A Brief Analysis on Effects of Anxiety on Student Approach to L2 Writing Tests
Hediye Gamze Turkmen, Turkey
Hediye Gamze Türkmen is an instructor and a PhD student at Gediz University, Turkey. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education Management. She is interested in the field of English for specific purposes (ESP) and organizational behavior related effects on EFL. E-mail: gamze.turkmen@gediz.edu.tr
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Abstract
Introduction
Literature review
Methodology
Data analysis and result
Discussion and conclusion
References
Studies have shown that L2 writing tests are considered to be one of the sources of anxiety which reduce the intellectual performance of students who suffer severely from the effects of the phenomenon. Writing in a foreign language is a demanding skill to develop for many of the students and methods to increase the efficiency of L2 writing instruction have been explored in detailed studies. In this short paper, the general relationship between anxiety and approach of students towards L2 writing tests has been explored. This study seeks to find a starting point to reduce the anxiety related to L2 writing tests and while analyzing the course based reasons that produce or strengthen anxiety, reach a point of understanding why students experience this type of difficulty.
The effects of anxiety on human life and performance have been discussed for several decades. Anxiety leads to cognitive interference in completing certain tasks (Sarason, 1980). Many studies have proven that it affects intellectual performance in a wide range (Eysenck, 1985). There is also another type of anxiety, defined as “language anxiety”, where learners of a second language experience tension and apprehension related to contexts of the second language that is studied and its source is limited to the language learning, other than any possible reason causing the outcome. However, when it comes to L2 writing, it would be restrictive to determine the conditions only within language learning. Hence, it facilitates the analysis of the issue if the general conditions result in anxiety in EFL writing classes that the type of anxiety is not restricted by a predefined concept. In this paper, the concept of anxiety is discussed within its general definition. Anxiety, as a feeling of being worried without reasonable ground may be a concern for all types of tests. Nonetheless, it increases when students of EFL who already indicate the symptoms of anxiety because of the special aspects of writing. Writing is claimed to be a more difficulty skill to acquire compared to other language skills (Gupta, 1988). Therefore, the notion of anxiety experienced by EFL students may be considered as an issue to be reduced by the classroom environment and teacher. That is one reason to discuss and consider effects of anxiety on student approach to L2 writing tests. In this study, the effects of anxiety on students’ approach to L2 writing tests are approached by the results obtained from the student responses to the questionnaire and general observation of the class after a semester of instruction. Although the context is wide and method is limited currently, it is aimed to reach a point to begin for a detailed exploration and analysis of the subject.
Anxiety in students is a common concern in all types of teaching because of its severe results that complicate the analysis of issues such as low test scores, difficult classroom management, and student distraction.
The outcomes of the anxiety can be generalized according to the definition Gleitman (1987) put forward: The individual who suffers from anxiety is “constantly tense, worried, feels inadequate, is oversensitive, can’t concentrate or make decisions…” The emotional results in an individual who experiences anxiety generally consists of "feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability, restlessness, watching (and waiting) for signs (and occurrences) of danger, and, feeling like your mind's gone blank (Smith, 2008). Some findings indicate a common outcome of weakened attentional control and lack of concentration, especially observed in children and elderly (Maylor and Lavie, 1998). The effects of anxiety on learning and in general on intellectual performance are usually considered negative and obstructive. When certain measures were analyzed, it was highlighted that (language) anxiety brought out a significant negative impact on students’ perception of learning a new language (Phillips, 1992). On the contrary, anxiety could result in positive outcome. For example, it has been pointed out that an anxious language student is likely to study more than relaxed students. Nevertheless, their test scores could be lower than relaxed students despite their high efforts (Horwitz et al., 1986).
Most of the research conducted on the effects of anxiety in EFL classrooms has been focused on the test results as they could be analyzed as measures of performance. However, it is clear that getting low test scores may have various reasons and distinguishing the anxiety oriented failures or low scores may not be very simple, considering the complex variables of achievement in foreign language learning. Despite its quality of being very difficult to analyze, course of proceeding in an EFL classroom could be a suitable platform to observe anxiety and its effects on learning. Students’ own comments of how they perceive the class or the way they act during the class time are important signs of the anxiety factors if any.
When it comes to L2 writing anxiety, besides observations of the language teacher, measurement instruments are also critical. Y.-S. Cheng’s study (2004) was especially focuses on the L2 writing anxiety scales and it introduced a multidimensional measure to assess L2 writing anxiety. The study stated that a multidimensional measure makes it possible to examine the relationships between different aspects of L2 writing anxiety and levels of writing performance and practice.
There are many studies on the effects of anxiety on scores and performance in EFL tests and some of them are specifically on writing tests. One of them concludes that most of the students need anxiety to a certain extent and anxiety can provide the test taker a kind of concentration that is an outcome of what is called facilitative anxiety (Negari & Rezaabadi, 2012).
