Do Medical Students Experience Writing Anxiety While Learning English as a Foreign Language?

Abstract

AimThe study examines English Foreign Language (EFL) writing anxiety among medical students in terms of the levels, types, and causes of writing anxiety.MethodsThis study is a cross-sectional study consisting of 684 first-year medical students from Jordanian universities. The participants responded to an online survey consists of Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) and Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI), 15 of whom were invited for semi-structured interviews.ResultsThe results reveal that the participants experience a high level of writing anxiety, with cognitive anxiety as its dominant type. As for the main causes of writing anxiety, they are linguistic difficulties, insufficient writing practice, low self-confidence in writing, and fear of writing tests. The findings from qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews reinforce the results of quantitative data.ConclusionThe study sheds light on the problems of English Foreign Language writing anxiety and raises awareness of language teachers and syllabus designers.