The Correlation between Students’ Writing Anxiety and the Use of Writing Assessment Rubrics

Abstract

Writing anxiety may occur if students are expected to write excellently. To assist the students in minimizing their writing anxiety, teachers can introduce rubrics to the students prior to accomplishing writing tasks. The present study intended to investigate the levels of students’ second language writing anxiety and students’ use of writing assessment rubrics as well as their correlation. This study took place in Critical Reading and Writing classes at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Seventy-three students participated in this research. To gather the data, the researchers employed two instruments, namely Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) and students’ use of writing assessment rubric questionnaire. The data were statistically analysed using SPSS. The results revealed that both students’ second language writing anxiety and their use of writing assessment rubrics were at a moderate level. The two variables also showed a negative strong correlation (r=-0.704), which indicated that the pre-notification of the use of writing rubrics decreased students’ writing anxiety.