Second Language Writing Anxiety And Its Influence On Online English Writing Performance

Anxiety is one of the factors that affect the second language acquisition and writing anxiety among the PhD candidates may have influence on their writing performance. The questionnaire of 142 participants was collected to analyze their level of writing anxiety and the relationship among the gender, age and the writing anxiety level. Based on that, the study uses the SPSS software to reveal the relationship among the 5 dimensions of the writing anxiety and the online English writing performance. The findings indicated that:a) English writing anxiety is very common among PhD candidates; b) gender, age and CWP are not necessarily the factors that influence the OWP; c) the English writing anxiety has a significant influence on OWP for PhD candidates; d) the overall anxiety proved to have an negative effect for the acceptable performance in OEWC; e) the 5 dimensions of writing anxiety including time limitation anxiety, confidence anxiety, avoidance behavior, writing communicative anxiety, and evaluation anxiety should be decreased to improve the PhD's OWP. The study also offered the suggested strategies that the teachers and the students may use in the teaching and learning of the online English writing course. Finally, the limitations and the suggestions for the further study were noted.