L2 ANXIETY INFLUENCING SELF-REPORTED LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY ON PAKISTANI ESL ARTS STUDENTS

Abstract

This paper is part of a large study that examines L2 anxiety, L2 learning beliefs and achievement of Pakistani tertiary level ESL students. Drawing on the data obtained from 183 ESL university students of arts and humanities subjects through Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), this study finds that Pakistani ESL students exhibited fairly high level of L2 anxiety. It also finds Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) to be the most dominant source of the students’ L2 anxiety, followed by Communication Apprehension (CA) and Test Anxiety (TA) as the second and third sources respectively. The study further finds that female students displayed higher level of L2 anxiety than did male students. No significant differences were found in the anxiety level of students based on study levels. An important finding of the study includes a moderate, negative association between students’ L2 anxiety and their rating of English language proficiency. Based upon the findings, the study offers certain pedagogical implications for the improvement of English language teaching and learning in Pakistan and worldwide. Article visualizations: