A Factor Analysis of Chinese University EFL Learners’ Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety

Abstract

The subjects of the present study were 344 college students from China. They responded to a 5-point likert scale questionnaire adapted from Horwitz`s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Their responses to the questionnaire were submitted to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (with the help of SPSS and AMOS statistical package) for identifying anxiety dimensions. The results showed that there existed four dimensions of the FLCAS and the four-factor model adequately fit the data. The fit indices also suggested that the instrument measuring the dimensions of anxiety specific to college students in China was construct-wise valid and reliable for future use and it may also provide some reference for measuring anxiety dimensions in similar cultural context countries like Korea and Japan.