FL writing apprehension of university students

Abstract EN

Research oh writing apprehension (WA) is relatively scarce.

This: study was: intended tp: (I) assess university students' apprehension of : English writings (2) identtfy its correlation with their achievement; and (3) spotlight the effect of formaily'-foGused pedagogy oil WA evocation.

The researcher analysed the responses of (15;I) Arab university students of English on a 36-iteiii questionnaire encompassing five WA-rclated scales, namely (1) the students' perceptions and attitudes towards English writing, (2) their selfcefficacy, (3) the pedagogical fo-; cus, (4) the evaluation focus, and (5) the restrictions imposed on the sye and duration of written production.

The independent variables :; were the students1 sex and academic level.

;: The study revealed itfrat students felt considerable WA: that females and advanced students' experienced more WA fcjhin males and less advanced students; that an inverse correlation existed between WA and achievement, thus endorsing previous findings, and that more WA was manifested as a result of the instructors fociis on grammatical accuracy at the expense of fluency and thought organization.

The study recommends that WA be considered a& an important variable in English : writing, that collabQt'itive student oriented-teaching practices be adopt-• ;ed:in the classroom, and that focus be laid on the writing processes, development of ideas, organization, fluency.