Copyright©2019 P-ISSN: 1978-8118 E-ISSN: 2460-710X 67 Lingua Cultura, 13(1), February 2019, 67-74 DOI: 10.21512/lc.v13i1.5239 WRITING ANXIETY AMONG INDONESIAN EFL COLLEGE STUDENTS: LEVELS, CAUSES, AND COPING STRATEGIES Delvi Wahyuni1; Witri Oktavia2; Leni Marlina3 1,2,3Fakultas Bahasa dan Seni, Jurusan Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, Universitas Negeri Padang Jl. Prof. Dokter Hamka, Kampus UNP Air Tawat, Padang, Sumatera Barat 25171, Indonesia 1luckydelvi@gmail.com; 2witrioktavia@fbs.unp.ac.id; 3Lenimarlina.11@gmail.com Received: 23rd December 2018/Revised: 19th February 2019/Accepted: 04th March 2019 How to Cite: Wahyuni, D., Oktavia, W., & Marlina, L. (2019). Writing anxiety among Indonesian EFL college students: Levels, causes and coping strategies. Lingua Cultura, 13(1), 67-74. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v13i1.5239 ABSTRACT This research aimed at investigating foreign language writing anxiety experienced by Indonesian EFL learners studying at Universitas Negeri Padang. The numbers of participants involved in this survey were 132 students comprising of sophomores, junior, and senior students. This research employed three research instruments: Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) to collect data on students’ levels of writing anxiety; Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI) to gauge information about sources of students’ writing anxiety; typologies of tactics to cope with writing anxiety. The result of this research reveals that the level of students’ writing anxiety is moderate. In addition, no significant relationship between students’ writing anxiety level and their academic level is revealed suggesting moderately anxious students outnumbering those with high and low writing anxiety at any academic level. In addition, the sources of students’ writing anxiety are problems with topic choice, linguistic difficulties, and lack of writing practice. The coping strategies used by students to overcome writing anxiety are preparation, positive thinking, relaxation, peer-seeking, and resignation (most-frequent to least frequent respectively). Keywords: writing anxiety, level of writing anxiety, causes of writing anxiety, coping strategies for writing anxiety INTRODUCTION For those studying a foreign language, the ability to communicate ideas in written form is an ultimate goal. However, writing has been considered as the most difficult skill to master (Pimsarn, 2013; Shukri, 2014; Zoghipour & Nikou, 2016). According to Erkan and Saban (2011), due to its nature as a productive skill, foreign language learners find writing challenging. Cheng (2002) has suggested that writing is a cognitive and affective activities. In other words, it involves both thinking and feeling. That is why writing both in L1 and L2 is anxiety provoking (Cheng, 2004a; Iksan & Halim, 2018). In his research, Cheng (2002) has found that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students encounter L2 writing anxiety. In this regards, Kondo &Ying-Ling (2004) have explained that anxiety can exhaust cognitive resources which generate serious problems for even competent students. In a similar vein, anxiety has also been hailed as one of the main sources of writing difficulty in second or foreign language learning (Dacwang, 2014; Rezai & Jafari, 2014). Thus, it is not surprising that related previous researches have discovered even EFL students not only feel apprehensive about writing but also avoid writing in the language they aspire to master (Pazhakh, 2007; Tran, 2007; Shang, 2013). This phenomenon should trigger some alarms among language educators because at the tertiary level; the ability to write well is normally perceived as the predictor of academic success (Daly & Miller, 1975; Daly, 1979; Erkan & Saban, 2011; Shang, 2013). In the context of present research, it seems difficult for students to fulfill academic requirements which involve writing, such as term-papers or undergraduate theses. Even bright students often find themselves struggling to graduate on time because they encounter many hindrances induced by the act of writing in the English language. Therefore, the urgency of conducting research on this problem, its possible factors, and students’ coping strategies stand on solid ground. Several pieces of research on writing anxiety or writing apprehension (WA) itself has begun since the 1970s with the publication of Daly & Miller’s (1975) seminal work. In fact, they are the first to coin the term writing apprehension to describe avoidance of writing or situation involving writing and its evaluation (Daly, 1979). In the EFL context, research on L2 writing anxiety has started to gain momentum since the 1990s (Cheng, 2004a). Since then, 68 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 1, February 2019, 67-74 there has been a wealth of scholarly articles on this issue. For example, the works of Cheng, Horwitz, and Schallert (1999) have revealed differences between speaking and writing anxiety. Cheng (2002; 2004a) has explored factors associated with foreign language writing anxiety and classroom implications. Cheng (2004b) has presented a scale to measure second language anxiety dubbed as Second Language Writing Anxiety (SLWAI), which is now widely employed by other researches concerning the levels and types of WA experienced by second or foreign language learners. Later scholarly accounts on this subject have been exploring second or foreign language WA and its relations to other aspects related to it, such as causes of WA (Gkonou, 2010; Zhang, 2011; Latif, 2012; Pimsarn, 2013; Rezai & Jafari, 2014), strategies to cope with WA (Zhang, 2011; Dacwang, 2014; Qashoa, 2014; Nuranifar, 2014), and effects of WA (Zhang, 2011; Jebreil, Azizifar, & Gowhary, 2015). Other researches explore ways to reduce second or foreign language WA (Jiang, 2016; Ali, Kassem, & Kharja, 2017; Abdullah, Hussin, & Shakir, 2018). Despite the fact that second or foreign language WA is becoming an established field of research in the Indonesian context, this notion has largely been under- researched (Kusumaningputri, Ningsih & Wisangkono, 2018). Available literature shows common strands of researches on this topic are levels, types, and causes of Indonesian EFL students’ WA (Wahyuni & Umam, 2017; Ariyanti, 2017; Kusumaningputri, Ningsih & Wisangkono, 2018), WA and its relation to other aspects of writing such as writing performance and topics of writing (Cahyono, Amelia, & Mutiaraningrum, 2016; Sundari & Febriyanti, 2017). Although these researches can shed some lights to the notion of foreign language WA in the Indonesian context, there are two rooms that need to be explored. First, all researches on levels, types, and causes of Indonesian EFL students’ WA that are involved small samples so generalization must be made with some cautions. Second, none touches upon how Indonesian EFL students cope with WA they experience. Therefore, the objectives of this research are (a) to investigate the possible relationship between foreign language WA and students’ academic level; (b) to find out sources of students’ foreign language WA; also, (c) to find out students’ strategies in coping with foreign language WA. For teachers of composition or writing class, the urgency to conduct researches on WA stems from the fact that students’ feeling apprehensive about writing exist. By and large, learning a second language is anxiety provoking argue Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986). When it comes to learning how to write in another language, many researches have indicated that learners’ L2 writing anxiety is greater than that of their L1 (Cheng, 2004a). Furthermore, Cheng (2002) has suggested that competent student-writers do not necessarily perceive themselves to be free from being anxious about writing. Taking this into account, it is safe to declare that writing anxiety is a problem which must be properly addressed. Concerning this, Cheng, Horwitz, and Schallert (1999) have summarized five aspects negatively influenced by writing anxiety, namely (a) the quality of the message coded, (b) the individuals’ actual writing behavior, (c) their writing performance, (d) their willingness to write or to take advanced writing courses, and (e) their career choices. Due to these negative effects of writing anxiety over student-writers, Daly and Miller (1975) have stated that it is imperative for teachers to help students recognize the level of their writing anxiety. To measure L2 writing anxiety, it is important to use a tool which is sensitive to the nature of second or foreign language WA. To address this need, Cheng (2004b) has developed the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) with three sub-scales, namely cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and avoidance behavior. These three dimensions can be used to identify types of writing anxiety experienced by student-writers. Cheng (2004b) has contended that anxiety is a multidimensional phenomenon; therefore, a three-dimensional measure such as SLWAI is more qualified than other measures to analyze anxiety in order to achieve a clearer picture about EFL students’ writing anxiety (level and types) can be achieved. Given the debilitating effects of writing anxiety, scholarly efforts have been made to identify factors associated with it. Cheng (2002) has counted self-confidence or self- perceptions, language proficiency, gender, and writing anxiety’s relation with other forms of language anxiety as factors of second language writing anxiety. Furthermore, Cheng (2004a) has revealed four sources of EFL students’ writing anxiety, namely instructional practices, personal belief about writing and learning to write, self-perception, and interpersonal threat. Moving to another context, Latif (2012), who have studied sources of English WA in an Egyptian university setting, finds that perceived language competence, writing performance level, perceived writing competence, instructional practice, and fear of criticism as the sources of students’ writing apprehension. Similarly, Rezai and Jafari (2014) have reiterated that chief sources of writing anxiety among Iranian EFL learners are the preoccupation with performance and high expectation, fears of teachers’ negative