This study investigated second/foreign language writing anxiety among Kazakhstani EFL teachers. After implementing the new educational policy regarding trilingual education, English is taught as a foreign language and used as a medium of instruction in secondary education of Kazakhstan. As EFL teachers are non-native speakers of English, they can be prone to anxiety in language classroom, especially in the context of writing due to its productive and complex nature.

Writing anxiety refers to a person’s predisposition to avoid writing tasks. It is specific to written communication and characterized as an individual’s tendency to avoid the situations and environment that may involve writing followed by its evaluation (Daly, 1978), due to the constant feeling that they are either not ready to write or not good at writing (Jawas, 2019, p.714).

Anxiety in foreign language classroom is commonly related to second language learners. However, the global practice demonstrates that non-native language teachers are also exposed to anxiety in the EFL classroom. In other words, despite being advanced users of English, it is common for teachers to feel writing anxiety. A number of studies have examined the relationship between teachers’ writing anxiety and their teaching practices in L1 contexts (Gere, Schuessler and Abbott, 1984; Bizzaro & Toler (1986). Research shows that a teacher plays a crucial role in shaping students’ attitudes towards writing (Palmquist and Young, 1992) and anxiety confronted by teachers might adversely affect not only teaching process but learning process as well (Aydin, 2021). Teachers’ writing anxiety have debilitative impact on their teaching behaviors, including, for instance, ineffective instructional strategies and anxiety- generating responses to students’ work (Ada and Campoy, 2004). Furthermore, teachers' writing anxiety may be reflected on the way how teachers assess learners’ written work (Claypool, 1980, cited in Atay and Kurt, 2006, p.102).

Due to the dynamic nature of language, non-native English teachers remain learners of the target language. As a result, English teachers may encounter stressful working conditions caused by language-related anxiety in the classroom, which are detrimental to the overall language teaching and learning processes (Horwitz, 1996; Aydin 2016). Some teachers, however, are prone to feel uncomfortable discussing their worries about language anxiety since it may be considered to be unprofessional among their peers.

A variety of factors such as English proficiency, the lack of educational resources and teacher- student relationship contribute to teacher anxiety, which might cause negative effects on teachers’ self-confidence, classroom behavior and teaching approaches(Horwitz, 1996; Roger and Suzuki, 2014; Aydin, 2016). Horwitz (1996) claimed that non-native English teachers experience language anxiety in foreign language classroom because they still remain language learners. However, Aydın (2016) argues that language anxiety in the teaching context cannot be considered the same phenomenon as the learners’ anxiety and thus anxiety among teachers is an important variable to consider. Yet research on L2 language anxiety was mainly conducted in the learning context, but studies focusing foreign language anxiety among teachers, and moreover the ones considering foreign language writing anxiety of language teachers remain in paucity.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the experience of second language writing anxiety(SLWA) among English teachers and explore the range of factors leading to SLWA that might influence their teaching and consequently their students’ academic performance of writing skills as well.

1.5 Research questions

1. What are the possible factors causing second language writing anxiety among English teachers in the classroom?

2. What are the teachers’ beliefs about the effect of their second language writing anxiety on their teaching practice and students’ learning process?

Data were collected from EFL teachers who teach English as a foreign language at Kazakhstani Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools. In this regard, they may be considered to be proficient in English. The subjects comprised 3 male and 37 female teachers and their ages showed variation from 23 to 55, the majority of teachers are in their 30-s. The first language of the participants is Kazakh or Russian and they all had learned English as a second or foreign language. This study was based on the design called an explanatory sequential mixed methods which involves collecting quantitative data first and followed by qualitative data collection. More specifically, the first phase concerns quantitative findings that help determine the target sample for the detailed investigation of the topic. A questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data for the study. EFL teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire on second language writing anxiety. The questionnaire items were devised adapted from FLTAC (Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety Scale) questionnaire devised on the basis of quantitative research instrument on examining FLTA by Kim and Kim (2004). The questionnaire was analyzed using the descriptive statistics. It consists of 26 items that should be answered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree'. All these items were divided into thematical categories depending on the topic of questions such as self-perceptions of L2 writing proficiency, teaching inexperience, lack of knowledge in grammar and vocabulary, fear of negative evaluation. A semi-structured interview was used to collect qualitative data for the study. Research interviews are designed to study people's opinions, experiences, and beliefs about specific subjects (Gill et al., 2008) and are regarded as an effective tool for extracting more detailed data or gaining a thorough understanding of the subject. Once the interview material were ready, the researcher applied the thematical approach to data analysis. Creswell (2014) highlighted the usefulness of the thematic approach in qualitative research, since it allows the researcher to explore the data thoroughly. The researcher identified the quotes in the interviews which had meaning and were related to the main research questions, then all the quotes were indicated by the codes. The codes were generated into the subthemes and as a final step into the general themes. The researcher identified three main themes themes: 1) teachers’ perceived self-efficacy as writers; 2) teachers’ perceived self-efficacy as teachers of writing; 3) psychological challenges.

