Writing Anxiety and Writing Performance: A Descriptive-Correlational Study of Grade 11 Students at Centro Escolar Integrated School Malolos

Using the descriptive-correlational approach, the researchers sought to establish a connection between writing anxiety and writing performance of Grade 11 students at Centro Escolar Integrated School in Malolos, Bulacan, Philippines. The results showed that majority of the respondents experience a “moderate” level of psychological symptoms of anxiety while experiencing “lack of focus,” and “fear of failure” which has the highest weighted average of among ten symptoms. In addition, no correlation was established between writing performance based on grades and level of anxiety based on physical and psychological symptoms of the respondents. This study used quantitative data gathered through a survey questionnaire given to the respondents who answered the questions indicated in the statement of the problem. The data was organized and checked for completeness and accuracy. The researchers encoded and calculated the data manually and validated the results using Microsoft Excel and SPSS Statistics version 20 These results show that there is no correlation between writing anxiety and writing performance of the respondents. Therefore, a “moderate” level of writing anxiety does not interfere with the respondents’ writing performance. A study by Fitrinada etali. (2018) also obtained the similar results regarding the correlation between somatic anxiety (physical symptoms) and cognitive (psychological symptoms) and writing performance. Results show that there is no correlation between the variables.


Introduction
All students are entitled to an education in a positive environment. According to Dobson (2010), students with or without disabilities can suffer from anxiety when faced with certain written academic tasks. In recent years, anxiety-related disorder has been shown to influence a person's life to the point that it can interfere with schoolwork, jobs, and relationships.
Anxiety is the body's way of showing that there is something wrong in the environment which needs attention. It is a series of biochemical reactions of the brain and body, such as an increase in adrenaline (causing the heart to beat faster) and a decrease in dopamine (a brain chemical that helps to block pain). These changes result in a state of heightened attention to the source of the anxiety. High levels of anxiety cause your body to prepare to fight or run away from the perceived threata reaction commonly called the "fight-or-flight response." (Alvarado Parkway Institute, 2016).
Anxiety is "an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure" (American Psychological Association, n.d.).
It is also a state that consists of psychological and physical symptoms. High levels of anxiety cause the body to prepare to fight or run away from the perceived threat -a reaction commonly called the "fight-or-flight response." It is prevalent among students due to a lot of pressure from academic demands such as homework, performance tasks, paperwork, roleplays, quizzes, etc. and has four componentsworry, emotionality, task-generated interference, and study skills deficits (Cornell University, n.d The different methods of reducing anxiety level are dependent on the student's experience. Moreover, approximately 8% of children and teenagers experience anxiety disorder with most people developing symptoms before age 21 (Anxiety and Depression Association of America, n.d.). It is crucial to know how to distinguish the difference between normal feelings of anxiety, which is a natural human reaction towards stressful situations, and anxiety disorder which is a condition that frequently occurs without a trigger and requires professional help or medical attention. Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can seriously affect daily living (Medical News Today, 2017). Only about one-third of those suffering from an anxiety disorder receive treatment, even though the disorder is highly treatable. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as cited in the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (n.d.), "1 in 13 globally suffers from anxiety." The WHO reports that anxiety disordersare the most common mental disorders worldwide with specific phobia, major depressive disorder and social phobia being the most common anxiety disorders.
Written performances are a major part of the grading system of the curriculum today along with other variables that determine a student's academic performance in a semester, grading system and school year. It is evident that a high level of anxiety interferes with concentration and memorywhich are crucial in answering tests and other performance tasks that require written skills. Self-perception factors influence learners' expectations, affecting their foreign language classroom anxiety, and even causing them to underestimate their ability to perform in the language they are learning (Hismanoglu, 2013).
Language anxiety also influences writing skill. Horwitz (2001) noted that anxious students experience difficulty when writing a composition. They usually write short pieces which are not as high in terms of quality as those of non-anxious students who are more proficient in their compositional skills and express their opinions and ideas at a higher level. In terms of writing anxiety, another factor that can influence writing anxiety as it relates to low learning achievement is self-esteem. Negative thoughts and feelings, reflected in anxiety symptoms, can affect the writing process and result in a student avoiding testing situations. Writing anxiety is linked to the fear of being evaluated and criticized. This skill requires the proper use of grammatical structures and rules, making learners feel dependent upon the opinions of teachers (Teksan, 2012).
On the other hand, anxiety does not only affect people's daily lifestyle negatively.
Cornell University (n.d) stated that the absence of anxiety is one of the factors that can result in lack of motivation in studying for exams, writing papers, or doing daily homework and other tasks. In other words, a moderate amount of anxiety helps academic performance by creating motivation.
The purpose of this study is to identify a correlation between anxiety level and writing performance. In addition,it aims to assess the writing anxiety level of the Humanities and Social Sciences students at Centro Escolar Integrated School and determine the different ways of effectively coping with the negative effects of anxiety.

