Testing Effects of Foreign Language Listening Anxiety on Chinese University Students' English Listening Test Performance.

Meihua Liu,Hongliang Xu

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.701926

Abstract

The present research explored how foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) affected Chinese university students' English listening test performance and how proficiency and gender mediated the effects of FLLA on the latter. Two different populations from two universities in China answered the 20-item Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) as well as a demographic questionnaire and took an English listening test. Analyses of the collected data revealed the following major findings: (a) Five latent factors underlay the FLLAS, (b) when working alone, FLLA significantly negatively predicted students' English listening test performance, and (c) when working with proficiency and gender, English proficiency level, gender and FLLAS2 (proficiency in English listening) significantly predicted students' English listening test performance. These findings confirm the negative effects of FLLA on students' English listening test performance. They also indicate that English proficiency and gender mediate FLLA's effects on the latter, with English proficiency not only directly but also indirectly affecting the latter.

Highlights

Foreign language anxiety (FLA), an important psychological and affective variable, has been widely researched in second language acquisition and proven to be an influencing factor for second/foreign language learning outcomes (e.g., Horwitz et al, 1986; MacIntyre and Gardner, 1994)
With reference to Zhang (2013), the five factors were: nine-item FLLAS1 reflective of anxiety about listening to English, four-item FLLAS2 suggestive of proficiency in English listening, three-item FLLAS3 concerned with English listening decoding skills, two-item FLLAS4 indicative of liking for listening to English, and two-item FLLAS5 related to English culture in learning English listening
To examine the predicting effects of foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) on students’ listening performance, listening test scores were used as the dependent variable and the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) scales were used as independent variables when running multiple stepwise regression analyses in the two Rotation Sum of Squared Loadings

Summary

Introduction

Foreign language anxiety (FLA), an important psychological and affective variable, has been widely researched in second language acquisition and proven to be an influencing factor for second/foreign language learning outcomes (e.g., Horwitz et al, 1986; MacIntyre and Gardner, 1994). Serving as mid-term exams in university A and final-term exams in university B, the listening tests used in the two studies were designed by instructors of the same course to suit their students respectively and might be at varying difficulty levels. They all simulated that in CET-4, had 100 points in total and consisted of three parts: Multiple-choice questions for 15 short dialogues (15%) and three longer conversations (40%), and dictation and multiple-choice questions for two essays of around 500 words (45%). Multiple regression analyses (stepwise) were conducted to examine the predicting effects of FLLAS and the mediating effects of English proficiency and gender on students’ English listening test performance

Methods

Results

Conclusion