Abstract
Difficulties faced in learning a specific mathematical vocabulary are amplified through incomplete English knowledge among students who English Language Learners (ELLs). Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between English language anxiety and the mathematical achievement of EFL/ESL students who are using EMI. Mixed research method was employed to identify and understand this relationship between language anxiety and mathematics achievement in the math classroom. To collect quantitative data, a questionnaire was distributed to the students to measure their level of English language anxiety and mathematics achievement using their grades in their mathematics classes. The association between English language anxiety levels and ESL/EFL achievement in Mathematics was investigated through Pearson’s correlation test. The results showed medium levels English language anxiety among the EFL/ESL students with a mean of (2.15) and a standard deviation of (0.73). The results indicated no statistical difference in means of English language anxiety that can be attributed to the program type or graduation year (α≤ 0.05). The study concluded that English language anxiety was neutral as majority of students become nervous, when the teacher asks them unexpected questions.
Highlights
1.1 IntroductionAnxiety is defined as an emotional and attitudinal fluctuation that people endure towards a specific object; such as second language acquisition (Mahmood & Iqbal, 2010)
The standard deviations, ranks, and the mean levels of English language anxiety were calculated to investigate the level of English language anxiety among the students (Table 2)
The results show that the correlation coefficient between English language anxiety levels and English language learners’ achievement in mathematics was -0.23, which reveals a weak negative relationship with statistical significance at 0.05 level (Table 9)
Summary
1.1 IntroductionAnxiety is defined as an emotional and attitudinal fluctuation that people endure towards a specific object; such as second language acquisition (Mahmood & Iqbal, 2010). In the EFL/ESL context, anxiety in using English as an EFL/ESL may lead to communication difficulties among students, who use the target language as their means of learning and communication with their teacher and peers. These communication difficulties may result in adopting the norms and habits of an English-speaking learning environment and achieve the desired learning goals (Woodrow, 2006) as anxiety is reported to be one of the most influential emotional factors, involved in learning second language (Mahmood & Iqbal, 2010). The majority of students still suffer high anxiety levels during their English courses as well as other major courses that are taught in English, which include mathematics and physics courses (Yamashiro & McLaughlin, 2001)
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