Measuring anxiety in EFL writing classes

 Measuring anxiety in EFL writing classes is a focused and meaningful area of study, especially since writing often triggers unique forms of anxiety—like fear of making grammar mistakes, organizing thoughts, or being judged.

Here’s how you can approach it systematically:

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🧠 1. Understand the Types of Writing Anxiety

Researchers (e.g., Cheng, 2004) have identified three dimensions of Second Language Writing Anxiety:

1. Somatic Anxiety – physical symptoms (sweating, heart racing, etc.)

2. Avoidance Behavior – avoiding writing tasks

3. Cognitive Anxiety – worry, negative expectations, fear of evaluation

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📊 2. Use an Established Instrument

✅ Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI)

By Cheng (2004) – This is the go-to scale for measuring anxiety in EFL writing classes.

• 21 items, 5-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree)

• Divided into the 3 types mentioned above

• Sample items:

  • “While writing in English, I often feel my whole body is tense.” (somatic)

  • “I would do anything to avoid writing in English.” (avoidance)

  • “I worry that my English writing is not good enough.” (cognitive)

📌 You can translate and adapt this for your context, but remember to validate it.

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🧾 3. Supplement with Custom or Contextual Items

If you want to design your own questionnaire or add items:

• Include specific triggers from your context, like:

  • “I feel anxious when I have to write essays under time pressure.”

  • “I worry about being misunderstood because of grammar errors.”

  • “I feel more comfortable writing in Indonesian than in English.”

• You can also assess reactions to:

  • Peer feedback

  • Teacher correction

  • Public sharing of writing

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💬 4. Add Qualitative Insights (Optional but Powerful)

To better understand the source of writing anxiety:

• Use interviews or reflection journals

• Ask questions like:

  • “What makes you nervous when writing in English?”

  • “How do you feel when your writing is corrected?”

This helps explain the why behind the numbers from your quantitative data.

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🛠️ 5. Analyze Your Data

• Use Cronbach’s alpha to check reliability

• Use descriptive statistics to get an overview

• If comparing groups (e.g., low vs. high anxiety), use t-tests or ANOVA

• If doing a mixed-methods study, triangulate qualitative and quantitative findings

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✅ Summary: Tools You Can Use

Tool	Use	Origin
SLWAI	Standard scale for EFL writing anxiety	Cheng (2004)
Adapted FLCAS	General EFL anxiety, can tweak for writing	Horwitz et al. (1986)
Custom Writing Anxiety Items	Context-specific anxiety triggers	You/your study
Interviews/Reflections	Deep, personal insights	Qualitative