A Glimpse into E-Mail Dialogue Journal Writing (EDJW) and Writing Anxiety among Gifted Learners

AbstractWriting is often seen as a difficult, complex cognitive task that can be anxiety producing for many individuals including the gifted learners. Those who possess high aptitude and talent (DeMent, 2009) could also face challenges in excelling in writing as many learners choose to ignore or simply not to write because it is perceived as an exasperating experience. Gifted learners (GL) are often assumed to be competent in English language but not all gifted children have the ability to use a second language as they can be gifted in one academic area but learning disabled in another. Clearly, the severity of writing apprehension cannot be disregarded since it drains the gifted learners‟ motivation to write and could easily go unnoticed, crippling their efforts of becoming competent writers. Hence, teachers face an exhausting task of dealing with and reducing writing anxiety among gifted learners so as not to have their talent withering on the vine. In view of that, this paper discusses writing anxiety among gifted learners while promoting e-mail dialogue journal writing (EDJW) as a contemporary approach that gives more opportunities for gifted learners to write besides helping them to reduce their writing apprehension