Factors accounting for writing apprehension of vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in english language m a

Table 3.2: Sources of Items in the Scale of Avoidance of Writing Table 3.3: Sources of Items in the Scale of Negative Perceptions of Writing Ability Table 3.4: Sources of Items in the Sc

FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR WRITING

APPREHENSION OF VIETNAMESE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS MAJORING IN

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature in partial

fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

First of all, I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my

esteemed supervisor, Dr Đặng Tấn Tín, who has always provided me with valuable

insight and well-considered advice I am grateful to him for being patient and

supportive Without my advisor’s great guidance, I would have never reached this

destination

In addition, I owe a special debt to the students and teachers in Nguyễn Tất Thành

University, Hochiminh City, Vietnam for their kind cooperation during my data

collection process My thesis could not have been completed without their

participation and contribution I truly appreciate the time and effort they put into this

study

My grateful thanks also go to my teachers in Faculty of English Linguistic &

Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National

University - Hochiminh City for their help in broadening my horizons

Moreover, sincere thanks should go to my classmates for sharing both difficulties and enjoyment during our studying time

Finally yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to my parents and

my brother for their understanding, support and encouragement

Table of Contents ii

1.5 Significance of the study 5

2.1 Definition of writing apprehension 8 2.2 Indications of writing apprehension 10

2.2.1 Written products 10

2.2.3 Writing behaviors 12 2.2.4 Writing attitudes 12 2.3 Factors accounting for writing apprehension 15 2.3.1 Students’ experience and knowledge 15 2.3.2 Students’ perceptions of writing matters 18

2.5 Conceptual framework 21

writing apprehension 53 4.1.3 The level of writing apprehension 55 4.1.4 Mediating factors of writing apprehension 56

Table 3.2: Sources of Items in the Scale of Avoidance of Writing

Table 3.3: Sources of Items in the Scale of Negative Perceptions of Writing Ability Table 3.4: Sources of Items in the Scale of Unpleasantness about Writing

Table 3.5: Sources of Items in the Scale of Fear of Evaluation

Table 3.6: Sample Items in the Four Scales in Writing Apprehension Measure

Table 3.7: Sources and Sample Items in the Scales Regarding Factors Causing Writing Apprehension

Table 3.8: Tests Used to Analyze Quantitative Data in the Current Study

Table 3.9: Sample of the 18-item List Categorized in Four Indications of Writing Apprehension

Table 3.10: Sample of the 24-item List Categorized in Seven Mediating Factors of Writing Apprehension

Table 4.1: An Extract of Skewness and Kurtosis Values of 18 Items in Writing

Apprehension Measure

Table 4.2: An Extract of Skewness and Kurtosis Values of 24 Items Regarding Factors Accounting for Writing Apprehension

Table 4.3a: Reliability Statistics of the Scale of Avoidance of Writing

Table 4.3b: Item-total Statistics of the Scale of Avoidance of Writing

Table 4.4: Cronbach’s Alpha Values of Four Scales in Writing Apprehension Measure Table 4.5: The Cronbach’s Alpha Values of Scales Regarding Factors Accounting for Writing Apprehension

Table 4.6: Descriptive Statistics of Four Scales in Writing Apprehension Measure Table 4.7: The Correlations between Indications of Writing Apprehension and Factors Accounting for Writing Apprehension

Figure 2.1 Conceptual framework

Figure 2.2 Conceptual framework employed in the current study

Appendix 2: Items of Scales in the Questionnaire

Appendix 3: Questionnaire (English Version)

Appendix 4: Questionnaire (Vietnamese Version)

Appendix 5: Skewness and Kurtosis Values of the Questionnaire Items

Appendix 6: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Negative Perceptions of Writing Ability

Appendix 7: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Unpleasantness about Writing

Appendix 8: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Fear of Evaluation

Appendix 9: The Reliability Test of the Scale of No Prior Learning of English Writing Appendix 10: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Negative Experience of L1 Writing Appendix 11: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Low Grades on Previous English Writing Exams

Appendix 12: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Lack of Teacher’s Feedback

Appendix 13: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Teacher’s Ineffective Feedback Appendix 14: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Teacher’s Criticism

Appendix 15: The Reliability Test of the Scale of Lack of Linguistic Knowledge Appendix 16: Interview Form (English Version)

Appendix 17: Interview Form (Vietnamese Version)

Appendix 18: A Sample of Interview Script (The Translated Version)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

WA Writing Apprehension

WAT Writing Apprehension Test

ABSTRACT

EFL learners’ writing apprehension is suggested to significantly affect learners’ writing skill development and even prevent them from ever achieving a high level of writing proficiency However, this disorder has just been paid initial attention since 1990s In the context of EFL education in Vietnam, students often indicate that they are afraid of writing in English Therefore, research on writing apprehension is important

This study was conducted to investigate the extent to which Vietnamese EFL students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension and understand associated reasons This study employed a mixed methods research design 130 students

in Nguyen Tat Thanh University, HCMC, Vietnam were invited to complete a questionnaire, designed in a five-point Likert scale format The instrument was developed from Daly and Miller (1975a), Gungle and Taylor (1989), and related literature Among 130 responses, 116 valid responses were taken into the analysis procedure Statistical tests were conducted to examine the distribution of data, the reliability of the questionnaire, the extent to which students experience writing apprehension, and understand mediating factors of this disorder Based on preliminary results obtained from the analyses of questionnaire data, a qualitative semi-structured interview was conducted with 16 volunteer participants to understand how the factors affected their writing apprehension The data were transcribed, translated, and organized into categories for interpretation

