The relationships between writing anxiety, motivation for English learning and self-reported English skills

Authors
Azamat Akbarov Busan University of Foreign Studies, Busan, South Korea Hakan Aydoğan Independent Researcher, Malatya, Turkey
Abstract

The present study attempts to shed light on the relationships between English learning motivation, English writing anxiety, and self-reported overall English competencies along with English writing skills. A sample of 100 Turkish students at tertiary level of education (Nmales = 42, Nfemales = 58) participated in this study. The results revealed strong positive and statistically significant correlations between the dimensions of motivation and self-reported English competencies. In contrast, the dimensions of motivation and self-reported English competencies/skills were in strong negative and statistically significant correlations with participants’ English writing anxiety levels. Statistically significant gender differences (in favour of males) were solely found in the case of self-reported English competence. Additionally, the levels of instrumental, resultative, and intrinsic orientation were significantly higher compared to integrative orientation. Future directions, contributions, and implications of this study were highlighted as well.

Keywords
English as a foreign language (EFL); Motivation; Writing anxiety; Gender differences.
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