Writing anxiety in computer science students

Abstract

Effective written communication skills are recognized as essential for computing professions, but are notoriously difficult to impart to our students. One problem in teaching computing students to write may be their attitudes toward writing; anecdotally, computing students are (often justifiably) lacking in confidence about their writing skills, and avoid writing when possible. This paper explores the degree of writing anxiety/apprehension in computing majors through the administration of a standard survey instrument, the Daly and Miller Writing Apprehension Test.