Abstract:
This study was conducted on the title A Study of Foreign Language Writing Anxiety and Its
Contributing Factors: Grade 11 Students in Efa Boru Dabo Temo and Lillo Secondary
Schools in Dabo Hanna District, Buno Bedele Zone. The main objective of this study was to
investigate EFL students’ writing anxiety level and its contributing factors. Purposive
sampling technique was used to select the target schools. The students were selected using
simple random sampling through lottery method to fill in the questionnaire and the
participants for the interview were selected using purposive sampling. The participants of the
study were totally 135 students. Two kinds of data collection instruments were used, namely,
questionnaire and semi-structured interview guide. The data collected using students’
questionnaire was analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistical data version 26 software. By using
this software, frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation of each item was analyzed.
The findings indicated that participants struggled with writing practices and lacked basic
writing skills due to writing anxiety and its contributing factors. The study also showed that
students writing anxiety was caused by poor writing practice habit, lack of self-confidence,
thinking negatively and pessimistically, considering their writings inferior to those of others,
thinking that they cannot write any composition, and also their teachers’ teaching methods.
Hence, it is recommended that EFL teachers understand that writing anxiety is not the
indication of poor writing ability but it is a possible condition that may occur during the
writing process and when they treat it properly, there is a possibility to eliminate it. Besides,
English teachers and students should identify the potential causes of the occurrence of writing
anxiety and try to reduce its effects on the students’ writing effectiveness using the various
strategies indicated in the study.