EFL teachers are prone to experience second language writing anxiety in the context of teaching and learning. The main anxiety-provoking factor is that non-native teachers’ self- efficacy in writing which negatively affects their own writing quality and teaching practice as well. Secondly, fear of evaluation, particularly by their non-native and native speaker colleagues, is another factor that causes writing anxiety. During the interviews, all seven participants admitted they feel unconfident about their own writing skills because their writing skills are not well-developed. Teachers’ low self- efficacy in writing leads to their low self-esteem in their professional practice of teaching writing skills. It means that if the teachers are not confident about their own writing skills, they do not believe that they can develop their learners’ writing skills properly. Consequently, they become prone to anxiety in relation to their own writing skills that may result in other type of worry which can be regarded as teaching anxiety. These findings can be supported by Daisey (2009) who states that self-efficacy of teachers about their own writing abilities affects their beliefs about their ability to teach writing. During the interview, participants shared their beliefs how their writing anxiety may impact their teaching practice and students’ learning process. Most of the participants acknowledge that their second language writing anxiety leads to teaching anxiety which may negatively impact their overall teaching practice. This means, teachers encounter anxiety not only in writing but in teaching the target skill as well. This finding can be explained by Horwitz’s (1996) claim which stated that when teachers experienced foreign language anxiety while they were learners, probably they would have foreign language teaching anxiety later. Ada and Campoy (2004) claimed that if the teachers lack writing abilities, then they are more likely to feel anxiety while teaching.

Ada, A.F., & Campoy, F.I. (2004). Authors in the classroom: A transformative education process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Aida, Y. (1994) ‘Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese’, The Modern Language Journal, 78(2), pp.155-168. Cheng, Y. (2002) ‘Factors Associated with Foreign Language Writing Anxiety’, Foreign Language Annals, 35(6), pp.647–656. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2002.tb01903.x. Cheng, Y.-S. . (2004) ‘A measure of second language writing anxiety: Scale development and preliminary validation’, Journal of Second Language Writing, 13(4), pp.313–335. doi:10.1016/j.jslw.2004.07.001. Cheng, Y., Horwitz, E.K. and Schallert, D.L. (1999) ‘Language Anxiety: Differentiating Writing and Speaking Components’, Language Learning, 49(3), pp.417–446. doi:10.1111/0023-8333.00095. Claypool, S. H. (1980). Teacher writing apprehension: Does it affect writing assignments across curriculum? Choi, S. (2013). “Language anxiety in second language writing: is it really a stumbling block? “ Second Language Studies, 31(2), 1-42. Creswell, J. W. (2014) Educational research: Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Harlow, Essex: Pearson. Creswell, J.W. and Plano Clark, V.L. (2011) Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, Los Angeles. Daly, J. A. and Shamo, W. (1978) ‘Academic Decisions as a Function of Writing Apprehension’, Research in the Teaching of English, 12(2), pp. 119–126. Daly, J.A. and Miller, M.D. (1975) Apprehension of Writing as a Predictor of Message Intensity. The Journal of Psychology, 89 (2): 175–177. doi:10.1080/00223980.1975.9915748. Daly, J. A., and Wilson, D. A. (1983) ‘Writing Apprehension, Self-Esteem, and Personality’, Research in the Teaching of English, 17(4), pp. 327–341. Daud, N.S.M., Daud, N.M. and Kassim, N.L.A. (2016) ‘Second language writing anxiety: Cause or effect?’, Malaysian Journal of ELT Research, 1(1), pp. 1–19. Daysey 2009The Writing Experiences and Beliefs of Secondary Teacher Candidates Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Genc, E. and Yayli, D. (2019) The Second Language Writing Anxiety: The Perceived Sources and Consequences. Pamukkale University Journal of Education, 45 (45): 235–251. doi:10.9779/puje.2018.231 Gere, A. R., Schuessler, B. R., & Abbott, R. D. (1984). Measuring teachers’ attitudes toward writing instruction . In R. Beach & L. Bridwell (Eds.), New directions in composition research (pp. 348-361). New York: Guilford. Horwitz, E.K. (1996) ‘Even Teachers Get the Blues: Recognizing and Alleviating Language Teachers’ Feelings of Foreign Language Anxiety’, Foreign Language Annals, 29(3), pp. 365– 372. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.1996.tb01248.x.