How Cognitive Anxiety Affects English Language Grammar and Punctuation Sub-scales; Does Gender Play any Role? A Case Study Among Iranian Medical Students

Introduction: The present study focuses on the relationship between cognitive anxiety and the knowledge of grammar and punctuation sub-scales among Iranian Medical Students. Materials and Methods: The Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) developed by Cheng (2004) and also a writing performance test were applied to collect the data. 45 students were invited to participate in this study. Results: Revealed by T-test analysis, the male participants experience relatively greater amount of cognitive anxiety. Furthermore, significant differences were found in grammar and punctuation sub-scales of writing performance between male and female participants so that females were higher in two sub-scales than that of males. Conclusion: Based on the findings, cognitive anxiety was the most common type of anxiety, followed by somatic anxiety, and avoidance behavior. The results also highlighted the fact that in the classes teachers should be cautious of the dangers of anxiety and try to make the atmosphere of class as stress-free as possible in order to improve students' performance.