Writing Anxiety in Chinese Non-English Major EFL Undergraduates: Causes and Consequences

Abstract

This research paper studies the writing anxiety in Chinese non-English major EFL (English as a Foreign Language) undergraduates in terms of causes and consequences. 200 non-English major learners at different universities with age ranging from 18 to 24 finished the questionnaires including Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Scale (FLWAS) with 26 items and 50 of the participants in Sichuan International Studies University were chosen randomly to accept the interviews and took a test that measured writing in English. The results presented that: 1) FLWAS had 4 leading factorsFLWAS1 Dislike of Writing English, FLWAS2 Low Confidence in English Writing, FLWAS3 Writing Evaluation Apprehension and FLWAS4 Fear of Negative Comments; 2) a great number of factors leaded to English writing anxiety; 3) among the samples the general profile of English Writing Anxiety was revealed; 4) Writing anxiety had both beneficial and detrimental effects on how students learned to write in English;5) English writing anxiety demonstrated negative correlation with English writing performance.