The data analyses indicated that the participants held negative perceptions of their writing ability and were afraid of the evaluation of their English writings Besides, the data analyses showed six issues about the correlations between indications of writing apprehension and factors accounting for the disorder First, students who did not learn how to write in English previously avoided writing and perceived their writing ability negatively Second, when the feedback from teachers was insufficient, students tended

to avoid writing situations, hold negative perceptions of their writing ability and feel unpleasant about writing in English The ineffectiveness of teacher’s feedback contributed to students’ avoidance of writing Third, when students’ linguistic knowledge was inadequate, they tended to avoid writing situations, perceive their

writing ability negatively and be afraid of the evaluation of their English writings

Fourth, students’ negative experience of L1 writing was independent from their writing

apprehension Fifth, students’ low grades on previous English writing exams did not account for their writing apprehension Sixth, teacher’s criticism about students’ English writing assignments was not associated with their writing apprehension

Based on the findings, implications for effective teaching and learning were then proposed to minimize EFL writing apprehension in the local context Vietnamese undergraduate students who major in English language held negative perceptions of their writing ability and were afraid of the evaluation of their English writings Those teachers who have been teaching English to Vietnamese undergraduate students should acknowledge the existence of these aspects of writing apprehension among the students Teachers should also be aware of the mediating factors of this disorder to deal with them for the reduction of their effects on students’ writing apprehension Some limitations exist in the current study It suggests some issues to be investigated

in further research to better address the area of writing apprehension

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This thesis looked into the writing apprehension of Vietnamese undergraduate students who major in English language It also looked into the factors that possibly mediate their writing apprehension The first chapter of this thesis introduces the study reported in this thesis The chapter starts with the rationales and the description of the study context It continues with aims, research questions, significance and scope of the study The chapter concludes with an outline of the thesis

1.1 Rationales

Writing skill has been identified as one of the most significant skills for work recruitment, work promotion, personal recognition and studying of English language learners Regarding the importance of writing skill in work recruitment, English writing ability would become one of the most important criteria for qualified personnel in the 21st century (Wen, 1996) In terms of work promotion, writing well in English is a form of economic power Although writing well in English may not necessarily lead to one’s promotion, inadequate writing development endangers one’s success (Lindemann, 1995) Concerning the significance of writing in personal

recognition, writing is a means for the writers to discover who they are (Lindemann, 1995) In addition, writing skill is substantially significant in language learning As an indispensable component of the second language acquisition, writing can reflect students’ overall mastery of English language learning (Pingping, 2006) Moreover, writing enables them to use language accurately and it may well activate their language development (Harmer, 2004)

Despite the importance of writing skill, it is emphasized less than other language skills (Peng, 2011) It may be because writing is the most difficult skill, especially for learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) (Richards & Renandya, 2002)

Learners of English often indicate that they are apprehensive about writing in English Writing apprehension has been a tremendous challenge for first language (L1) writers, second language (ESL) and foreign language writers (Al_Ahmad, 2003) In this study, the term ESL and EFL writing apprehension are used interchangeably to refer to the apprehension about writing in English of students who use English other than their L1

Research on L1 writing apprehension seems to be conducted from the mid-1970s Meanwhile, ESL writing apprehension has been examined much later, since 1990s The studies in this area were mostly devoted to examine the levels of students’ writing apprehension, factors accounting for it (Latif, 2007), and the correlations between this disorder and different aspects like self-efficacy (Singh & Rajalingam, 2012), writing process (Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012), writing quality and quantity (Hassan, 2001), writing performance (Erkan & Saban, 2011) It should also be noticed that these researches have been conducted in EFL contexts other than Vietnam These are Egypt (Hassan, 2001; Latif 2007), Malaysia (Singh & Rajalingam, 2012), Jordan

(Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012) and Turkey (Erkan & Saban, 2011)

Vietnamese students are believed to be different from those who come from the other EFL contexts where students’ writing apprehension was investigated in terms of cultural values As living in a community that worship collectivist spirit in which the community benefits go before individual benefits (Phan, 2010), Vietnamese students depend too much on the community and are considered less confident in their ability than those who are from other countries As a result, they are more likely to encounter writing apprehension Moreover, as Vietnamese students respect learning and

knowledge (Phan, 2010), they cared about their learning achievement, including the achievement of language learning Consequently, they may love to explore different factors that reduce their level of writing proficiency, including writing apprehension

Due to the indigenous cultural values of Vietnamese, it is believed that the level of Vietnamese students’ writing apprehension and the factors contributing to this disorder may be different from those of students from other EFL contexts

Consequently, it is necessary to conduct a study to address the two issues to expand the understanding of Vietnamese EFL students’ writing apprehension and factors accounting for their writing apprehension

1.2 Context of the study

In the context of education in Vietnam, the demand for English studying is high and still growing English, the most popular foreign language, is taught during primary, secondary, high schools and tertiary education Explosive interest in English language learning has been witnessed since Vietnam joined in World Trade Organization in

2006 Concerning the need of having good command of English in the new millennium, the ultimate goal of Vietnamese learners of English is to achieve proficiency in English language skills for international exchange and better paid employment (Hoang, 2010)

