Is It Language Learning Anxiety and/or Attitude of University Students That Determines Their Academic Success?

Abstract

The psychological factors affecting foreign language learning have long been the one the main interests of researchers. It is because the learners’ views, feelings, self-confidence, motivation, and so forth have undoubtedly great importance on their language learning processes. The present study examined the effects of foreign language learning anxiety and language learning attitude in predicting academic achievement of pre-service freshmen students. Also, the relation between attitude and anxiety was also sought in this study. Participants included 106 freshmen students in a state university in Turkey. Quantitative data were collected by one anxiety scale and one attitude questionnaire, and the qualitative data were collected through a free writing activity to the given questions. The quantitative results showed that there is no significant relationship between students’ anxiety and their attitude. It has also been found that their academic achievement is not affected from their anxiety and attitude. Qualitative findings have revealed that although many students have positive attitudes towards learning English they do not want to learn it due to some reasons (learned helplessness, past experiences with English, previous teachers, etc).