INVESTIGATION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ EFL WRITING APPREHENSION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY IN CROATIA

Description

Writing apprehension defines a person’s ability to write under various stress types. Depending on a situation, an average person might perform below expectations, or be less apprehensive about writing than a professional. The purpose of this research is to investigate Croatian University students’ English as a foreign language writing apprehension. For the purpose to determine if the variables of students’ gender and academic level (age) play a role in their writing apprehension, we adapted WAT (Writing Apprehension Test) so this would be tailored to our study population. A longitudinal study was conducted among the students who were studying at the University of Juraj Dobrila, Pula. The participants were tested twice: in the first and in the third year. The results of the study indicated that, in contrary to respondents’ gender, academic level was significant variable in their estimates of writing apprehension. In accordance with the findings stated above, a number of recommendations for handling writing apprehension were set.