Effects of Variables about Reading-Writing Frequency on the Education Faculty Freshmen's Writing Apprehension Levels

Abstract

This study examined the writing apprehension levels of the faculty of education freshman students based on the relevant variables about reading-writing frequency. The working group of the research comprised of 455 freshman students studying at Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Education. In the study, Writing Apprehension Scale, which was developed by Daly and Miller (1975) [adapted to Turkish by Zorbaz (2010)], was used. This findings of the study revealed that 12,5 % of the students had high writing apprehension, 55,6 % of them had moderate, and 31,9 % of them had low apprehension. The students, who kept diaries or conducted writing activity, had low apprehension. The students, who had taken more writing assignments during their secondary and high school education, had lower levels of writing apprehension. The findings also revealed that those who had read 21 to 50 or 11 to 20 books in the last one year had lower levels of writing apprehension compared to those who had not read any book at all during the same time frame. Those who identified themselves as very poor in terms of reading habits were found to have higher levels of writing apprehension than those who identified themselves as so and so, good, very good; while those who identified themselves as poor were found to have higher levels of writing apprehension compared to those who identified themselves as good and very good in terms of reading habits. © 2015 IOJES. All rights reserved