Integrated Educational Studies
Mentoring Dyads for Anxious Writers: Evidence and Experience Based Strategies
Presenter(s): Samantha McCann
Advisor(s): Anne Steketee
College student writing anxiety is noted in students of all learning profiles. Experiences of writing anxiety or apprehension can be evoked by the stimuli of assigned papers, time-restricted writing, or research papers. Students then develop coping strategies to reduce or control their feelings of stress, which can have a negative or positive effect on their writing process and performance. Writing anxiety in college students is not a new topic for mentors: it has been addressed through discussions involving writing centers and second language students. Faculty members acting as mentors, especially for students with writing anxiety, is less understood. This presentation highlights a college student’s experience with writing, including both the external factors and internal processes which negatively impact her writing anxiety. In response, her professor-mentor shares the collaborative evidence-based and experience-based strategies they effectively utilized as a mentoring dyad. Techniques that were shown to be effective included receiving feedback throughout the process, additional time with the professor for writing assistance, and model writing. Another technique that was utilized was the possibility of a due date extension; however, this approach had both positive and negative consequences. Understanding extrinsic and intrinsic influences might affect future comfort with writing tasks, particularly for highly anxious students and reluctant writers of all learning profiles. With the increasing levels of depression and anxiety in college students overall, professors, mentors, tutors, researchers, and other stakeholders could use this information to develop mentoring strategies to assist impacted students of diverse profiles.