An Investigation of Reading Anxiety among Vietnamese English Major Students

Abstract

Understanding EFL students' anxiety when performing a reading task has gained much attention in recent research. In Vietnam, not much research focuses on the anxiety level of English-major students. This study aims at measuring linguistics students' reading anxiety levels using the English as a Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Inventory (EFLRAI) (Zoghi & Alivandivafa, 2014). A total of 72 linguistics students from two Reading classes at the International University, VNU-HCMC, took part in this study. A follow-up interview was carried out with the students to further investigate the factors, including top-down reading anxiety, bottom-up reading anxiety, and classroom reading anxiety. Quantitatively, the findings revealed that the majority of students experienced low to moderate levels of reading anxiety. Most students reported that their reading background knowledge and reading ability, namely the top-down factors, accounted the most for their negative emotions while performing the task. Importantly, some solutions related to teaching strategies were recommended by students for a better learning environment.