In English classrooms in Vietnam, the emphasis is on the development of reading comprehension, vocabulary and structural patterns (Hoang, 2010) The other macro skills, especially writing skill, are neglected By the same token, Vietnamese teachers

of English focus more on language knowledge rather than language use and more on receptive skills than productive skills, including writing skill (Le, 2000, as cited in Trinh, 2005) Consequently, to many Vietnamese EFL students, including Vietnamese EFL students majoring in English, writing is a substantial challenge (Dao, 2008) One

of the possible reasons for their failure at writing is their writing apprehension As EFL students, they often feel stressful and anxious when writing in a foreign language (Spratt & Leung, 2000)

The problem of writing apprehension is acknowledged among Vietnamese undergraduate students in the local EFL training context Pedagogical techniques should be suggested to deal with the problem Controlling writing apprehension and its mediating factors successfully will assist in alleviating negative effects of writing apprehension on these students’ writing performance This becomes more significant nowadays because of the internationalization and globalization Communicating through writing is essential in the modern world and is becoming ever more so when

we participate in the information age Vietnamese EFL students now who will become the main labor force of the country in the future have to communicate through writing skillfully because written communication is inevitable Cultivating the writing ability

of students majoring in English is even more important since these students are potentially professional workers in the area of English language and their writing ability could have considerable effects on their future careers

Taking this contextual situation into account, the present study that aims to address the writing apprehension of Vietnamese EFL students was conducted The concrete aims

of this study are presented in the section that follows

1.3 Aims of the study

The study presented in this thesis sets out to achieve two main objectives The first aim is to understand the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students who major in English language experience writing apprehension The second aim is to examine possible factors accounting for their writing apprehension

2 What are the factors that might mediate their writing apprehension?

1.5 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this study provides a questionnaire specially designed for understanding the extent to which students experience writing apprehension This questionnaire also helps to examine factors accounting for their writing apprehension This instrument was developed and validated during the study The rigorous process employed in the study increases the validity and reliability of the instrument Therefore, it can be a reference for future researchers who would like to address the same issues Second, a conceptual framework for the study has been developed Related literature on writing apprehension and its mediating factors has been summarized systematically These would act as the sound theoretical foundation for further studies of the same

objectives Lastly, the findings of this study would contribute to the scant understanding of Vietnamese undergraduate students’ writing apprehension

Practically, as one of initial studies of EFL writing apprehension in the context of Vietnam, it can shed light into the teaching of English writing skill in the local context Being aware of the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension and mediating factors

of their writing apprehension, teachers of English can set up appropriate methods to help alleviate their students’ writing apprehension Subsequently, these students could

achieve a higher level of proficiency in writing in English

1.6 Scope of the study

First, the study reported in this thesis focused on understanding the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension and factors accounting for their writing apprehension among many different aspects relevant to writing apprehension Second, the current investigation restricts itself to investigate two indications of writing apprehension to understand the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension These two indications are their writing behaviors and their writing attitudes Other indications of writing apprehension which were also discussed in the literature review, Written products and Writing process, were

excluded in the study Third, the group of factors related to students’ experience and knowledge was examined in this study to understand whether they account for the writing apprehension of Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language The other two groups of factors, including Students’ perceptions of writing matters and Writing tasks, were not taken into account in this study

1.7 Outline of the study

This thesis consists of five chapters

Chapter 1 is an introduction to the study The chapter starts with the rationale and the description of the study context It then continues with aims of the study and research questions Then, significance and scope of the study are presented The chapter concludes with an outline of the thesis

Chapter 2 is a review on literature relevant to the study focus This chapter starts with the definition of writing apprehension It then continues with a review on the

indications of writing apprehension Next, it documents factors accounting for this disorder The chapter ends with a conceptual framework to be employed in the study

Chapter 3 describes the methodology of the investigation It starts with the research questions and the research design Then, the descriptions of the participants and the instruments are presented It also describes the procedures of data collection The chapter ends with the procedures of data analysis

Chapter 4 reports on the results of the study and the discussion of the research results

In this chapter, data collected from the instruments are analyzed It then presents the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension It also highlights mediating factors of their writing apprehension Then, the results of the study are discussed

Chapter 5 is a conclusion It firstly summarizes the study in terms of objectives, methods and findings Pedagogical implications are suggested Then, the limitations

of the present investigation and proposals for future research are presented The chapter ends with a general conclusion

This chapter has served as an introduction to the study reported in this thesis It introduced the rationales and context of the study It further laid out the objectives, research questions and significance of the study Then, the chapter highlighted the scope of the study Finally, it presented the outline of the thesis Chapter 2 will be devoted to presenting the related literature and discussing the conceptual framework

to be employed in the study

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter reviews the literature on writing apprehension, indications of writing apprehension and factors accounting for this disorder It starts with the definition of writing apprehension and continues with a review of the indications of writing apprehension Factors accounting for writing apprehension are then synthesized The chapter ends with a conceptual framework to be employed in the current study

