Examines the impact on a deaf student (who was "intensely anxious" about writing) of five two-hour tutoring sessions conducted exclusively in English, in writing, and on a computer. Finds that his fluency expanded significantly, as did his conversation about writing. Notes that he became more deeply involved in critical awareness of text,…

Finds significant differences in level of writing apprehension among students in Freshman Composition based on grades in Freshman Composition but not based on a student's age or gender. Finds significantly greater writing apprehension among accounting majors than among non-accounting majors. (SR)

Argues that nontraditional students need special assistance in coming to believe that they have something valuable to say and in learning to express it with authority. Discusses the complicated nature and causes of the silences of nontraditional students, and describes numerous things that can be done to lessen fear and resistance in the writing…

Describes implementation of a writing process and feedback (WPF) model, which presented getting published as an appropriate expectation of all graduate students. The model included structured sequential classroom assignments, student editorial review boards, guest classroom appearances by published writers, and extensive feedback from faculty and…

Combining the practical lessons of clinical practice and the literature of the disciplines of composition theory and psychology, this book merges what writers say about writing with what researchers and scholars say in a way that helps both experienced and inexperienced writers at the writing desk. The writers depicted in the book are comprised of…

A study investigated students' attitudes about writing, in order to gain new insights into writing apprehension. The Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test and 2 open-ended questions were administered to 202 students from public and private colleges and universities in California. Results indicated that highly apprehensive students generally want…

To provide a broad view of writer's block and the composing process, this annotated bibliography includes 100 sources that discuss (1) early views of blocking, e.g., Freud's warning about internal critics; (2) contemporary curatives, e.g., cognitive therapies that purport to change a writer's inhibitory self-talk; (3) successful writers' accounts…

Research into writing anxiety is an off-shoot of research into oral communication anxiety. At first, researchers thought that people with high oral communication anxiety tended to compensate by writing. However, when the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Test was used, it was found that the link between oral and written anxiety did not exist. The…

A program evaluation was undertaken at Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) to assess the broad, measurable effects of using computers to teach introductory college composition. Twenty-four classes were studied--twelve control classes and twelve experimental--with the experimental computer classes meeting in the lab for half of their…

Tests the hypothesis that high writing-apprehensive subjects would differ significantly from low writing-apprehensive subjects regarding the writing intensity of their jobs. Suggests that where a lack of writing productivity exists in writing-intensive jobs, managers might explore writing-apprehension problems, or at least examine the match…

Presents step-by-step instructions to help developmental writing students write a cohesive essay by combining individually written paragraphs. (HTH)

Reports on a study of writing apprehension in writing center tutors, results of which indicated a strong correspondence between various dimensions of writing apprehension and specific teaching behaviors that do not aid the student in problem detection or writing improvement. (HTH)

Results indicate that various measures of speech, telephone, and writing apprehension can account for a small significant percentage of the variance in channel (face-to-face, telephone, written) preferences. (PD)

Describes the methodology and results of a study to determine whether writing instruction caused anxiety. The results indicated that teaching technical writing in freshman composition was more effective in lowering student writing anxiety than were literary-essay or rhetorical teaching approaches. (HTH)

Reports on the predrafting processes of several high and several low writing apprehensive students engaged in academic writing and analyzes the differences related to writing apprehension. (HOD)