An Investigation of L2 Learners’ Writing Self-Efficacy, Writing Anxiety and Its Causes at Higher Education in Turkey

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating higher education L2 learners in a Turkish context in terms of writing self-efficacy, writing anxiety, and the causes of writing anxiety. The data have been collected through the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI), developed by Cheng, (2004), and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), and Writing Efficacy Scale (WES), developed by Yavuz-Erkan (2004). The participants of the study are 172 English Language and Literature students enrolled in a Turkish state university. Descriptive, variance and correlation analyses were conducted in order to analyze the data. The results indicate that the participants have a moderate level of writing self-efficacy in terms of content, accuracy, design and unity sub-components of writing self-efficacy and have a high level of efficacy in punctuation. In relation to writing anxiety, the participants were found to have a moderate level of writing anxiety. The results of the study suggest that male students have higher levels of writing self-efficacy and they suffer less from writing anxiety. The study also indicated that the major causes of writing anxiety on the part of Turkish L2 learners were time pressure and negative evaluation of the teacher. Finally, correlation analysis indicated that there is a strong negative correlation between writing self-efficacy and writing anxiety.