THE DIFFERENCES AMONG WRITING ANXIETY, GENDER AND WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS OF PGRI UNIVERSITY, PALEMBANG

Abstract

THE DIFFERENCES AMONG WRITING ANXIETY, GENDER AND WRITING ACHIEVEMENT OF ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM STUDENTS OF PGRI UNIVERSITY, PALEMBANG

Hesti Wahyuni Anggraini

English Education Study Program, FKIP, Sriwijaya University

hwanggraini@gmail.com

Abstract: Written communication has long been claimed as a very difficult skill to acquire. First, it covers mostly the obligation of mastering structures and written form of language in the notion of cognitive problems. Second, the existence of writing difficulties on the basis of cognitive aspect makes foreign language students anxious to be involved in writing. Also, gender plays important aspect to expose in language learning. This paper presents (a) whether or not there was significant difference in students’ writing achievement on the basis of gender, (b) whether or not there was significant difference in writing achievement on the basis of writing anxiety, and (c) whether or not there was significant difference in writing achievement on the basis of gender, from 110 undergraduate students, 55 male students and 55 female students, of English Study Program of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of PGRI University, Palembang, in academic year 2011/2012. The samples were selected by using purposive sampling. The data were collected mainly from the students’ essays and questionnaire of Foreign Language Writing Anxiety Scale. Then, the data were analyzed quantitatively. The result showed that firstly, student’s gender was not significant variable in writing achievement statistically. Secondly, there was statistically significant difference in writing achievement on the basis of writing anxiety level (i.e., low and medium level of writing anxiety). At last, students’ writing anxiety showed no statistically significant difference on the basis of gender. However, the findings indicated that statistically, there was significant difference in low level of writing anxiety of male and female students. Closer analysis resulted that students’ writing anxiety were affected by evaluation apprehension. Very poor writing achievement was derived from the students’ ability.

Key words: writing anxiety, gender, writing achievement