The Effect of Excessive Anxiety on EFL Learners’ Academic Writing Competences

Abstract

The research work at hand is concerned with the effects of debilitating anxiety on the writing competences of foreign language learners of English in particular. It aims at diagnosing the way excessive anxiety impinges on academic writing and hinders it. To fulfillthe stated objectives, a study has been conducted in the English section at the department of Letters and Foreign Language of Ibn Khaldoun University (Tiaret) relying on two research instruments for data collection. A questionnaire administered to 91 second-year LMD learners of both genders (males and females) and an interview with two teachers of English , were used. Thedata gathered have been analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results of the research revealed that the majority of second-year EFL learners enjoy writing meanwhile they explore excessive levels of anxiety. Besides, the research found out that learners can overcome debilitating writing anxiety through some instructional strategies and thus improve theiracademic writing skills.