The Role of Motivation and Anxiety in Writing Strategy Use: Focus on Saudi EFL Learners

It is widely acknowledged that academic writing constitutes a challenge for EFL learners. This is why areas like writing strategies use, writing motivation and writing anxiety have attracted extensive attention in the literature. However, the interplay between these three areas has not been researched sufficiently, particularly among Arab learners. The present study bridges this gap through examining the use of writing strategies by Saudi EFL learners and the relationship between the learners’ use of these strategies and their writing motivation and writing anxiety. A total of 206 Saudi EFL learners responded to a questionnaire that assessed how they used writing strategies as well as their writing motivation and anxiety. Using descriptive statistics, the results showed that the Saudi EFL learners use most writing strategies moderately or to a high extent. It was also found that students generally experience a high degree of motivation and a moderate degree of anxiety while performing writing. The Pearson Correlation analysis indicated that students’ use of writing strategies is somewhat positively correlated with their writing motivation and negatively correlated with their writing anxiety. Additionally, multiple regressions revealed that the use of writing strategies was predicted by both writing motivation and writing anxiety, although prediction by the writing motivation was more prominent. The results are discussed in reference to the relevant theories and pedagogical implications and future research directions are proposed.