Writing Anxiety And Essay Writing Performance Among Senior High School Students In Greenville Education District, Sinoe County, Liberia

Abstract

The current study was purposed on investigating writing anxiety and essay writing performance among senior high school students in Greenville Education District, Sinoe County, Liberia. It was theoretically hinged on the Affective Filter Hypothesis and the Three-System Response Theory of Anxiety. Adopting a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional survey design, a questionnaire was utilised as the main instrument of collection of data. A sample of 313 students were selected through the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. In addition, 60% of respondents‘ averages in English were collected as essay writing performance scores. The data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage, independent-sample t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance, multiple regression, and analysis of variance. The results of the study showed that SHS students experience a moderate level of overall writing anxiety and moderate levels of cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and avoidance behaviour. It was also found that students‘ cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety were significantly higher than their avoidance behaviour. However, there was no difference in students‘ cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. The study further revealed that cognitive anxiety and avoidance behaviour significantly predicted students' essay writing performance. However, somatic anxiety did not contribute to students‘ essay writing performance. Moreover, it was found that there was no significant difference in students‘ writing anxiety based on sex. Furthermore, it was revealed that lowly anxious and moderately anxious groups of students performed significantly higher in essay writing than highly anxious students. It was recommended, among others, that English language teachers should help students to reduce their fear and worry about essay writing by counselling students. Teachers of English language should identify students who show signs of shivering and sweating during essay writing and help them by boosting their self-confidence and, as well, avoid giving negative feedback on students' written products. English language teachers‘ efforts to minimise students‘ level of writing anxiety should target both male and female students.