Four skill-based foreign language anxieties: Learners of Korean in Australia

Abstract

This study examined foreign language anxiety (FLA) as it relates to the four language skills, i.e. speaking listening reading and writing and evaluated the relationships of these skill-based anxieties to general FLA, measured by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope 1986). Participants were 110 students enrolled in Korean as a foreign language (KFL) courses at an Australian public university. An online survey examined the students' anxieties across the four language-related skills, as well as general FLA. The survey also investigated sources of classroom anxiety and strategies for overcoming this. Findings suggested that the students had a moderate level of general FLA (M = 2.89, SD = .70), with the highest level of anxiety in speaking (M = 3.26, SD = .86) and the lowest level of anxiety in reading (M = 2.56, SD = .64). Furthermore, FLA showed high and significant correlations with all four skill-based anxieties. Regression data indicated that the four skill-based anxieties explained approximately 70% of the FLCAS as independent constructs. Speaking anxiety was found to be the most powerful predictor of FLA, and reading anxiety was the weakest. Four major sources of FLA, and active and passive overcoming strategies were also reported. As the participants are students of KFL in Australia (a rarely-explored population in second language acquisition (SLA) research), the findings of the study will enrich the literature on FLA, especially in relation to the four language-skill based anxieties and the affective domain of KFL students.