The Causes of Writing Apprehension through Students’ Perspective

Although studies on the causes of writing apprehension on native learners of English have been done extensively, studies on English as foreign language (EFL) learners are scant. In fact, limited studies have examined writing apprehension experienced by EFL postgraduate learners, in particular written academic discourse. Therefore, the study focused on writing apprehension experienced by Jordanian EFL learners when writing their PhD thesis in Malaysia. The objective of the study was to explore the causes of writing apprehension among Jordanian PhD students at Universiti Utara Malaysia. In this qualitative case study, the researchers interviewed 21 Jordanian PhD students. Four main themes emerged pertaining to causes of writing apprehension which are Lack of knowledge in English structure, Negative attitude toward writing, Negative writing experience in the past, and Inadequate knowledge in academic writing. The study concluded that writing apprehension was a prevalent phenomenon among the students. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on writing apprehension related to the causes of writing apprehension. It highlights internal and external factors which contribute to writing apprehension.