A Study On The Effect Of The Length Approach On EFL Learners In Alleviating Their Writing Apprehension

Research on writing apprehension or blocking has focused on the causes of writing apprehension, the components of writing apprehension, and numerous techniques to alleviate or cure writing apprehension. Little of this research, however, has been directed toward writing apprehension in a second language. We thus know very little about the kinds of apprehension second language writers experience, or the ways in which their apprehension can be reduced. With the help of the Length Approach, the author has directed her attention toward ways in which writing long can improve student writing and student attitudes toward writing, and to decrease student apprehension about writing.Like British teachers and their approach, we should become more concerned with the individual's purpose and desire for writing, while providing simulation, a minimum of interference and correction and some indirect instruction. The act of composing should become the result of a genuine need to express one's personal feeling, experience or reaction, all this within a climate of encouragement. Once this has been established, and the fear of writing has been removed, students will have much greater facility with the other types of writing assignments they may be expected to do in school. The experience of composing could in this way have a purpose, that of communicating genuine thoughts and experiences. ESL students could begin to appreciate English as another language to use, rather than just a second language to learn.Fifty English majors from English Department, Capital Normal University (CNU) were selected for the research. They filled two questionnaires: The first was devised by Daly and M. D. Miller (1984) called the Daly-Miller Writing-Apprehension Scale contained 26 statements and arranged in three angles: self-confidence, anxiety behavior, and attitudes towards English writing. The second one was designed by Wang Churning et.al, which attempted to test the subjects'attitude from different angles towards the Length Approach. It was administered twice, once at the beginning and the other at the end of the semester (after an interval of approximately 12 weeks) to students in the first-semester course. And at the end of the term, the subjects were asked to write several paragraphs discussing the good and bad points towards the Length Approach.From the data analysis, the researcher made some discovery. Results showed that to some extent, the Length Approach eases learners' anxiety to improve the writing proficiency through a free environment with a lot of autonomy & free space. The Length Approach can help students lessen their anxiety and strengthen their self-confidence, therefore enhancing their motivation and increasing their written output both in quantity & quality.However, this is only a tentative study on the Length Approach to English learners. There exist limitations because of the short time and other unexpected factors, such as no feedback from outside. Moreover, foreign language learning is such a complicated process that it involves many other factors beside learner anxiety, and also the Length Approach is a brand new practice in language classroom, many methods need to be experimented with and improved.