A Comparative Study of Writing Anxiety among Iranian University Students Majoring English Translation, Teaching and Literature

This study is designed to examine writing anxiety in three groups of EFL students who use English writing in their academic programs. The main purpose of this study is to determine the level and sources of anxiety that students experience while writing in English as a foreign language. To this end, 150 university students from Iranian EFL students majoring English related fields (Translation, Teaching, and Literature) in Tehran University, Faculty of Foreign Languages were asked to complete the EWAT questionnaire. The collected data will then be analyzed by the SPSS computer program; also the descriptive statistics were applied to examine the level and sources of anxiety that students experience while writing in English as a foreign language. Analysis of the EWAT results showed that participants felt most anxious about statements referring to evaluation and confidence in writing. They felt more secure about the statements referring to share their ideas. Writing was the least anxiety-provoking when statements were generally about enjoying writing. Finally, the students’ answers to the open-ended question indicated that writing apprehension resulted from one or more sources- mainly the weakness of their past education, followed by a lack of confidence, and concern for the teacher’s evaluation.