THE CYCLE OF SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Authors

  • Noor Hanim Rahmat Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia
  • Noor Ahnis Othman Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia
  • Aini Akmar Mohd Kasim Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia
  • Zulaikha Khairuddin Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia
  • Norhartini Aripin Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v0i0.2326

Keywords:

writing, fear, self-fulling prophecy, perceived difficulties, reasons

Abstract

Fear of writing can be caused my many reasons. Some reasons come from the learners, some from the teachers and some from the surrounding environment. A learner with negative feelings towards writing may present this fear into having writing anxiety when it comes to classrooms activities. This fear can become a never-ending cycle of fear towards writing. This pilot study is done on 108 respondents to find. Out the influence of perceived difficulties, reasons for writing and writing anxiety on ESL academic writing. The instrument used is a 56-items survey with 5 likert scales. Findings of the study displayed an interesting self-prophecy towards writing. The results of the study revealed that many learners’ perception of writing difficulty started in semester one of their study. This fear can be aggravated by a non-supporting learning environment by the writing teachers. Next, cognitive anxiety such as low self-esteem added on to the negative feeling on writing. This negative feeling can be rooted from the learners past experience (somatic anxiety) on the learning of writing. Finally, learners may end up showing avoidance bahaviour such towards learning writing. They would only write essays in English if they were not given any choice.

 

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Author Biographies

  • Noor Hanim Rahmat, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia

    Noor Hanim Rahmat has taught in UiTM for the past 25 years. She has a Phd in Education; specializing in TESL (Academic Writing). She has taught and supervised post graduate students. She actively presents papers , writes articles for journals , as well as book for TESL methodology.

  • Noor Ahnis Othman, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia

    Noor Ahnis Othman is the deputy dean for research, industry, community and alumni network at the Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. She has taugh in the university for almost 30 years. Besides research writing, she is also an active member in non-profit organization for underprivileged children.

  • Aini Akmar Mohd Kasim, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia

    Aini Akmar Mohd Kasim has a PhD in TESL. She has taught at Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam for almost 20 years. Her area of interest includes L2 teaching and learning, learning strategies and learner autonomy.

  • Zulaikha Khairuddin, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam Malaysia

    Zulaikha Binti Khairuddin is an English lecturer at the Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. She obtained her Master Degree in TESL at Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA. She has interest in field of education, language and linguistics.

  • Norhartini Aripin, Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia

    Norhartini Aripin has a Masters in Education (TESL). She has taught in Akademi Pengajain Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Pasir Gudang, Johor for the past 4 years. Her area of research includes communication apprehension and speaking anxiety. She is currently doing her Phd in Applied Linguistics, specializing in Academic Writing.

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Published

2019-03-13

Issue

Vol 5, No 11 (2019)

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