Language anxiety in an Algerian multilingual tertiary context

Abstract

Few phenomena can be as debilitating or frustrating as anxiety. It is a severe problem in language learning and is one of the most important barriers. Although there is plenty of literature on language anxiety, little research has examined the connection between multilingualism, proficiency, and foreign language anxiety. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the degree of English language anxiety among multilingual undergraduate Algerian students exploring the main anxiety factors and taking into account their ethnicity, language proficiency, and university major as three key variables. To accomplish these primary objectives, 471 undergraduate university students ranging in age from 19 to 24 years old and majoring in natural sciences, human sciences, and applied sciences were involved. A foreign language anxiety scale comprised of 23 validated items distributed among three factors: communicative anxiety, fear of failure, and negative experiences, was used as the study instrument for data collection. The study’s findings showed that the participants generally had moderate anxiety levels. Communicative anxiety emerged as the most common form of anxiety, followed by fear of failure and negative experiences. The less anxiety a student experienced, the more advanced their English level was. Arab students were more anxious than Amazigh students. Speaking more than one language may make one less anxious. There were no significant differences between the students’ majors and anxiety levels. Recommendations are made based on these findings.