feedback, low self-confidence, and poor linguistic knowledge. Judging from what has been reviewed in the previous paragraph, there are several sources of foreign language WA. The first is students’ personal emotions such as self-confidence and their belief about learning to write which includes preoccupation with performance and high expectation. It is the first theme emerging as the factor of foreign language WA. The next factor is fear of evaluation. Under this theme, interpersonal threat (fear of their mistakes are known by peers) and fear of teachers’ negative feedback can be counted as factors of WA. The third is instructional practices that might generate WA among students. Cheng (2004a) has noted that his participants felt anxious when they are asked to write about topics they do not know well under a rigid time constraint to finish the task as well as teachers’ preoccupation with forms and language. The fourth is that WA can also stem from cognitive factors. In this case, students feel worried about writing because they have poor linguistic proficiency and low writing performance. All of these are the factors that correspond with components of foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA). According to Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope (1986), FLCA appears in testing situations, when students preoccupy with performance and due to what they erroneously believe about language learning. All of these factors of WA remind of the notion that writing is both cognitive and affective aspects. Much has been said about the relationship between foreign language learning and anxiety. Researches about how EFL students cope with foreign language anxiety remain scarce. To the best of the knowledge, this paucity is also true for research on strategies EFL students use to cope for writing anxiety. However, efforts have been made to chart the typologies of strategies for coping with language 69Writing Anxiety among.... (Delvi Wahyuni, et al.) anxiety. Kondo & Ying-Ling (2004) have revealed 70 tactics employed by Japanese EFL students. These tactics are grouped into five broad types, namely: preparation, relaxation, positive thinking, peer-seeking, and resignation. According to Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies are apparent in students’ coping tactics. This is in line with types of foreign language WA which have been formulated by Cheng (2004b). According to Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), cognitive strategies, which include positive thinking and peer- seeking, are tactics used to change problematic thought processes related to language learning. Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) have also opined that relaxation strategies, which are characterized by their affective quality, are employed to reduce bodily tension associated with emotional arousal, while preparation strategies are behavioral in nature because they focus on behavioral components of language learning that are related to effective performance in class. Another research conducted by Nuranifar (2014) has identified 80 foreign language coping strategies that are used by EFL learners in Iran. However, those strategies are found to be analogous with Kondo and Ying-Ling’s work. Therefore, this research largely relies on Kondo and Ying-Ling’s framework to analyze strategies in dealing with writing anxiety. It is also noteworthy to review some researches which have been specifically conducted to figure out how EFL students deal with writing anxiety. Zhang (2011) has noted that Chinese English majors prefer to transfer their L1 coping strategies to their L2 writing. In this case, they memorize or imitate available model texts. Qashoa (2014) has reported three types of strategies employed by Emirati EFL learners to alleviate their writing anxiety. Those strategies range from affective, cognitive, and testing related strategies. Closer home, Dacwang (2014) has investigated strategies used by students of a maritime academy in the Philiphine to cope with writing anxiety. Using the inventory developed by Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), they note that the participants utilize strategies which fall under the category of preparation, positive thinking, and relaxation. METHODS This quantitative research employs survey as its research design. One hundred thirty-two students majoring in English literature at Universitas Negeri Padang take part in this research. They comprise of 76 sophomores (57%), 30 junior students (23%), and 26 senior students (20%). The involvement of such a large sample is aimed at getting a more accurate inference about the whole population (Nunan & Bailey, 2009). First-year students are excluded from this research because they have not undertaken any writing class at the moment of the research. At first, all participants are asked for their consent before the questionnaires are distributed. The research team also informs them to feel free to withdraw from the data collecting session that they should choose to do so without having to fear academic repercussion in the future. The data are collected during