Language Anxiety Among English For Specific Purposes (ESP) Learners at UiTM Perak Seri Iskandar Campus

Abstract

Language learning anxiety has been known to have adverse effect not only on students' second language learning processes but also on second language performance. This study aims at investigating the level of English Language Anxiety among undergraduates at UiTM Perak, Seri Iskandar Campus and to determine the main source of anxiety among them. The study employed purposeful sampling, and the participants were chosen from three intact groups of 93 undergraduates in total. They were Bachelor of Arts students from the Department of Built Environment Studies and Technology enrolled in English for Specific Purpose (ESP) course which was English for Presentation. The data were collected through the distribution of questionnaires adapted from Horwitz’ (1989) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) which consists of 33 statements. It was found that the majority, 48 (51.6%) of the respondents have moderate anxiety levels, 24 (25.8%) respondents fall under the category of high anxiety while 21 (22.6%) respondents have low anxiety. The main source of anxiety among the respondents was fear of negative evaluation (mean=3.2), followed by communication apprehension (mean=3.0) and test anxiety (mean=2.8).