The effects of mindfulness exercises on foreign language writing anxiety and writing skills among young learners

This study investigated the effects of mindfulness exercises on foreign language writing anxiety and skills among 5th grade, 10-11 years old primary school young learners (YLs) at a private school in Turkey. The participants included 32 Turkish students, divided into an experimental group and a control group. Over a period of ten weeks, guided mindfulness exercises were implemented in the experimental group. In this mixed-method study following a sequential explanatory design, quantitative data were collected through the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) pre- and post-tests, as well as students' writing scores before and after the intervention. The qualitative data were obtained from the teacher's reflective journal and an open-ended student survey. The results revealed that the implementation of mindfulness exercises significantly reduced writing anxiety levels and led to improvements in writing skills among the experimental group. Additionally, the young learners demonstrated positive perceptions of mindfulness exercises, reporting increased levels of focus and creativity. The gathered findings were further supported by the teacher's observations in the reflective journal, which highlighted enhanced student participation and attentiveness.