the last week of the odd semester (July-December, 2018) and the quiet week before the university final-term examination. After that, the data are collected and tabulated before being treated and analyzed accordingly. A demographic survey is conducted to gauge information about the participants’ perceived ability in writing in English. The results of this survey shows that most students (62,88%) are considered themselves fair writers, as seen in Table 1. Table 1 Results of Demographic Survey (N=132) N % Excellent 0 0 Good 32 24,24 Fair 83 62,88 Not Good 17 12,88 Poor 0 0 This research is conducted by distributing three questions. To measure the level of students’ language anxiety, SLWAI developed by Cheng (2004b) is employed. This 22-item inventory has been proven to be valid and reliable by means of correlation and factor analysis (Cheng, 2004b). To investigate factors of writing anxiety, the researchers adopt the Causes of Writing Anxiety Inventory (CWAI) that is developed by Rezai and Jafari (2014). Both measures follow Likert-type-5-choice response format; 1 (Strongly Disagree), 2 (Disagree), 3 (Neither agree nor disagree), 4 (Agree), 5 (Strongly Agree). For the present research, both inventories are highly reliable with the Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0,80 and 0,91 respectively. To find out how Indonesian EFL students cope with writing anxiety they experience, the inventory developed by Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) is adapted. In this case, the emphasis is given each item that the tactic is used to deal with writing anxiety in English. To gather the data, the participants are asked to tick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to answer every question listed in the inventory. Because the original questionnaires are written in English, they are translated to Indonesian. To ensure the validity of the translation result, the process of back translation is conducted (Nunan & Bailey, 2009). The questionnaires are then being pilot-tested to 30 students majoring in English Education. Students from both, majors or study programs at the English Department at Universitas Negeri Padang, share a similar curriculum for basic language skills like writing. Therefore, these students are part of the population albeit that they are not part of the samples (Nunan & Bailey, 2009). A statistical method named chi-square test is used to see whether there is a relationship between academic levels and writing anxiety. This procedure is run to compare the frequency of data (Nunan & Bailey, 2009). Software package namely SPSS version 23 is used to compute the descriptive statistics to investigate the students’ writing anxiety level, causes of writing anxiety and strategies for coping with writing anxiety. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS In general, the results–regardless of the participants academic level-f indicate a moderate level of students’ writing anxiety as shown in Table 2. It can also be gleaned from the data that the mean score for the level of writing anxiety experienced by sophomores is higher (60,68) than that of juniors and seniors (55,63 and 56,88 respectively). In other words, the highest percentage of highly anxious students in writing anxiety is found among sophomores (22%) that is followed by seniors as much 23,1% and juniors 16,7%. 70 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 1, February 2019, 67-74 Table 2 Level of Writing Anxiety Academic level Grand Total Mean Sophomores 60,68 Juniors 55,63 Seniors 56,88 Total 57,73 Legend: Total mean scores <50 (Low level of writing anxiety) 50-65 (moderate level of writing anxiety) >65 (high level of writing anxiety) To see a possible relationship between students’ levels of writing anxiety and their academic level, the chi-square test is executed. According to Nunan and Bailey (2009), this test runs to see if the observed phenomenon is by chance significantly different from what is expected. As informed by the results from Table 3, it can be seen that an observed pattern of moderately anxious students outnumbering those with the low and high level of writing anxiety without regards to the length of time they have spent learning how to write in English. Table 4 confirms that there is no significant relationship between these two variables (p = 0,064). Table 3 Chi -Square Analysis for Academic Level and Level of Writing Anxiety Level of Writing Anxiety High Mod- erate Low Total Sopho- mores Observed 22 45 9 76 Expected 19,0 42,0 15,0 76,0 % within group 66,7 61,6 34,6 57,6 Juniors Observed 5 14 11 30 Expected 7,5 16,6 5,9 30,0 % within group 15,2 19,2 42,3 22,7 seniors Observed 6 14 6 26 Expected 6,5 14,4 5,1 26,0 % within group 18,2 19,2 23,1 19,7 Total Observed 33 73 26 132 Expected 33,0 73,0 26,0 132,0 % within group 100,0 100,0 100,0 100,0 Table 4 Results of Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymptotic Significance (2-sided) Pearson Chi-Square 8,887a 4 0,064 Likelihood Ratio 8,491 4 0,075 Linear-by-linear Association 2,881 1 0,090 N of Valid Cases 132 As long as the level of writing anxiety is concerned, students at the Department of