Abstract
This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary grammar school males and females do not differ in their levels of language anxiety, although nonapprehensive males experience significantly lower language anxiety than their female peers. It is argued that the finding can be attributed to developmental patterns, gender socialization processes, classroom practices, and the uniqueness of the FL learning process, which is a stereotypically female domain.
Highlights
There are several studies that have explored possible links between communication apprehension and language anxiety, the clear-cut influence of gender on their interplay has not yet been established
This paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, which is reflected in various spheres of life, especially because gender-related symptoms of anxiety remain stable over adolescence (Van Oort, Greaves-Lord, Verhulst, Ormel, & Huizink, 2009)
The results of the student’s t test between LCA and high levels of CA (HCA) groups are presented, which demonstrated that there is no significant difference between HCA males and females, while such a difference can be identified between LCA males and females
Summary
There are several studies that have explored possible links between communication apprehension and language anxiety, the clear-cut influence of gender on their interplay has not yet been established. When excessive activation takes place, normal physiological arousal usually connected with the necessity to perform exceeds the individual’s control abilities, causing swallowing difficulty, dry mouth, excessive trembling and sweating, as well as temporary memory loss From this point of view, one’s cognitive processes are secondary due to this overphysiological reaction. It is worth adding that in most cases CA is likely to evolve in early childhood, mostly due to negative reinforcement of the child’s communicative behaviors (McCroskey, 1977), personality characteristics, or hereditary temperamental states (Pryor, Butler, & Boehringer, 2005) This synergy of heredity and environment may become an antecedent of adult CA (McCroskey, 1984)
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