A Study Of The Relationship Between Writing Anxiety And Writing Strategies Of English Majors

Second language writing anxiety and writing strategies are two subjects that have long been discussed by teachers and linguists. But up to now, few books have dealt with their relationship. This study explores the effects of writing strategies on reducing writing anxiety. Three research questions are put forward in this study. The first is whether there is a significant negative correlation between second language writing anxiety and writing strategy. The second is whether there are differences in the employment of writing strategies among three levels of writing-anxious students. The third is whether there are differences between the employment of metacognitive and cognitive writing strategies.The data in this study are collected by means of two questionnaires and an interview. That is, Second Language Writing Anxiety Scale (SLWAS), Second Language Writing Strategy Questionnaires (SLWSQ) and an interview about the cause of English writing anxiety. Through the statistical analysis of the two questionnaires by means of SPSS and the qualitative analysis of the interview, this study draws the following conclusions: firstly, there is a significant negative correlation between second language writing anxiety and writing strategies of English majors with almost equal English proficiency; secondly, high-anxious students do not attach much importance to English writing strategies as medium-anxious and low-anxious students do, which influences their use of writing strategies and easily arouses their writing anxiety; thirdly, there is a difference between the employment of metacognitive and cognitive writing strategies that cognitive writing strategies are more frequently used than metacognitive writing strategies. In addition, since students'English writing anxiety can be reduced by their strategic competence, teachers should strengthen writing strategy training of students and pay more attention to the exchanges of writing strategies among teachers and students. The new point of this study is that students with almost equal English proficiency are chosen as the subjects to diminish the interference of English proficiency to the study. This study suggests in the end that more researches should be conducted on the relationship between English learning anxiety and learning strategies so as to diminish students'anxiety and improve their English proficiency.