The relation between writer’s block and attitude towards writing

Abstract

It is undeniable that many ESL students even at tertiary level often have difficulties in writing. One of these problems is writer’s block. Even though several studies claim that attitude towards writing is one of the most important affective reasons for writer’s block, there are not any studies examining the relation between writer’s block and attitude towards writing. Within this context, this study aims to identify the relation between writer’s block and attitude towards writing. The participants are the university students who are the first-year in the department of Translation and Interpretation in English at a state university in Türkiye. Writer’s Block Questionnaire developed by Rose (1984) and Writing Attitude Scale developed by Podsen (1997) were used to determine the levels of writer’s block and attitude towards writing. Quantitative techniques were used to analyze the data. At the end of the analysis, it was found that the participants had a moderate attitude towards writing as well as a moderate level of writer’s block. Pearson Correlation demonstrates that there is a weak, but not statistically significant, relation between writer’s block and attitude. This study concludes that writer’s block is a temporary stuck but attitude is more permanent and it is also a psychological and static state even though attitude may be changed as a result of new experiences. Therefore, attitude may not be a reason for writer’s block as it is a long-lasting concept and learners may have writer’s block although they have positive attitude towards writing.