2.1 Definition of writing apprehension

This first section of Chapter 2 presents the definition of writing apprehension It also attempts to distinguish writing apprehension from writer’s block, a related

phenomenon

The term writing apprehension is first coined by Daly and Miller (1975a) to profile the malfunction of learners’ writing processes in first languages Writing apprehension is the individual’s tendency to avoid situations that were perceived to potentially require writing that may be accompanied by some forms of evaluation (Daly & Miller, 1975a; Daly & Wilson, 1983) These researchers also developed Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) to measure the level of writing apprehension of students using English as L1 Until 1989, research on ESL writing apprehension was received the researchers’ attention in a study of Gungle and Taylor (1989) In this study, the researchers adapted

the WAT by adding the phrase “in English” to the statements of Daly and Miller

(1975a) to develop their measure of the ESL/ EFL students’ level of writing apprehension This instrument is Second Language Writing Apprehension Te st (SLWAT) ESL writing apprehension has been focused since then

In writing apprehension studies, researchers have not attempted to separate L1 from ESL/ EFL writing apprehension (Al-Sawalha & Chow, 2012) In other words, L1 and ESL writing apprehension have the same components and are reflected in the same aspects The other researchers in the field adopted or adapted WAT and SLWAT in their study without distinguishing L1 from ESL/ EFL writing apprehension

(Al_Sawalha & Chow; 2012; Erkan & Saban, 2011; Hassan, 2001; Huwari & Aziz, 2011; Lee & Krashen, 1997) Consequently, in this study, literature on both L1

writing apprehension and ESL writing apprehension was reviewed Then, based on the reviewed literature, the instrument to measure the level of writing apprehension of Vietnamese EFL students was developed

Based on what have been discussed about the definition of writing apprehension and the similarity between L1 and ESL writing apprehension, the term writing

apprehension used throughout the current study refers to the disorder associated with L1 or EFL writers’ tendencies to avoid writing situations and fear of the writing process and of being evaluated In the light of this, writing apprehension is viewed as writers’ destructive feelings about either writer himself or writing situations or writing tasks

Writing apprehension, an affective aspect of writing, has been often considered in the relationship with writer’s block, a cognitive aspect of writing The latter dysfunction is defined as “an inability to begin or continue writing for reasons other than a lack of basic skill or commitment” (Rose, 1984, p 3) Writing apprehension and writer’s block are different but related to each other Writing apprehension can be a reaction to blocking but not necessarily in coexistence and in a causal relationship with blocking (Rose, 1984) In other words, not all blockers are apprehensive about writing With regard to the influence of writing apprehension and writer’s block on language writers, “apprehension is much more debilitating than writer’s block” (Rubin, Rubin, Haridakis & Piele, 2010, p 264) A writer can often unblock by getting fresh air, taking a short walk or exercising whereas dealing with apprehension is much more challenging In essence, the distinction between writing apprehension and writer’s block should be taken into account when examining either of them Writing apprehension and writer's block are two different constructs representing the affective and cognitive dimensions of writing respectively Writer’s block can lead to writing apprehension and is less debilitating than writing apprehension Although these two disorders are both challenging to writers, the current study only focused on examining writing apprehension of language writers, which is considered more fatiguing

In short, writing apprehension is common among language learners Not only L1 writers but also ESL / EFL writers have encountered this malfunction It is important for them to recognize it and find effective ways to manage it The following section figures out the aspects through which writing apprehension is reflected, that can help students recognize this disorder

2.2 Indications of writing apprehension

This section describes the aspects through which writing apprehension is reflected Writing apprehension has been found to be reflected in four aspects namely Written products, Writing process, Writing behaviors, and Writing attitudes (Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012; Daly, 1977; Daly, 1978; Daly & Miller, 1975a; Daly & Miller, 1975b; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Faigley, Daly & Witte, 1981; Gungle & Taylor, 1989; Hassan,

2001; Masny & Foxall, 1992; Rubin et al., 2010; Selfe, 1981; Shang, 2013; Singh &

Rajalingam, 2012) These four aspects are described in detail in the sections which follow

2.2.1 Written products

Written products of L1 students with different levels of writing apprehension are found to be different High apprehensives used fewer words and phrases, fewer words ending in -ly, fewer commas, and less delimiting punctuation than low apprehensives (Daly, 1977) Moreover, high apprehensive students wrote differently and failed to demonstrate their working knowledge of writing skills in comparison to low

apprehensive counterparts (Daly, 1978) These highly apprehensive students felt it hard to deal with agreement, punctuation, adjectives, adverbs, case, diction, parallelism, recognition of sentence fragments and recognition of faulty references or pronouns In addition, by measuring the length of T-units and clauses in students’ essays, it was suggested that high apprehensive students’ essays were lower in quality, significantly shorter and syntactically less mature than their low apprehensive

counterparts (Faigley et al., 1981) A T-unit is an “independent clause plus all the subordinate elements attached to or embedded in it” (Faigley et al., 1981, p 18). In the light of this, it was suggested that students’ syntactic language choice in their

Similarly, written products of ESL/ EFL high apprehensive students are poorer than those of their low apprehensive counterparts For example, Egyptian EFL university students with high level of writing apprehension wrote worse quality compositions and qualified their writing less than their low apprehensive counterparts did (Hassan, 2001) In this study, the low apprehensive students produced compositions with higher quantity than their high apprehensive counterparts in terms of the number of words and the number of syllables produced in a certain period of time They also produced compositions with better quality in terms of writing performance, focus/ organization, support and mechanics

2.2.2 Writing process

Both L1 and ESL/ EFL students with different levels of writing apprehension have processed differently during writing stages because “writing apprehension (…)

disrupt[s] some part of the writing process” (Jahin, 2012, p 66)