Statement of the Problem
According to Gamble (2016), high levels of anxiety affect students' performance in oral and writing activities. Anxiety leads to poor academic performance and low level of Yerkes and Dodson (1908) also stated that once arousal crosses the optimal level, the performance of an individual can be diminished. In the experiment the researchers conducted, a certain level of electric shock was used as an instrument which helped the rats to be motivated to complete the maze. However, as the electrical shock got higher, the rats started to lose their motivation and their performance level started to decrease so that they just ran to seek for an escape rather thanfinish the maze. The experiment shows that arousal level can help them to focus and be motivated to do the task but only up to an optimum point. The same thing happens in the performance of a student. Students can be motivated to stay focused during a written www.ijellh.com e-ISSN: 2582-3574 p-ISSN: 2582-4406 6 exam only at their optimum level of anxiety. If the level of anxiety crosses the optimum level, their performance can diminish.
The theory is related to the study of student's behavior or stimuli towards writing performance. The students might be driven to do better at school due to anxiety. If stress levels are too high, the student's performance in school might decrease while stress at optimal levels may increase their performance in school. Hence, there is a possibility that writing performances will decrease due to high levels of stress whilst at optimal levels performance will increase. The collection of numerical data to answer questions was done toobtain information about the writing anxiety level which was categorized into physiological and psychological symptoms of anxiety. The data were collected through a Likert scale questionnaire. Moreover, the collection of secondary data which is the writing performance of the respondents was also conducted through the Discipline and Ideas in the Social Sciences subject teacher of Grade 11 students in Humanities and Social Sciences at Centro Escolar Integrated School Malolos.

Respondents of the Study
The researchers provided a questionnaire to measure the respondents level of anxiety and how it affects the students' ability to write an essay paper or work. was composed of 20 questions that were divided into two categories, Physical Symptoms (1-10) and Psychological Symptoms (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), to determine the basis of anxiety of the respondents respectively. The combined values of the two (2)  Since there are students from HUMSS-11A that have transferred to other sections ordropped out, the researchers decided to not give them the survey due to the insufficient grades that were given for each transferee. As shown in Figure 4.1, the total respondents were 50; the frequency of the 15 males was equal to 30% of the respondents, while the remaining 70% has a frequency of 35 which were females.

