Kurniasih, Eko Suhartoyo, Gita Mutiara Hati, Esti Junining, M. Faruq Ubaidillah
Writing an English composition is influenced not only by cognitive skills but also by students' affective factors, particularly self-efficacy, anxiety, and enjoyment, which play a pivotal role in shaping their writer identity and emotional landscape of writing. Although the role of emotion in language acquisition has been widely studied, there is still limited research that contrasts positive and negative emotions in relation to EFL writing performance and how these emotions relate to students' emerging writer identities. This study is particularly relevant given that writing is a central component of academic success at various educational levels, especially in higher education, where students are expected to complete complex written projects such as theses or research papers. This study addresses three research questions: (1) What is the profile of students' writing self-efficacy, anxiety, enjoyment, and writing performance? (2) Do writing self-efficacy, anxiety, and enjoyment contribute to EFL students' writing performance? (3) What factors shape students' self-efficacy, anxiety, and enjoyment in writing classes, as reflected in their personal experiences and writer identity construction? Employing a mixed-methods design, the study collected quantitative data through questionnaires, which also included open-ended items for qualitative insights. ANOVA and regression analyses were used to assess the predictive effects of the affective variables on writing performance. Meanwhile, content analysis of qualitative responses uncovered themes related to emotional experience and identity negotiation. The findings revealed that while writing self-efficacy, anxiety, and enjoyment were weak predictors of writing performance, students' narratives highlighted the central role of these emotional factors and writer identity construction in how they perceived themselves as writers. These results suggest that affective experiences, though not strongly correlated with immediate performance outcomes, are crucial in the formation and development of writer identity among EFL learners. Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia; University of Limerick, Ireland; Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