L1 high and low apprehensives seem to approach writing tasks differently in all t hree phases of writing (Selfe, 1981) In the prewriting phase, these high writing

apprehensives extracted less information about the audience and the organization from their readings of the assignments, engaged in less planning of overall essay strategies, and did less written prefiguring than low writing apprehensives In the while -writing phase, high writing apprehensives were less concerned about individual sentences than low writing apprehensives In the post-writing phase, high writing apprehensives proofread, edited and revised their written work less than low writing apprehensives One participant in this study even reported that she desired to avoid prolonged involvement with the writing task, which led to her lack of planning and revision Similarly, ESL/ EFL students with different levels of writing apprehension approach writing process differently ESL students with higher writing apprehension would pay greater attention to the form of their writings (Gungle & Taylor, 1989) In other words, ESL high apprehensive students would focus much more on the form (how one writes) than the content (what one writes) in their ESL writing Concerning the

difference in the strategy use during writing process of EFL students, the level of writing apprehension of Jordanian EFL students affected the frequency of strategy use

and type of strategy use across three writing stages: pre-writing stage, while-writing stage and post-writing stage For example, high apprehensives used writing strategies more often in all three stages as compared with mid and low apprehensives

(Al_Sawalha & Chow, 2012)

2.2.3 Writing behaviors

In addition to written products and writing process, the level of L1 and ESL/ EFL students’ writing apprehension can be reflected through their writing behaviors

Students with a high level of writing apprehension tend to avoid writing situations

Those students with a high level of writing apprehension are more likely to avoid situations where they are required to write in English as compared to low

apprehensive students For example, L1 high apprehensives avoided, if possible, situations where they were required to write (Daly & Miller, 1975b) Besides, L1 high writing apprehensive students were significantly less willing to voluntarily enroll in other writing courses than low writing apprehensive students (Daly & Miller, 1975b) L1 apprehensive adults also tended to choose jobs that had significantly low writing requirements (Daly & Wilson, 1983) To conclude, L1 apprehensive writers avoid writing situations including classes, courses or jobs where writing requirements exist Similar to L1 high apprehensives, ESL/ EFL students with high apprehension, avoid writing in the target language ESL high apprehensive students were unwilling to take more writing classes (Masny & Foxall, 1992) and avoided writing even at the

beginning stages (Singh & Rajalingam, 2012) For example, one of the high apprehensives participated in a study in Malaysia expressed that he/ she always tried

to avoid writing especially in English class (Singh & Rajalingam, 2012)

2.2.4 Writing attitudes

Students’ writing apprehension can also be understood through their writing attitudes Students with different levels of writing apprehension hold different writing attitudes Apprehensive students have been found to hold negative perceptions of their writing ability, feel unpleasant about writing and fear of evaluation

Students with a high level of writing apprehension perceive their writing ability negatively They had little confidence in their ability to write (Selfe, 1981) In contrast, low apprehensive individuals got involved in writing tasks with confidence and enjoyment (Daly & Wilson, 1983) It can be concluded that the level of

confidence in writing ability of high apprehensive students is lower than that of low apprehensive students In other words, high apprehensive students hold negative

perceptions of their writing ability

High apprehensive students not only perceive their writing ability negatively but also feel unpleasant about writing tasks and writing activities Both L1 and ESL/ EFL students with a high level of writing apprehension feel unpleasant about writing in English L1 high apprehensive individuals found writing unrewarding (Daly, 1978) More seriously, they perceived writing as punishing (Daly & Wilson, 1983)

Furthermore, L1 students with high writing apprehension disliked composing (Selfe, 1981) For example, one L1 participant reported that she desired to avoid involving with the writing task as little as possible (Selfe, 1981) Similarly, ESL/ EFL high apprehensives are unpleasant about writing in the target language For instance, some Malaysian ESL high apprehensives believed that expressing the ideas through writing

in the target language was a waste of time (Singh & Rajalingam, 2012)

High apprehensive students are also afraid of the evaluation of their written products L1 students with a high level of writing apprehension “would fear evaluation of their writing, for example, feeling that they will be negatively rated on it” (Daly & Miller, 1975a, p 244) By the same token, writers who suffer from apprehension fear the act

of writing as well as evaluation of their work (Rubin et al., 2010; Selfe, 1981)

Similarly, ESL/ EFL students are frightened of writing in English when they know their English writings will be evaluated They became nervous when being asked to write an English composition in class, partially because they feared fo r receiving

negative evaluation from teachers (Shang, 2013)

In a nutshell, learners of English as L1 or L2/ FL all hold negative writing attitudes when experiencing a high level of writing apprehension High apprehensive writers express their writing apprehension in their negative perceptions of writing ability, their unpleasantness about English writing and their fear of evaluation

In this section, four indications of writing apprehension were reviewed Students’ writing apprehension has been found to be demonstrated in their written products, writing process, writing behaviors and writing attitudes Although all of these indications can help understand the level of students’ writing apprehension, many researchers in the field have examined students’ level of writing apprehension based

on their writing behaviors and their writing attitudes This is because students’ writing apprehension is obviously reflected in their writing behaviors and writing attitudes (Cheng, 2004; Daly, 1978; Daly & Miller, 1975a; Daly & Miller, 1975b; Daly &

Shamo, 1978; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Gungle & Taylor, 1989; Rubin et al., 2010;

