An Empirical Study on the Alleviation Effects of the Continuation Writing Task on Senior High School Students’ Foreign Language Writing Anxiety

Abstract

This study investigates how continuation writing tasks influence English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ writing anxiety and performance. Using a mixed-methods design—combining pre- and post-intervention anxiety scales, writing assessments, and in-depth interviews with 62 university students over 15 weeks—the research identifies statistically significant reductions in writing anxiety and parallel improvements in linguistic accuracy, coherence, and idea development. Quantitative and qualitative data converge to reveal a robust, bidirectional relationship: lowered anxiety fosters greater cognitive engagement in writing, which enhances performance and further reinforces confidence—a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle. Pedagogically, findings support intentional integration of reading and writing via structured continuation tasks as effective affective scaffolding, enabling learners to internalize language forms within meaningful, communicative contexts. Limitations include sample specificity and intervention brevity; future work should pursue longitudinal, cross-contextual, and multi-affective-variable studies. In sum, continuation writing is empirically validated as a powerful, dual-function pedagogical tool that simultaneously alleviates anxiety and advances writing proficiency in EFL settings.