The Effects Of L2 Writing Anxiety And L1 Use In L2 Writing Performance Of English Major Students In A Chinese University

Learning to write fluently and expressively in English is widely proved to be one of the most difficult skills for Chinese EFL learners to master because their L2 writing processes are impeded by various obstacles,among which L2 writing anxiety and L1 use are two indispensable factors that must be accounted.Although much effort has been done to examine issues of L2 writing anxiety and L1 use in L2 writing,few was exploratory enough to combine these two vital factors together to investigate their interacted effects in L2 writing performance of English major students.Hence,the present study has started from this new perspective to explore the relations among L2 writing anxiety,L1 use amount and L2 writing performance of English major students.A multi-method approach involving Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory,think-aloud protocol and interview,has been adopted to elicit the dynamic thinking process of five high-anxiety English major students and five low-anxiety English major students on an English argumentative writing task.The average length,score and L1 use amount have been examined,correlation analysis has been conducted.Findings have revealed that L2 writing anxiety was positively correlated with L1 use amount but negatively correlated with L2 writing performance.However,in terms of a minor part of the students,L2 writing anxiety and L1 useamount were positively correlated with their L2 writing performance.Reasons lie in different sources of their L2 writing anxiety.Results of the present study have not only revealed the relations among L2 writing anxiety,L1 use and L2 writing performance of English major students,but also shed lights on the pedagogical field of L2 writing by proposing some effective measures to improve students’ L2 writing performance according to their different anxiety sources.