Selfe, 1981; Singh & Rajalingam, 2012) Meanwhile, students’ writing apprehension

is indirectly shown in their written products and writing process Moreover, examining students’ written products and the processes they approach when writing need more complicated techniques like administering writing tests, assigning writing assignments, setting criteria to analyze students’ writing texts and examining the strategies students employ during the writing stages Cultivating their reported writing behaviors and writing attitudes are believed to be more explicit Therefore, in this study, writing behaviors and writing attitudes of Vietnamese EFL students who major

in English language were examined to understand the extent to which they experience apprehension about writing in English

2.3 Factors accounting for writing apprehension

Factors accounting for writing apprehension have been recently paid attention Based

on the findings of prior research, factors causing students’ writing apprehension are classified into three groups, namely Students’ experience and knowledge, Students’

perceptions of writing matters and Writing tasks These factors are discussed in detail

in the sections which follow

2.3.1 Students’ experience and knowledge

The first group of factors causing students’ writing apprehension is their prior learning experience of writing and their knowledge The factors in this group include No prior learning of English writing, Negative experience of L1 writing, Low grades on

previous English writing exams, Teacher’s feedback and Lack of linguistic

knowledge

First, students’ lack of prior experience of learning writing in English may make them encounter writing apprehension when they are required to write in English These students did not have any chance to learn about the techniques of writing in English or about the ways of expressing their ideas in English writings in their lower levels of education For instance, college students have high apprehension about writing because in their elementary and secondary schools, they have not been provided opportunities to learn to write (Powell, 1984)

In addition, the experience of writing in the mother tongue significantly affects students’ EFL writing apprehension It has been argued that EFL university students’ experience of writing in their mother tongue influenced their EFL writing because the negative past experience of their L1 writing transferred into their experience of their

FL writing and led to their apprehension and blocking (Lee, 2002) The negative past experience of L1 writing includes teachers' negative comments, low grading, and students’ lower confidence in writing as compared with their peers(Lee, 2002)

Moreover, the grades that EFL students obtained on their previous English writing exams influence their writing apprehension (Daiker, 1999; Latif, 2007) Apprehensive writers who got negative results for their writings then avoided writing Their writing avoidance, in turn, led to their low marks and unfavorable comments again, which cause them to be apprehensive about writing The dilemma of apprehensive writers is, therefore, circular (Daiker, 1999) This is also confirmed in another study where EFL students with higher writing apprehension got lower grades than those with lower writing apprehension on the English writing exams in their previous academic years (Latif, 2007)

Besides, the characteristics of teacher’s feedback on students’ English writings affect their writing apprehension The three aspects of teacher’s feedback that can

significantly contribute to students’ writing apprehension are Lack of teacher’s feedback, Teacher’s ineffective feedback and Teacher’s criticism First, insufficient teacher’s feedback on EFL students’ writings has been found to affect their writing apprehension (Latif, 2007) Due to none or lack of teacher’s feedback, students are confused about their writing ability At the same time, they are not aware of their strengths and weaknesses Second, the ineffectiveness of teacher’s feedback on students’ writings can account for their writing apprehension The feedback is considered ineffective when it is not constructive and not clear When teacher’s feedback is confusing, students may fail to revise their work and give appropriate responses to teacher’s feedback (Goldstein, 2006) Third, students may encounter writing apprehension when receiving teacher’s criticism about their English writings Teacher’s negative comments resulted in students’ reduced confidence, reinforcement and satisfaction This may not only cause writing apprehension for students but may paralyze their efforts to improve their writing in the future (Daly, 1978) The same idea is found in a study in Egypt which shows that teacher’s overuse of criticism when commenting on essays presented in the lectures led to EFL students’ writing

apprehension (Latif, 2007)

The inadequacy of linguistic knowledge of the target language is another important cause of EFL students’ writing apprehension (Latif, 2007; Lee & Krashen, 1997) The linguistic knowledge of the target language includes grammar knowledge and

vocabulary knowledge When students acquire adequately this kind of knowledge, their writing apprehension can be reduced and their writing ability can be improved (Lee & Krashen, 1997) Although having sufficient linguistic knowledge in the target language does not guarantee proficient writing, inadequate lexical or syntactic

knowledge can cause significant troubles for students when they write In a study aiming at figuring out the factors accounting for writing apprehension of EFL students, Latif (2007) administered three linguistic tests, including the Oxford Placement Test, the Productive Vocabulary Test and the Receptive Vocabulary Test,

to measure students’ English linguistic knowledge The researcher also used the English Writing Apprehension Scale to measure students’ level of writing apprehension The results showed that students’ English linguistic knowledge and their level of writing apprehension were negatively correlated

To conclude, students’ experience of writing and linguistic knowledge plays a significant role in their current writing Students who did not be trained to write in English in their lower levels of education or those who got negative experience of writing in the past either in their L1 or in FL are more likely to encounter writing apprehension Besides, both the quantity and the quality of teacher’s feedback may affect their writing apprehension When teacher’s feedback is inadequate, ineffective and negative, students are more likely to encounter writing apprehension In addition, English linguistic knowledge is a foundation for ESL/ EFL students to become proficient writers Hence, when this pivotal element is lacking, they are probably apprehensive about writing in the target language As stated in the scope of the study, this study examined this group of factors because EFL learners often face these factors (Daiker, 1999; Daly, 1978; Latif, 2007; Lee, 2002; Lee & Krashen, 1997; Powell, 1984)

