Apprehension, Topic Variety, and Proficiency in Writing of Indonesian EFL Students

Abstract

This study examined the relation between Indonesian EFL students’ apprehension and proficiency in writing, students’ proficiency in writing across apprehension levels, and students’ proficiency in writing across topic variety. It involved 52 EFL students of the English Deparment of an Indonesian university. The students were assigned to write opinion essays in three different topics: general, personal, and academic topics. They were also asked to complete a questionnaire which was used to elicit their apprehension scores. The results of the analysis show that (1) there was no significant relation between students’ apprehension and their proficiency in writing, (2) there was no significant difference in the proficiency in writing between low apprehension students and medium apprehension students, and (3) there were significant differences between students’ proficiency in writing general topics and academic topics and between their proficiency in writing personal topics and academic topics. This study suggests that EFL teachers of writing should not consider students’ apprehension levels as a factor that affects students’ proficiency in writing in a negative way. In addition, when assigning students to write academic topics, EFL teachers are recommended to provide some strategies to help them write more easily.