A Study On The Effects Of Formative Assessment On Chinese EFL Learners' Writing Anxiety

Anxiety,an important affective factor,has great impact on foreign language writing.Writing anxiety is a specific anxiety of learners in the process of writing,which hinders the writing process.It increases difficulty in writing,stifles learners' initiative in writing activities,and reduces their writing competency.If students' affective state is ignored in the teaching process,teachers will meet with difficulty in teaching and students will feel reluctant to write.It is supposed that formative assessment can help teachers supervise students' anxiety in foreign language writing process,and even can effectively alleviate students' anxiety if teachers adopt reasonable and appropriate assessment method.In recent years,many studies researched on effects of formative assessment on students' writing anxiety.The majority of scholars mainly focused on the effects of peer-assessment on students ' writing anxiety by instruments including Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory(SLWAI),interviews and questionnaire.However,in their studies,teacher-assessment and self-assessment were ignored,and classroom observation was rarely used.By means of SLWAI,classroom observation,interviews and questionnaire,this study takes 50 first-year English majors from two classes in a"211 Project" university as subjects,who have learned English for about 9 years.The one-semester study researches on the influence of various kinds of formative assessments(teacher-assessment,student' s self-assessment and peer-assessment)on the writing anxiety produced by Chinese learners taking English as a foreign language(EFL).The study finds that formative assessment(including teacher-assessment,students'self-assessment and peer-assessment)helps to alleviate EFL learners' writing anxiety.According to the interview and questionnaire,peer-assessment is the most effective method that helps students reduce foreign language writing anxiety.Peer-assessment,especially workshops,offers them a good chance to discuss their writings and therefore reduces their fear of being evaluated by others.Although peer-assessment is the most effective method,some problems still exist.For example,sometimes students can't get useful feedbacks from their peers.Thus,most students believe that the combination of teacher assessment,peer assessment and self-assessment is the most effective way to reduce their foreign language writing anxiety.However,one student who has difficulty in communication prefers teacher assessment,which is an exception.The study might give some pedagogical implications for students and English writing teachers.Students should take a positive attitude towards foreign language writing anxiety and find a proper way to reduce it.For example,students can find partners to discuss and evaluate their writings together,by which they can help each other correct mistakes in grammar,expression and logic.In English writing teaching process,teachers should flexibly choose appropriate formative assessment(teacher-assessment,peer-assessment and self-assessment)to help their students reduce foreign language writing anxiety according to the real conditions.To be more specific,teachers should give immediate and positive evaluation and feedback to students,guide students do self and peer assessment in a proper and correct way,and pay more attention to students that have particular problems like communication anxiety.