Level of Physical Symptoms of Anxiety of Humanities and Social Sciences, Gr. 11
The results showed 7 out of 10 of the respondents were experiencing "moderate" level of physical symptoms of anxiety on the following: "impaired concentration" ranks 1 with 1.98 mean and a standard deviation of 0.38; "sweating of palms" ranks second with a mean value of 1.76 and a standard deviation of 0.85, while the other physical symptoms of anxiety were "headache", "panics", and "muscle tension". The "loss of appetite", "tightening of chest"; and "becoming nauseated" have the "low" level of interpretation, as shown in  As reflected in Table 4.2, all the psychological symptoms listed had obtained a "moderate" interpretation. The respondents were experiencing moderate levels of psychological symptoms of anxiety and the three symptoms with the highest weighted average are "fear of failure" with a value of 2.34; "self-doubt" has a mean of 2.16; and "time pressure" has 2.14.
The remaining values were almost similar. Several falls under similar values like "unintentional errors", "inability to focus", and "regrets" with a mean of 2.06. The "selfimposed restrictions" has a mean of 2.02, "lack of concentration" has 1.94; and "difficulty making decisions" has 1.92 with a standard deviation of 0.57 as the least experienced by the respondents.        As can be gleaned from Figure 4.3, no significant relationship exists between the two variables, namely Writing Performance and Anxiety Level.

Summary of Findings
The study correlated the writing performance of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) students at Centro Escolar Integrated School Malolos with their writing anxiety level. The results show that 7 out of 10 of the respondents were experiencing "moderate" level of physical symptoms of anxiety on the following: "lack of focus" ranks 1 with 1.98 mean and a standard deviation of 0.38; "sweating of palms" ranks second with a mean value of 1.76 and a standard deviation of 0.85, while the other physical symptoms of anxiety were "headache", "panics", and "muscle tension". The "loss of appetite", "tightening of chest"; and "becoming nauseated" have "low" level of interpretation.
The level of writing anxiety based on psychological symptoms shows that all symptoms listed had obtained "moderate" interpretation. The respondents were experiencing moderate levels of psychological symptoms of anxiety and the three symptoms with the highest weighted average are "fear of failure" with a value of 2.34; "self-doubt" has a mean of 2.16; and "time pressure" has a mean of 2.14.
The remaining values are almost similar. Several fall under similar values like "unintentional errors", "inability to focus", and "regrets" with a mean of 2.06. The "selfimposed restrictions" has a mean of 2.02, "lack of concentration" has 1.94; and "difficulty making decisions" has 1.92 with a standard deviation of 0.57 as the least experienced by the respondents.
The correlation of writing performance based on grades and level of anxiety based on physical symptoms illustrated the association in the samples of paired data. The researchers found out that no significant relationship exists between the given variables.

Conclusions
Through an in-depth analysis and interpretation, the researchers were able to come up with the following conclusions based on the results of the study: 1.Majority of the respondents' experience a "moderate" level of psychological symptoms of anxiety. Most of them encounter "lack of focus" during an essay. In addition, most of them experience "fear of failure," which has the highest weighted average of among the ten symptoms.
2.There is no correlation between writing performance based on grades and level of anxiety based on physical symptoms Humanities and Social Sciences Students (Grade 11) at Centro Escolar Integrated School Malolos.
3.There is no correlation between writing performance based on grades and level of anxiety based on psychological symptoms Humanities and Social Sciences Students These results show that there is no correlation between writing anxiety and writing performance of the respondents. Therefore, a "moderate" level of writing anxiety does not interfere with the respondents' writing performance. A study by Fitrinada etali. (2018) also obtained the similar results regarding the correlation between somatic anxiety (physical symptoms) and cognitive (psychological symptoms) and writing performance. Results show that there is no correlation between the variables.

Recommendations
The following recommendations are offered based on the results and conclusion of the study: 1. Students should know their strengths and weaknesses and assess themselves on what environment they are comfortable to work in. In addition, they should not be afraid to find or seek help when needed.
2. Parents should be more aware of their child's well-being. They should frequently check in on their children. Moreover, they should encourage them tobe more positive about themselves to help eliminate the factor of "fear of failure." 3. Teachers should give "cool down passes" to enable students to take a break from the classroom. This should be clearly explained to the students. Examples might include walking down the hallway, getting water, standing outside the classroom door for a few minutes, or even using a mindfulness app with headphones. A buddy system can be implemented in which a student is assisted by a peer during transitions or in less structured situations that can trigger anxious feelings.