writing apprehension
level and self-efficacy beliefs on writing proficiency level among preuniversity students. English Language Teaching, 5 (7), 42-52.
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