Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana in the Department of English. Kenya Ariartha Study on Gender Anxiety and Writing at SMAN 2 Kediri in Skripsi Academic Year, Department of English Language Education, FKIP UN PGRI Kediri, 2023. This research background was derived from the researcher's observations and experiences during her teaching apprenticeship at SMAN 2 Kediri.
However, during the observation, the researcher found that the male and female students had different factors that could greatly affect their confidence in their writing skills and trigger the writing anxiety they suffered. The subjects were male and female students of the eleventh grade with the academic year 2021/2022 at SMAN 2 Kedira. The main instrument of this research is questionnaires adapted from SLWAI Cheng (2004) and CSLWAI Rezaei and Jafari (2014).
Based on the findings and tabulated data, this research found that male students suffered three types of writing anxiety and female students suffered two types of writing anxiety. Therefore, it can be concluded that male students had worse writing anxiety than female students. All lecturers of the Department of English who have provided valuable knowledge and science during his studies in the faculty of teacher training and education of Nusantara University PGRI Kediri.
Students of the second year of Science 2 and Science 4 in the academic year 2021/2022 at SMAN 2 Kedira, who supported the researcher in the research by providing the necessary data.
Background of the Research
These factors made writing skills complicated, so the majority of students learn English language half-heartedly. In addition, great theoretical knowledge related to writing skills such as vocabulary and grammar is required to learn writing skills. Writing anxiety is a type of anxiety caused by students' negative feelings about writing skills.
Writing anxiety developed by students because they had to practice writing skills with unknown language of which they have less sufficient knowledge. EFL (English Foreign Students) often find learning to write difficult because they either had too few words to write effectively or had a disability in grammar knowledge (Sabti et. All, 2019). Their disability causes them to make several mistakes, making their writing skills low. quality and is directly reflected in their declining confidence in their writing skills. When students find it difficult to write or express their ideas appropriately, it will demotivate and lower their self-esteem, which will affect their writing performance and results (Sabti et.
As a result, students do not make significant progress in learning writing skills, instead they develop negative feelings toward learning writing that turn into writing anxiety. Although anxiety can be caused by various factors, most male and female students agreed that writing skill is the least skill they are confident about. However, some other researchers stated that they have bad writing anxiety because they can easily think things that confuse themselves and result in low-quality writing (Cahyanto, Ashadi, & Saputro, 2019; Rehman, Samad, & Ali , 2022; Kurniasih et al. all, 2022).
There have been various researches regarding gender influence on students' ability to learn English (Prihastuti, Padmadewi and Ramendra, 2020; SaizAja, 2021) and anxiety affects students' language learning (Wahyuni and Umam, 2017; Balta, 2018; Hanifa, 2018; Sabti, Rashid, Nimehchisalem and Darmi, 2019). However, there is only limited research related to gender characteristics to measure students' anxiety in learning writing skills. Therefore, the researcher wanted to investigate whether today's high school students suffer from writing anxiety and the factors that play a role in building their writing anxiety.
When they had to write on whiteboards, female students wrote longer sentences, but they needed more time to write them because they often first erase their writing several times. However, for male students, researchers found that they were really opposed to practicing their writing skills unless it was really necessary, such as having to write on a whiteboard to get extra points or taking written tests. Therefore, researcher is interested to find and investigate the difference of writing anxiety and the factors of writing anxiety between male and female students nowadays.
Problem Identification of the Research
Meanwhile, male students had lower language skills (Reilly and Andrews, 2019), better numeracy (Gurian, 2001) and felt stressed easily and difficult to control (Karlina and Pancoro, 2018; Nelson and Burke, 2002). In a school-based researcher, she found that most female students had problems in controlling their nervousness when performing their writing skills, while male students were very hesitant in performing their writing skills. Therefore, the researcher believed that gender somehow affects their writing anxiety, so she wanted to conduct this study to know and find out whether male and female EFL students have different writing anxiety and whether they had factors of different factors that affect their writing anxiety.
Limitation of the Research
Problem of the Research
Aims of the Research
Significance of the Research 1. For English teacher
This study can be used as a reference to add students' knowledge about the writing anxiety that male and female students suffered from and the cause behind the anxiety. This study can be used as a reference for further research regarding gender and anxiety in learning, in addition to old studies on similar topics that may or may not be considered significant studies in the distant future.
Definition of Key Terms 1. Gender
Writing anxiety refers to a condition in which students tend to avoid situations that require their writing skills (Karlina and Pancoro, 2018). Based on Cheng (2004), writing anxiety is divided into three categories: somatic anxiety related to the physical condition, cognitive anxiety related to the thinking process, and avoidance behavior related to people's reaction to performing writing skills. Gender differences in writing: The mediating effect of language proficiency and writing proficiency on text quality.
An analysis of students' error in writing a report text in eighth grade students of SMP N 6 Timang. Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, New York: Pearson Education, Inc. Analysis of gender differences in students' misconceptions in learning material classification and its changes.
Affect in foreign and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety atmosphere in the classroom, 24, 41. An investigation of the role of gender in foreign language learning in students at the Department of English at Kust. Investigating levels, types and causes of writing anxiety among Iranian EFL students: A mixed methods design.