Anxiety in Learning German as a Foreign Language: Its Association with Learners Variables

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the foreign language anxiety (FLA) level among learners of German as a foreign language and discover the relationship between FLA and students’ variables that are gender, year of study, achievement in German classes, experience staying in Germany for more than six months, weekly contact hours, and course load of the term. The study used a quantitative research method using a survey approach. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), developed by Horwitz (1986), was administered to 246 German language learners in Jordan. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Squared, and univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the collected data then fitted on a regression model. The results suggest that the participants’ level of FLA was on a moderate level, with the anxiety of the German Class as the most dominant aspect and Text Anxiety as the least aspect. The gender of the participants and their weekly contact hours of the German language did not determine their level of anxiety in learning German as a foreign language. The variables that significantly affected the participants’ language anxiety, whether high or low anxiety, were the year of study, the German-language assessment score, staying for more than six months in Germany studying or field training, and the total number of credit hours registered for the term. It is recommended that language instructors create a positive and friendly attitude towards students to reduce language anxiety in the classroom.