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Volume 12. Issue 1
Article 5

Title
Writing Performance Relative to Writing Apprehension, Self-Efficacy in Writing, and Attitudes towards Writing:
A Correlational Study in Turkish Tertiary-Level EFL

Authors
Dilek Yavuz Erkan
Çukurova University,
School for Foreign Languages Adana/Turkey

Ayten İflazoğlu Saban
Çukurova University, Education Faculty,
Adana/Turkey

Bio Data:
Dilek YAVUZ ERKAN holds a BA ELT from Cukurova University, an MATEFL from Bilkent University and a PhD from Cukurova University. She has taught graduate and undergraduate tertiary EFL courses at Center for Foreign Languages of Cukurova University since 1994. Her particular interests lie in the areas of the computer and the Internet use in EFL and affective dimensions of ELT. She is particularly interested in self-efficacy, multiple intelligence, emotional intelligence and NLP.

Ayten IFLAZOGLU SABAN holds an MA and PhD from Cukurova University, Education Faculty, Curriculum and Instruction Department. She has taught graduate and undergraduate Curriculum Development and Instruction courses at Cukurova University Education Faculty Elementary Education Department since 1998. Her particular interests lie in the areas of the teaching and learning strategies in teacher education and cooperative learning, multiple intelligence, elementary education, curriculum development and classroom management.

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify whether writing performance in students of
English as a foreign language (EFL) is related to writing apprehension, self-efficacy in writing, and/or attitudes towards writing. The subjects were tertiary-level EFL188 students at Çukurova University School for Foreign Languages (YADIM) in Turkey. Three instruments were used to collect data: a writing apprehension test (WAT), a selfefficacy in writing scale (SWS), and a questionnaire on attitudes towards writing (WAQ). The study was carried out in two phases. The first phase involved adapting the WAT and WAQ so these would be tailored to our study population. In the second phase, all subjects were tested with all three instruments in a 2-hour period on the same day. WAT, SWS and WAQ were administered in the first hour, and students were then given 45 minutes to write a composition on a given topic. The compositions were graded and these marks were taken to indicate students‘ overall writing performance points. The results of the study suggest that, in these tertiary-level EFL students, writing apprehension and writing performance are negatively correlated, writing apprehension and writing self-efficacy are negatively correlated, and writing apprehension and attitude towards writing are positively correlated. Writing apprehension and writing attitude are supposed to be negatively correlated but although WAQ was devised to test attitude, it has subscales that measure apprehension, too. That is why the result regarding the relationship between writing apprehension and attitude towards writing is surprising.

Keywords: Attitudes towards writing, EFL context, self-efficacy in writing, writing, writing apprehension, writing performance.

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