2.3.2 Students’ perceptions of writing matters

Another group of factors that can contribute to students’ writing apprehension is their perceptions of writing matters This group includes Comparison deficiency,

Misunderstanding of composing process, and Perceived writing performance improvement

The first factor in this group is Comparison deficiency Comparison deficiency is the writer’s belief that his products did not match what he perceived and intended when writing (Daly, 1985; McAndrew, 1986) Comparison deficiency also refers to the writer’s belief that his level of writing proficiency is not as good as what it is supposed to be and as the others’ level (Latif, 2007) For example, one high apprehensive EFL student in a study in Egypt argued that if comparing his/her level to what it was supposed to be, it was not good Another EFL student with a high level of writing apprehension in the same study reported that “Compared to other students at other universities I know that my level is not good at all” (Latif, 2007)

In addition, Misunderstanding of composing process is considered a factor accounting for EFL students’ writing apprehension Misunderstanding of the composing process refers to “the false belief that good writers get it right on the first draft” (Lee &

Krashen, 1997, p 27) Apprehensive writers believe that written products must be perfect right at first draft They do not understand that the ideas arise in their mind when they move from draft to draft Consequently, they are apprehensive when their first draft is not as good as what they assumed

Finally, another factor that affects students’ writing apprehension is students’

perceptions of the improvement of their writing performance EFL students’

perceptions about how their writing has been improved influence their writing apprehension (Latif, 2007) In a study in Egypt, while all the students with low writing apprehension reported that their writing performance has somewhat improved or has improved greatly; high apprehensive students believed that there is little or even no improvement in their writing performance (Latif, 2007)

To sum up, factors related to students’ perceptions of different writing matters can account for their writing apprehension Comparison deficiency is the belief that students’ written products are not good enough as compared to what they intend It also refers to the belief that their writing proficiency is poorer than what is supposed

to be or than other students’ level In addition, the accurate awareness of composing process is very important to students Otherwise, they are more likely to face

apprehension about writing in the target language Besides, students’ negative perceptions of the development of their writing performance can contribute noticeably

to their writing apprehension However, the impacts of this group of factors were not examined in this study because all the factors in this group are originated in students’ minds Handling them is believed to be mostly based on students’ effort since it is hard for teachers to intervene to help reduce the effects of these factors on students’ writing apprehension Therefore, examining them may not be much meaningful in terms of teaching methodology

not in the argumentative ones (Faigley et al., 1981) Meanwhile, ESL students felt

more apprehensive when writing a thesis than when writing journals or assignments (Huwari & Aziz, 2011)

Time constraint is also a factor that can account for students’ apprehension about writing Writing apprehension is caused by limited time to plan, to write, and to revise the written product (Raisman, 1982) In the same vein, the harmful effect of writing apprehension is most likely to be manifested when the anxious writer composes under

time pressure (Kean, Glynn & Britton, 1987)

To conclude, students can suffer a lower or higher level of writing apprehension when engaging in different kinds of writing tasks Moreover, limited time for writing

activities may make writers feel apprehensive about writing Nonetheless, the effects

of this group of factors were not investigated in this study because Nature of writing tasks and Time constraint are regarded as persistent factors That is, it is probably impossible for teachers to handle these factors to help reduce students’ writing apprehension since teachers cannot just provide students with their familiar or favorite writing tasks or give them extended time as much as they want to write

At this stage, indications of writing apprehension were presented and three groups of factors contributing to students’ writing apprehension were gone through The

following section provides a summary of the literature that has just been reviewed

This section provides a summary of related literature and previous studies on indications of writing apprehension and factors accounting for L1 or ESL/ EFL writing apprehension

With regard to indications of writing apprehension, this disorder has been found to be reflected in four aspects, namely Written products, Writing process, Writing

behaviors, and Writing attitudes In respect of factors accounting for writers’

apprehension, the findings of previous studies have indicated that writing apprehension is developed and maintained as a result of three groups of factors They are Students’ experience and knowledge, Students’ perceptions of writing matters and Writing tasks The first group includes No prior learning of English writing, Negative experience of L1 writing, Low grades on previous English writing exams, Teacher’s feedback and Lack of linguistic knowledge The second group comprises of

writing performance improvement The third group includes Nature of writing tasks and Time constraint

From the review of related literature, it has been found out that the focus of studies in the field tend to be placed on learners of English who use English as their L1 Little research has focused on writing apprehension among second or foreign language learners Therefore, it is strongly believed that more studies aiming at investigating a wide range of aspects of EFL students’ writing apprehension need to be conducted Little research on the field has been carried out in the context of Vietnam despite of the fact that being aware of the factors accounting for students’ writing apprehension

is important As a result, this research investigated writing apprehension of Vietnamese undergraduate students who major in English language and mediating factors of their writing apprehension to bridge this gap It is hoped that the study can contribute to enrich the scant understanding of EFL students’ writing apprehension in general and Vietnamese EFL students’ writing apprehension in particular

Based on the reviewed literature, a conceptual framework has been developed to provide a theoretical basis for the current study It is presented in the section which follows

2.5 Conceptual framework

From what has been discussed in previous sections, the conceptual framework used in the study aiming at understanding the extent to which students experience writing apprehension must include one or more of four aspects through which writing apprehension was reflected (Written products, Writing process, Writing behaviors and Writing attitudes) Examining one or more of these four manifestations can help understand the extent to which students experience writing apprehension

