Approximate replication of Matsuda and Gobel (2004) for psychometric validation of the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale

Abstract

AbstractThis paper reports an approximate replication of Matsuda and Gobel (2004) for the psychometric validation of the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS). Their study examined the structural aspects of the FLRAS developed by Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999). The results showed that the FLRAS measured three different subcomponents of foreign language reading anxiety; none of the factors predicted foreign language performance in content-based and four-skill classes. The present study aimed to reconfirm the psychometric validity of the FLRAS because it has been widely employed to make foreign language reading anxiety researchable. Our study retained the same methodology, with the exception of the measurements of classroom performance and reading proficiency. Matsuda and Gobel's conclusions were reproduced by showing a weak relationship between classroom performance and foreign language reading anxiety measured by the three-factor model of the FLRAS. However, this study newly demonstrated a strong association of reading-anxiety subcomponents with learners' reading proficiency. The administration, scoring, and interpretation methods of the FLRAS were reconsidered based on the replicated results.