English at Universitas Negeri Padang experience a moderate level of writing anxiety albeit there are students with high and low level of writing anxiety. This result is consistent with the study of Cahyono, Amelia, and Ningrum (2016), yet contradictory with the results from the research of Wahyuni and Umam (2017); and Sundari and Febriyanti (2017) who find their participants to have a high level of writing anxiety. Compared to results from other sociocultural contexts, this research echoes the finding of Huang (2013) where the percentage of students with the moderate level of writing anxiety is bigger than that of the high and low level of writing anxiety. However, this research is at odds with the findings of Zhang (2011); Pimsarn (2013), Rezai and Jafari (2014), and Dacwang (2014) whose participants are dealing with a high level of foreign language WA. Despite this research cannot determine the underlying factors behind these differing results, differences in instruments, size of samples, the timing of the data collection, participants’ sociocultural background, and classroom practices might be responsible for these contradictions. All in all, it is obvious that EFL students experience writing anxiety and this issue needs to be addressed adequately. In the case of the present research, the moderate level of students’ writing anxiety can possibly be attributed to several factors. First, the participants are not under the pressure of testing situation such as mid-term or final- term evaluation when the instruments are administered. In addition, since this research does not intend to see the relationship between students’ writing anxiety and their actual ability, no writing test is given. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) have argued that foreign language anxiety often appears during the testing situation. In light of this theoretical ground, it makes sense that most students do not experience a high level of writing anxiety. Second, instructional practices in which the participants learn how to write in English might influence the result of this research. Writers such as Cheng (2004a) and Latif (2015) have claimed that instructional practices which include aspects such as time constraints, teachers’ feedback and criticism are factors of writing anxiety. In the context of this research, it is very likely that students are not subjected to unreasonable time constraints to finish their writing project. On the one hand, feedback might be dully given; thus, students can improve their writing resulting in a lower level of writing anxiety. On the other hand, it might not be given at all; as a result, students never really know about their actual writing ability making it unnecessary for them to feel highly apprehensive about writing. However, this interpretation is not without its shortcomings although an attempt has been made to interpret the result of this research based on previous researches and related theories, this research in the position to argue for further research to see whether timing of the data collection or classroom practices are actually crucial in determining students’ level of writing anxiety. After figuring out the level of students’ foreign language writing anxiety, this research is set to see whether there is a relationship between foreign language anxiety and their academic levels. It finds that these two variables are not significantly related. This finding confirms the results of Cheng (2002) and Huang (2013). In his research, Cheng (2002) has noticed that there is no significant difference in terms of writing anxiety level among his participants of different academic levels. In other words, for EFL learners, no matter the number of years of their learning English, writing anxiety persists (Huang 2013). Interestingly, while some research on EFL Chinese students have found that their L2 71Writing Anxiety among.... (Delvi Wahyuni, et al.) writing anxiety increases as their study time advance further (Cheng, 2002; Zhang, 2011), the opposite is true for the present research. It is very likely that senior students do not face challenges which are normally experienced by novice writers. In spite of the fact that the present research does not have sufficient empirical data to back this assumption, discussion of factors associated with writing anxiety which will be presented in the next part of the article might shed some light to this tentative assumption. Concerning the sources of WA, Figure 1 gives information about the possible sources of foreign language writing experienced by all participants of this research. Overall, students profess problems with the topic of writing and linguistics difficulties are chief factors triggering their writing anxiety accounting for 56,82% and 56,06% respectively, while the opposite is true for time pressure (14%). Other significant factors contributing to students’ writing anxiety are lack of writing practice (42%), preoccupation with perfect work (37,12%), and poor writing technique (34,85%). Interestingly, fear of test (24,24%) and negative comments from teachers (27,27%) are not important factors engendering