What research says to the practitioner: Writing apprehension

apprehension which is a pervasive anxiety trait that seriously affects a large portion of the population (Daly & Miller, 1975a, p. 243). Earlier studies of high apprehensives showed that tend to be less inclined to achieve (Griffin & Gilham, 1971), tend to choose occupations that perceive to require little communication (Daly & McCroskey, 1975), and tend to have lower self-concepts than others (in Daly & Miller, 1975a, p. 243). Specifically, some people appear unusually fearful and hesitant about writing and avoid writing situations whenever possible. classroom situations, said Daly and Miller (1975a), they will be the individuals who consistently fail to turn in compositions, who do not attend class when writing is required, and who seldom enroll voluntarily in courses where writing is known to be demanded (p. 244). In order to assess the strength of this attitude, Daly and Miller (1975a) developed and standardized a self-report scale to measure individual writing apprehension. It allows researchers to examine students' beliefs, likes, and dislikes as well as their feelings about evaluations made by teachers, peers, and themselves. In a series of studies to determine the