A Study On The Relationship Between Writing Anxiety And Writing Self-Efficacy Of English Majors In Xinjiang University

Writing in English is a challenging task for Chinese English majors,which is related to complex emotional involvement.It is affected by both negative anxiety and positive motivational factors such as self-efficacy(Cheng,2004;Woodrow,2011).Among them,writing anxiety refers to the anxiety of the learners in the process of writing.Writing self-efficacy is the writer's confidence about the ability to accomplish a specific writing task.Taking Xinjiang University as an example,this thesis aims to investigate the overall situation of writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy among English majors',to explore whether there is any difference between the two affective factors in different grades and how they are related between the two,and to analyze the impact of what are the main reasons of affective factors.Based on the aims mentioned above,the present study aims to study the following four questions:(1)What is the general situation of writing anxiety among English majors in Xinjiang University? Are there any differences between different grades? If yes,what are they?(2)What is the general situation of writing self-efficacy among English majors in Xinjiang University? Are there any differences between different grades? If yes,what are they?(3)How are the English writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy of English majors in Xinjiang University related?(4)What are the main factors of English writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy?159 undergraduates of English majors from grade 1 to grade 3 in Xinjiang University are taken as subjects.The Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory(SLWAI)based on Cheng(2004),translated and revised by Guo and Qing(2010)and Li Hang(2014)'s Writing Self-efficacy Scale(WSES)are applied as questionnaires in this study.All the collected data are analyzed by SPSS 19.0 for descriptive statistics analysis,independent-sample T-test,and correlation analysis.In addition,with the think-aloud protocol and interview,the qualitative analysis is greatly replenished.The main findings are as follows:Firstly,Descriptive Statistical Analysis indicates that English majors' writing anxiety in Xinjiang university is in the medium level(M=56.55<60).Among its four dimensions,classroom teaching anxiety,avoidance behavior,conceiving anxiety and lack of confidence,the level of subjects' avoidance behaviors is the highest(M=11.95)and the level of classroom teaching anxiety is the lowest(M=11.3).And there is no significant difference between grades in writing anxiety even though the anxiety level of the junior students is less than the freshmen in the four dimensions according to Independent-Sample T-Test(G1=59.48>G3=56.03,Sig.>0.05).Secondly,Descriptive Statistical Analysis indicates that English majors' writing self-efficacy in Xinjiang university is at the medium level(M=59.95>54).For its two factors,writing tasks self-efficacy and writing skills self-efficacy,subjects' perceived writing skills self-efficacy is a little higher than writing tasks self-efficacy(31.37>28.58).And there is still no significant difference between grades in writing self-efficacy even though the self-efficacy level of the junior students is greater than the freshmen in the two subcomponents according to Independent-Sample T-Test(G3=60.91>G1=59.60,Sig.>0.05).Thirdly,a significantly negative correlation between writing anxiety and writing self-efficacy has been presented according to Pearson Correlation Analysis(r=-565,sig.=.00 <0.05).Lastly,based on the Think-aloud protocol and the interview,some factors leading to writing anxiety are introduced in the study: limited language knowledge,unfamiliar topics,fear of negative evaluation,lack of practice and so on.Based on the results of the study,this thesis puts forward some feasibility suggestions for foreign language teachers and foreign language learners,for the purpose of promoting the teachers' ability to guide the learners to write English compositions effectively and efficiently,helping them make successful foreign language learners.