writing anxiety for the whole samples of the present research. While Figure 2 presents the causes of writing anxiety based on students’ academic level. In general, it can be seen that while time pressure is not really a problem for the three groups of students, unfamiliar topic choices and language problems are two major sources of writing anxiety for sophomores and junior students. Other important factors that are provoking writing anxiety for these two groups of students are the inadequacy of writing practice, pressure for perfect work, and insufficient writing technique. For the former, other factors which also gained a considerable percentage as causes of their writing anxiety are the high frequency of writing the assignment and low self-confidence in writing, while for the latter fear of teacher’s negative comments is found to be a rather substantial cause of writing anxiety. For senior students, it seems that none of these ten causes of writing anxiety really matter for them. However, under a more careful look, the main factors for their writing Figure 1 Sources of Writing Anxiety Figure 2 Sources of Writing Anxiety (Based on Students’ Academic Level) 72 LINGUA CULTURA, Vol. 13 No. 1, February 2019, 67-74 anxiety are lack of writing practice and problems with the topic choice. These findings are generally in agreements with the results of other researches on this subject in Indonesian context citing linguistic difficulties as one of the major causes of foreign language WA, especially for novice students (Kusumaningputri, Ningsih & Wisangkono, 2018; Wahyuni & Umam, 2017). In addition, just like the findings of the previously mentioned researches, insufficient writing practice also emerges to be another important source of WA for Indonesian EFL learners. These results also mirror the general trend in other EFL contexts as shown by researches conducted by Zhang (2011), Rezai and Jafari (2014), and Latif (2015). However, what makes this present research unique is the very high percentage of problems with the topic choice as a factor for student’s foreign language WA. It indicates that the participants do not read a lot; hence, writing in English about topics they are not familiar with makes them feel apprehensive. On the importance of reading to writing, there has been a general agreement that these two skills are closely connected (Miller, McCardle & Long, 2012; Lee & Schallert, 2016). Although this research does not focus on the students’ reading ability or habits, Iftanti (2012) has reported that Indonesian EFL university students do not have a good reading habit. In addition, students’ WA can be more exacerbated by instructional practices where teachers assign students to write about topics they have no knowledge about (Cheng, 2004a). In light of these, lack of topical knowledge as the number one factor for the students’ WA, regardless of their academic level is explained. Furthermore, unlike the trend of research findings in other Indonesian contexts and other sociocultural backgrounds, the participants of the present research do not see time pressure, teachers’ negative comments, and fear of tests as crucial causes of foreign language WA. It is very likely that the timing of the data collection plays some role in this pattern. As explained, the students are not in any testing situation when they completed the surveys. Another possible explanation for this is that the participants might have never been in any high-stakes test situation involving writing such as IELTS or other standardized tests. As a result, they have yet to deal with the pressure of time constraints and the incoming evaluation of their work. This finding can also indicate that the instructional practices for the skill of writing in the context of this present research do not condition students to write more than their prescribed assignments leading to inadequacy in terms of quality writing practices and feedback. While further investigation is needed to see whether this is really the case, it explains why senior students, who will soon embark on their journey to write their undergraduate theses, flagged it as the most important source of their writing anxiety. Unlike novice students, they do not count the language dimension of the writing act as the leading source of WA due to the years they have taken to study English grammar or other linguistics-related subjects. However, the upcoming compulsory and high-stake writing projects like term-papers or undergraduate theses involve more than just grammar and vocabulary that insufficient writing practice might cause them to be highly apprehensive. Table 5 shows that students employ all five categories of coping strategy to deal with writing anxiety. In general, regardless of the student’s academic level, strategies under the category of preparation and positive thinking gets the highest percentage, while the opposite is true for strategies under the category of resignation. For sophomores, the proportion for positive thinking as writing anxiety coping mechanism is the highest with 76%, followed by preparation strategies (74%), and relaxation and peer-seeking strategies (57,5% and 52,6% respectively). Table 5 Coping Strategies for Dealing with Writing Anxiety No Categories % Sophomores Seniors Juniors 1. Preparation 74,4 80,2 80 2. Relaxation 57,5 55,7 54,2 3. Positive thinking 76 77,1 75,3 4 Peer seeking 52,6 58,3 55,3 5 Resignation 10,7 15,6 11,5 For junior and senior students, the order of strategies for coping with writing anxiety is similar albeit the amount of the percentage differed slightly. In this case, the percentage for preparation strategies used by junior students is 80,2%, followed by positive thinking (77,1%), peer seeking and relaxation (58,3% and 55,7% respectively). Similarly, for junior students, the top two categories for tactics to deal with writing anxiety are preparation and positive thinking with the percentage of 80% and 57,3% respectively. The next category is peer seeking (55,3%), trailed by relaxation (54,2%). Despite the percentage for resignation category is very small, it can be seen that there are more junior students who chose to avoid writing (15,6%) than are in the group of sophomores and seniors (10,7% and 11,5% respectively). Judging from this research, it is obvious that students use cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies to cope with writing anxiety they experience. In addition, students also generally employ preparation strategies, which are behavioral in nature to deal with writing anxiety (Kondo and Ying-Ling, 2004). These findings lend support to other researches on this matter such as Dacwang (2014), Qashoa (2014), and Al-Shboul and Huwari (2015). Another interesting finding of this research indicates different result for each level of the academic year. While junior and senior students utilize behavioral strategies more, novice students prefer positive thinking, a cognitive strategy to deal with the feeling of apprehension when they write in English. This difference may be attributed to the fact that students choose strategies they believe to be more effective in alleviating their anxiety (Kondo and Ying-Ling, 2004). However, this difference is not that significant that for the three groups of students, preparation and positive thinking remain the top two coping strategies to deal with writing anxiety. It can be inferred from this research that students directly deal with the sources of their problems such as preparing more for the upcoming writing tasks or trying to alleviate their worry about writing in English. This is in line with Zeidner (1998) who suggests that problem-focused or active coping strategies are preferred by most people and are more effective in reducing stress compared to emotion- focus coping strategies and avoidance. It also explains why tactics under resignation category are chosen the least by the students. 73Writing Anxiety among.... (Delvi Wahyuni, et al.) CONCLUSIONS This research has shown that the students experience a moderate level of writing anxiety regardless of their academic year. In other words, there are more moderately anxious students at every academic level compared to those with a high or low level of writing anxiety. Furthermore, the lack of topical knowledge, language problems, and inadequate writing practice are found to be major sources of writing anxiety for students of all academic levels. Taking these into consideration, it is necessary for writing instructors to develop a teaching model which incorporates the connection between reading and writing to address problems with the first two factors of writing anxiety. It is also imperative for the institution where students are studying to develop a specific program to encourage the practice of writing aside from what is prescribed by the curriculum. Hence, the problem of inadequate writing practice can be dealt with. In terms of strategies to alleviate writing anxiety, students employ all five categories of coping strategies proposed by Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004), namely; preparation, positive thinking, relaxation, peer-seeking, and avoidance. In this case, preparation and positive thinking are strategies used the most by the students. Regarding the finding of the research, it can be learned that anxiety is still a significant problem in writing teaching and learning process. Thus, writing instructors should consider several aspects in designing their writing class. First, writing instructors should help students to be familiar with the writing topics assigned to them through some reading activities. Second, the writing class should be equipped with lessons of language features related to the texts learned. Third, students should be given opportunities to write on topics which are personally meaningful to them in order to encourage them to write. Therefore, problems with lack of writing practice can be solved. In light of these results, it is suggested for other researchers to investigate the contexts or classroom situations which can influence the level of students’ writing anxiety. This is necessary because in the Indonesian context alone the results of research on this notion have been largely mixed. 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