The perk of writing: How expressive writing reduces depressive symptoms

<span lang="EN-MY">This study aimed to examine types of expressive writing and the underlying themes that will lead to the reduction of depression symptoms. We hypothesized that positive experience writing will significantly reduce depressive symptoms as compared to other types of expressive writing. This study recruited 45 young adults (17 men, 28 women) between 20 and 28 years old to perform online expressive writing for a four-week period and fill in the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) before and after the treatment. Our findings suggested that positive expressive writing led to a significantly greater reduction of depressive symptoms as compared to other types of expressive writing. The qualitative analysis showed that there are eight common themes in positive writing that might contribute to the reduction of symptoms: companionship, mattering, gratitude, positive emotions, energetic, motivation, relaxation, and delicious food. Limitations and implications of the findings are discussed.</span>

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ WRITING ATTITUDE AND COMPOSITION PERFORMANCE

The main objectives of this study were to find out (1) whether student’ writing attitude correlates with their composition performance (2) whether the factors of writing attitude correlate with their composition performance, (3) whether students’ writing attitude give contribution to the value of their writing composition and (4) whether the factors of students’ writing attitude give contribution to their composition performance. The population and sample of the study covered one hundred and fifty-six students of six semester of English Study Program. The data were obtained giving a questionnaire and composition writing test. The data collected from were analyzed by using regression analysis and hypothesizes were tested by using F-test. The results show that there were significant correlation between the student writing attitude (total) and their composition performance. (R =.242 and R²=.058). Out of the five factors of student writing attitude, there were three factors which had a significant statistical relationship with the student composition performance. They were writing perception (R= .220 and R²= .049), positive writing activities (R= .176 and R²=.031), and reading preferences (R= .193 and R²= .037). The first factor, writing perception give much contribution to the sub scales of composition performance. Furthermore, the unhypothesized findings showed that gender and writing attitude were correlated significantly in composition performance since the mean value was balanced between male and female students. However, based on the mean value, male group has better writing attitude while female group has better composition performance. Finally, the results of this research are hopefully beneficial for the English teaching and learning processes, such as writing skills. Student’s writing attitude should be considered since students may have different attitude toward writing that can affect their performance in writing.

WRITERS’ BELIEFS AND EXPECTATIONS IN ACADEMIC WRITING: TOWARDS A MODEL OF WRITING PROPHECIES

Writers have mixed feelings about academic writing. Some hated academic writing. Some liked academic writing. Some liked but they get disheartened with low marks. Some like and are motivated to write better with good marks. The love-hate relationship that writers have towards writing can be depicted in the form of a writing prophecy. This study investigates how writing prophecies influence writers’ own self-imposed belief and how this belief is affected by other imposed expectation and finally these impacted the results of the writing activity. This quantitative study is done using a survey with 5 likert scale. The categories in the survey are (a) Planning, (b) Translating and (c) Reviewing stages of writing. The independent variables like Type A writer, Type B writers and Type C writers are added in the survey. Type A refers to the perceived belief that the writer who has self-imposed negative perception will have a negative writing belief. Next, type B is when the writers have self-imposed perception, but they received negative other imposed expectation. This can still lead to positive beliefs as the writer is motivated. Type C refers to writers who have positive self-imposed perception and received positive other imposed expectation. This can lead to positive writing belief. Data is analysed using SPSS version to reveal frequency of responses and presented in mean scores. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0793/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Cultural heritage in Kosovo through the eyes of Rebecca West

A large part of our public is familiar with the name of the British-Irish author Rebecca West. Domestic journalism abounds with texts about the author due to her extremely positive writing about Serbs and Serbian culture. In the travelogue Black Lamb and the Gray Falcon, West expresses great admiration for our cultural heritage and understanding of our identity, which she identifies with the poem The Fall of the Serbian Empire. During her stay in Macedonia, she was introduced to Bishop Nikolaj, whom she considered one of the most extraordinary people she had ever met. In her travelogue, the author draws a comparison between the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and England in 1939. In this paper, we will try to present her experience of monasteries in Kosovo, pointing to the fact that she considered herself different from other Western authors who, like herself, wrote about the Balkans.

Positive expressive writing as a tool for alleviating burnout and enhancing wellbeing in teachers and other full-time workers

Teachers are an occupational group particularly prone to suffering from burnout, a condition caused by chronic stress from work overload. Burnout is a risk factor for adverse psychological and physical health, thus it is important to test the efficacy of tools and techniques for alleviating burnout and enhancing job satisfaction. One potentially suitable technique is positive expressive writing. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a positive writing intervention on burnout, job satisfaction, anxiety, perceived stress and self-reported physical symptoms. A group of teachers and a group of non-teachers who worked full-time in other professions were randomly allocated to complete either three consecutive days of positive expressive writing, or writing about a more neutral topic, online, 20 minutes per day, for three consecutive days. State anxiety declined to a greater extent for participants in the positive writing condition compared to the neutral writing condition. Positive writing also conferred benefits on some aspects of job satisfaction, but not burnout. There were no specific benefits for teachers compared to non-teachers. The present study is the first to observe that positive expressive writing may be a useful technique for enhancing job satisfaction in full-time workers.

Investigating Writing Performance and Institutional Supports Among Teacher Candidates Who Transferred from Community Colleges

To provide a snapshot of the skills of community college students as compared to senior college students, this study investigated writing performance and college experience of initial two-year enrolled (community college transfer students, n = 17) versus initial four-year enrolled students (n = 12) in a teacher preparation program. Results of independent samples t-tests on in-class writing, research paper, and final score were non-significant (p =.28, p = .54, p = .15, respectively) indicating that two-year and four-year start teacher candidates did not differ in their performance on these assignments nor overall in the course. Qualitative data indicated that while both two- and four-year start teacher candidates had a positive writing identity during their first two years of college, the personal support that two-year starts had may be what enabled them to succeed and have a positive writing identity once they transferred to a four-year college. Implications regarding how to coordinate supports for transfer student teacher candidates will be discussed, as this is the very population of diverse students needed as PreK-12 teachers.

Positive writing, happiness, savouring and rumination. Expansion of the positive psychology model and empirical validation of a simple positive psychological exercise via internet

Positive psychology has added a new element to the growing body of scientificknowledge in the field of clinical psychology. It has already shown the value ofjoy and creativity in stress and coping. Nevertheless, until recently it was unclearwhether and how positive interventions work. In this article, a new integrativestress model is explained and tested that includes positive emotions andsavouring. Savouring is viewed as the opposite of rumination: it is “dwelling inthe positive”. Our study also tested a specific positive psychological intervention,namely positive writing. We have tried to test this intervention by replicating aseminal study about the enhancing effects of positive writing on wellbeingpublished by Seligman et al. (2005). We used two control conditions for the act ofwriting and the emotional valence of the writing topic. Participants have writtendown their experiences for one week and were followed for a month afterwards.Although we were unable to replicate the findings of Seligman et al. (2005), wedid find out that positive writing increased savouring and reduced rumination.Specifically, we found that the positive writing worked better than negativewriting or writing about the past. Our findings suggest that the positive valence ofthe intervention is the most effective part of the treatment. Our study alsosuggests that the questionnaire used to measure wellbeing, the AuthenticHappiness Index might not function well, and might need to be optimized.