Abbas Abbasi

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of writing test task type (i.e., integrated vs. independent writing) on the level of writing anxiety experienced by test takers. Drawing on a mixed-methods design, a body of 40 Iranian EFL learners in two intact groups participated in this study. To measure the students’ anxiety level, second language writing anxiety inventory (SLWAI) by Cheng (2004) was used. In addition, the students in integrated group were asked to reveal their experiences of performing on both writing tasks through an open-ended questionnaire. The results of the independent-samples t-test revealed that integrated writing task type induced higher levels of writing anxiety compared to writing only task. Moreover, the analysis of the students’ experiences in the integrated group showed that time constraints was the primary anxiety-provoking factor when reading-to-write. Also, the students preferred WO task to RTW task because of the difficulties they faced when involving in reading-to-write task. The findings of the present study provide several pedagogical implications for the effective reading-to-write practices in EFL writing assessment.