The Impact of Student Writing Assessment Literacy on Psychological Factors: An Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis

TL;DR

This study investigates how student writing assessment literacy influences psychological factors like self-efficacy, motivation, and anxiety among Chinese EFL students, revealing positive effects on self-efficacy and motivation, and a reduction in anxiety.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between SWAL and psychological factors in EFL writing, highlighting the importance of SWAL training in pedagogical practices.

Findings

Higher SWAL correlates with increased writing self-efficacy.

Higher SWAL correlates with increased achievement motivation.

Higher SWAL correlates with decreased writing anxiety.

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that enhanced student assessment literacy can lead to improvements in academic performance in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) writing. Additionally, psychological factors such as self-efficacy, achievement motivation, and writing anxiety significantly influence EFL writing outcomes. However, the relationship between student writing assessment literacy (SWAL) and these psychological factors remains unclear. The present study aims to explore how SWAL affects psychological factors in the Chinese EFL context. Data were collected from 103 Chinese undergraduate EFL students using four questionnaires: the Student Writing Assessment Literacy Scale (SWAL), the Self-Efficacy for Writing Scale (SEWS), the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ), and the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI). Ordinal logistic regression was employed to analyze the data. The results indicated that higher levels of SWAL were positively associated with writing self-efficacy and achievement motivation, while negatively related to writing anxiety. These findings have significant pedagogical implications for second language (L2) writing instructions, emphasizing the importance of integrating SWAL training into writing instruction to enhance students' writing experiences and outcomes.