An Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of Three Different Forms of Daly and Miller’s Writing Apprehension Test through Rasch Analysis

Writing, a basic language skill, is an individual expression of one's knowledge, feelings, thoughts, beliefs, imaginations, and desires in writing (Temizkan, 2014). Writing skills differs from listening, reading, and speaking-which are the other components of language- in a number of ways (Tok & Potur, 2015). Firstly, writing is a skill of description, and in this respect differs from listening and reading (Karatay, 2011). Secondly, although listening and speaking skills are learned to a certain extent in preschool, writing skills are acquired in formal scholastic education. Formal education's need for developing writing skills makes this skill different from listening and speaking skills (Ungan, 2007). Considering the properties of writing skills, writing skills can be said to be slower and more difficult to develop than other language skills (Guneyli, 2016). Difficulties in developing writing skills and the need for more time to improve it can cause individuals to develop some negative feelings toward it (Yaman, 2010). Upon reviewing the relevant literature (Cocuk, Yanpar Yelken, & Ozer, 2016; Daly, 1978; Fathi Huwari & Al-Shboul, 2016; Faigley, Daly, & Witte, 1981; Iseri & Unal, 2012; Kusdemir, Sahin, & Bulut, 2016; Yildiz & Ceyhan, 2016), the negative feeling individuals have in relation to writing is mainly found to be writing apprehension.Writing ApprehensionWriting apprehension, first conceptualized by Daly and Miller (1975; as cited in Smith, 1984), is defined as the anxiety individuals feel in situations where they need to express their feelings and thoughts in writing (Tighe, 1987). Writing apprehension can stem from its complicated nature requiring the use of meta-cognitive skills (Bayat, 2014), from individuals feeling weak and incompetent about their writing, from their negative experiences with writing, or from a lack of reading habits (Zorbaz, 2011). No matter what the source, writing apprehension causes individuals to lose their mental flexibility (Baymur, 1994) and results in failing to generate ideas about what to write (Tiryaki, 2012). Thus, writing apprehension can turn the action of writing into a troublesome and challenging process (Karakaya & Ulper, 2011) that can negatively affect individuals' writing performance (Badrasawi, Zubairi, & Idrus, 2016; Ferguson, 2011; Hassan, 2001).Measuring Writing ApprehensionWriting apprehension has been a subject of study for a long time in the international literature, and a number of scales exist in the literature developed by various researchers for measuring writing apprehension (Cheng, 2004; Daly & Miller, 1975; Petzel & Wenzel, 1993; Stacks, Boozer, & Lally, 1983). The first scale to measure writing apprehension was the WAT, developed by Daly and Miller (1975). WAT is composed of 26 items, 13 positive and 13 negative. Daly and Miller evaluated the psychometric properties of the test in a sample of university students. In studies performed later (Richmond & Dickson-Markman, 1985; Singh & Rajalingam, 2012; Zorbaz, 2010), procedures to determine the psychometric properties of the test were repeated with students coming from differing stages of education. As a consequence, the test was found usable for measuring primary-school and high-school students' writing apprehension. Aside from the WAT, another tool for measuring writing apprehension was introduced into the literature by Petzel and Wenzel (1993). The Writing Anxiety Scale (Petzel & Wenzel, 1993) is composed of 103 items placed under nine factors (empathy, expression, evaluation by others, motivation, organization, procrastination, self-esteem, technical skills, and writing anxiety). Another measuring instrument for use in determining writing apprehension is the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (Cheng, 2004). The inventory has three factors (somatic anxiety, cognitive anxiety, and avoidance behavior) and contains 27 items. …