Second-language writing anxiety and its correlates: A challenge to sustainable education in a post-pandemic world

Figures & data

Table 1. Mean (M) and standard error of the mean (SEM) of self-reported exposure to English, anxiety levels, and measures of writing

Measures of Exposure to English	M	SEM
Age at which I was first taught English in school.	13.29	0.32
Age at which I began writing in English.	11.80	0.18
I believe that it is important to write well in English. (−2 – +2)	+1.70	0.03
My parents believe that it is important that I learn to write well in English. (−2 – +2)	+1.68	0.03
I regularly travel to English-speaking countries. (−2 – +2)	+0.89	0.06
I regularly watch TV, movies, and videos in English. (−2 – +2)	+1.56	0.04
Writing Anxiety Measures (−2 – + 2)	−0.38	0.03
Somatic Anxiety	−0.86	0.04
Appraisal Anxiety	−0.13	0.04
Avoidance	−0.43	0.04
Communication Anxiety	−0.19	0.03
Students’ Writing—Quantity Measures (0–100)
Word Count	42.82	1.26
Sentence Count	2.96	0.09
Word per Sentence	16.81	0.53
Students’ Writing—Quality Measures (0–100)
Word Unfamiliarity	48.10	0.94
Word Concreteness	55.40	0.83
Syntactic Complexity	41.08	1.06

Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficients and coefficients of determination (%) illustrating the extent to which writing anxiety is predicted by exposure to English and predicts word and text properties

Measures of Exposure to English	Writing Anxiety	S	Ap	Av	C
The age at which I was first taught English in school.	+0.197 4%	+0.045	+0.177 3%	+0.401 16%	−0.019
The age at which I began writing in English.	+0.213 5%	+0.258 7%	+0.139 2%	+0.045	+0.211 5%
I regularly travel to English-speaking countries.	−.093	−0.132 2%	−0.101 1%	+0.026	−0.069
I regularly watch TV, movies, and videos in English.	−0.192 4%	−0.193 4%	−.085	−0.217 5%	−0.118 1%
Attitude Measures
I believe that it is important to write well in English.	−0.232 5%	−0.189 3%	−0.131 2%	−0.237 6%	−0.181 3%
My parents believe that it is important that I learn to write well in English.	−0.108 1%	−0.046	−0.070	−0.105 1%	−0.120 1%
Students’ Writing—Quantity Measures
Word Count	−0.194 4%	−0.186 4%	−0.062	−0.195 4%	−0.175 3%
Sentence Count	−0.151 2%	−0.118 1%	−0.051	−0.176 3%	−0.143 2%
Word per Sentence	−0.031	−0.067	−0.023	−0.004	+0.001
Students’ Writing—Quality Measures
Word Unfamiliarity	−0.098	−0.065	−0.108 1%	−0.067	−0.063
Word Concreteness	+0.150 2%	+0.163 3%	+0.078	+0.102 1%	−0.126 2%
Syntactic Complexity	−0.098 1%	−0.124 2%	−0.031	−0.084	−0.072

Note: S = Somatic Anxiety; Ap = Appraisal Anxiety; Av = Avoidance; C = Communication Anxiety. Values in bold are significant at the .05 level.