The Effect of Conventional Tools and E-mail on Writing Anxiety of Iranian EFL Students

Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of conventional tools (such as pen and paper) and e-mail on students’ writing anxiety. To fulfill the goals of the research, sixty M. A. students majoring in teaching English at Shiraz Azad University participated in this study. The participants consisted of twenty-three males and thirty-seven females. During the process which took place two months, the students were taught advanced essay writing and each student was asked to write one essay for every session. The students wrote on papers and handed them to the instructor for the first month. After going through the process of one month, writing anxiety questionnaire was administered to collect the data to analyze the conventional tools. Then they sent their essays to the instructor by e-mail during the following month and again writing anxiety questionnaire was administered to collect the data to analyze using e-mail. The comparison of the conventional and e-mail groups’ gain scores revealed that e-mail has the potential in assisting students lower their anxiety toward writing.