Hence, the psychological and measure related discussions were not included in the paper but the general effects of anxiety on EFL writing have been analyzed. Test performance which has already been discussed in wider research and studies is also excluded from this study.
Among the various models and approaches used to analyze anxiety in language learning, this study employed an adopted and modified version of Anxiety and Reading Comprehension Questionnaire. Although the questionnaire used with the kind permission of N. Muller is designed for Reading Comprehension, its simplicity and easy to understand structure provided a base to adapt it to the writing field. English Writing Self-efficacy Scale (EWSS) guided the adaptation and expressions to be used in the new version of the questionnaire.
Participants
This study involved 72 students at an Academic Writing class in English at a higher education institution in Turkey. The learners were at upper intermediate level that had studied English and passed proficiency exam before. All students were from the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. Students were not asked or allowed to write their names or any identifying information.
Materials and instrument
An original writing anxiety questionnaire was derived from Nellie Muller (2014) and the EWSS’s question concept was taken into consideration while generating a new scale. The participants were given the questionnaire in paper and requested to indicate their answers in 15 minutes. 32 questions were answered by the participants. However, during the analysis, it was decided not to include all questions but selected 18 questions which could form a perspective to this limited research.
A Likert-type scale with three possible responses to each of the questions was used. The scale consisted of 1 (yes), 2 (no) and 3 (can’t decide). R program was used for the statistical analysis.
Results of the questionnaire were analyzed question by question. Different nature of questions and the correlation of answers of the students were taken into account while trying to reach consequences. To have a better understanding of the participants’ level of anxiety, if any, and their approach to L2 writing tests, short comments were added to the questions during the analysis. All the short comments are considered to be a guide for further and detailed research.
First of all, certain contingency tables were formed to detect the relation of anxiety and approach to EFL writing tests. The questionnaire consisted of specific questions to determine the anxiety and student approach to be tested on English Writing. Therefore, the relation between two types of questions is notable.
Out of 72 participants, 39 participants answered the Question 3 “I feel comfortable taking writing exams in English” as “yes”. The question 8 that is specifically related to a physical symptom of anxiety, “I get stomachaches before English writing exams” is answered as “yes” by 20 students. 11 students answered the both questions as “yes”. Also the general test approach of the participants is measured with the Question 1. 46 students answered the Question 1 “I like to be tested on English Writing” as “yes”. 26 of these students answered the Question 5 “I study regularly so I don’t need to study for hours before a Writing Exam” as “yes”. This indicates that students who study regularly like to be tested on L2 writing since they feel ready. Question 4, “I prepare for English Writing exams” was answered “yes” by 57 students, whereas only 14 students answered “no”. 35 of the positively answering students claimed they did not experience any symptoms of anxiety such as stomachaches, distraction or “going blank”.
The general opinion of the participants on L2 Writing is indicated by the Question 9; “L2 Writing is a very important subject to study”. 51 of the participants answered positively. However out 51, 24 students stated they believed L2 writing exams are useless. 20 participants out of this category claimed they always had thought of failure while taking a writing exam. Moreover, although 61% of the students admitted they had thought of failure, the belief that L2 writing exams are useless is not common among the students. The participants mostly believed L2 writing is very important and exams are not useless. However, this common positive approach toward the course and its exams did not reduce the rate of experiencing anxiety related symptoms.
Only %33 of the participants stated they scored much lower on exams than on homework. Of course, they may be another variable here: The instructor’s attitude towards grading. This question related to the comparison of scoring may be given to other groups from the classes instructed by different teachers. Only 18% of the participants told they found themselves thinking “I can’t do this” while taking an L2 writing exam. The same issue occurs here, as well. More variables should be taken into consideration and more groups should be analyzed.
To test independence, Fisher Exact Test was applied. A negatively significant relationship was found between studying regularly and experiencing symptoms of anxiety during tests. Also a negatively significant relationship was determined between believing L2 writing exams are useless and studying regularly.
To obtain more valid results and reach a scientific perspective, it would be useful to increase the number of participants with other students from different instructors’ classes and different levels of English. New variables can be added and different questionnaires to determine the effect of instructor and grading on L2 writing anxiety can be given. This study, despite being limited and brief, indicates that it may be useful to encourage L2 writing students to study regularly with interesting materials. By this method, anxiety factor may be reduced and students may feel that exams are not useless, but a way to find out their own progress in writing performance.
The study points to the need to prepare a more convenient curriculum for L2 writing classes which could even result in a more accurate way of grading of homework or class assignments or writing workshops, eliminating the necessity of giving an exam. As mentioned before, a more detailed research may be useful to determine the aspects of a more convenient curriculum for L2 writing that will encourage students to learn without anxiety or test performance concerns which occur as a result of anxiety.
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