Different factors related to Students’ experience and knowledge, Students’ perceptions

of writing matters and Writing tasks have been explored to affect students’ writing

apprehension As a result, the conceptual framework employed in the study exploring mediating factors of students’ writing apprehension must include one or more of these three groups of factors

Therefore, the conceptual framework of any study aiming at understanding both the extent to which students experience writing apprehension and factors accounting for their writing apprehension must include above-mentioned four indications of writing apprehension and three groups of factors accounting for writing apprehension The conceptual framework is presented in Figure 2.1 (page 23)

Mediating factors

of writing apprehension

Students’

experience and knowledge

Students’

perceptions of writing matters

Writing tasks

Indications of writing apprehension

Written products

Writing process

Writing behaviors

Writing attitudes

Writing apprehension

Nevertheless, because of the scope of the study, the extent to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience writing apprehension was understood through their writing behaviors and their writing attitudes The writing behaviors and attitudes of apprehensive writers were further categorized into

Avoidance of writing, Negative perceptions of writing ability, Unpleasantness about writing, and Fear of evaluation

Also because of the scope of this study, all three groups of factors were not investigated The current study investigated the group of Students’ experience and knowledge since they are often faced by EFL learners The factors related to this group include No prior learning of English writing, Negative experience of L1

writing, Low grades on previous English writing exams, Teacher’s feedback and Lack

of linguistic knowledge

The conceptual framework employed in the current study is presented in Figure 2.2 (page 25)

Students' experience and knowledge

No prior learning of English writing

Indications of writing apprehension

Behaviors

• Avoidance of writing

Attitudes

• Negative perceptions of writing ability

• Unpleasantness about writing

• Fear of evaluation

Writing apprehension

As presented in Figure 2.2 (page 25), the conceptual framework used in this study includes one group of factors, namely Students’ experience and knowledge The factors in this group comprise of No prior learning of English writing, Negative experience of L1 writing, Low grades on previous English writing exams, Teacher’s feedback and Lack of linguistic knowledge

The framework also includes two aspects through which students reflect their writing apprehension, namely Writing behaviors and Writing attitudes These aspects are categorized into Avoidance of writing, Negative perceptions of writing ability, Unpleasantness about writing and Fear of evaluation

This chapter presented a review of the literature in the area of writing apprehension It firstly defined the term writing apprehension, the key term of this study Then, it reviewed the literature on indications of writing apprehension and factors causing writing apprehension to students reported in related literature and previous studies The chapter ended with a discussion about the conceptual framework to be employed

in the current study

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter describes the research methodology employed in the current study It starts with the research questions and research design Descriptions of the participants and instruments are then presented It continues to describe the procedure of data analysis The chapter ends with the issues of reliability and validity of research instruments

3.1 Research questions

The current study attempted to answer two questions below

1 To what extent do Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language

experience writing apprehension?

2 What are the factors that might mediate their writing apprehension?

3.2 Research design

This study adopted an explanatory sequential research design Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through both questionnaire and interview to answer the research questions The questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data to identify the participants’ level of writing apprehension and factors accounting for their writing apprehension After the analysis of quantitative data, interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data which can elicit specific effects of the factors on the students’ writing apprehension

3.3 Participants

The population of the current study was Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring

in English language at a university in Vietnam They were targeted to participate in the study because, to students majoring in English language, cultivating writing ability

is extremely important They may be professional workers in the area of English language and their future careers will rely very much on their English language skills development, especially English writing skill

To select the participants for the study, the researcher contacted five Vietnamese teachers of English who are responsible for teaching Vietnamese undergraduate students who major in English language at Nguyen Tat Thanh University (NTTU) in HCMC, Vietnam Two of them agreed to administer the questionnaire in their classes The researcher was allowed to directly distribute the questionnaire to the students Therefore, the researcher could provide explanations to the participants when necessary, which may enhance the reliability of the students’ responses At first, all participants were informed that their participation in the study was voluntary and that they had to complete the questionnaire in class When the students completed

responding to the questionnaire, the questionnaire papers were collected Among 130 responses from the students, there were 116 valid responses which have all closed questions answered Only these valid responses were included in the data analysis

To recruit interviewees for the follow-up interview, requests were sent to all 30 students who left their contact information at the end of the questionnaire papers Sixteen of them volunteered to take part in the interview with the researcher

In short, the sample of this study was 116 first-year Vietnamese students majoring in English at NTTU These students aged from 18 to 20 They were in their summer -semester of the academic year 2012-2013 Valid responses to the questionnaire from

116 students were further analyzed Among these 116 students, 16 of them participated in follow-up interviews

3.4 Instruments

There were two sets of instruments employed in this research They were a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview These two sets of instruments are described in the sections which follow

3.4.1 Questionnaire

The questionnaire employed in this study was designed to collect data on (i) the extent

to which Vietnamese undergraduate students majoring in English language experience

writing apprehension and (ii) factors accounting for their writing apprehension This

section describes the development process of the questionnaire and the data collection procedure

3.4.1.1 Questionnaire development

The questionnaire developed for the current research consisted of four main sections namely (1) Introduction and background information, (2) Writing apprehension measure, (3) Factors accounting for writing apprehension, and (4) Contact information The description and development process of these four sections are

discussed in detail

Section 1: Introduction and background information

In this section, the participants were informed about the purpose of questionnaire administration Questions related to the participants’ year of birth and gender were also included to get an overall understanding of their background