Levels Of Foreign Language Anxiety Research Articles

Sanal öğrenme ortamının genç ergenlerin yabancı dil kaygısı üzerindeki etkileri

Foreign language learning is a tough process which contains gaining of knowledge, comprehension and finally employing acquired knowledge into practice. Since acquisition of foreign language knowledge include emotional capabilities as well as mental activities, foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a crucial component of this process. While there has been various research on FLA in literature for years, most of the previous research mainly focuses on adults or young adult learners (aged 18-25) in formal education environment. There exists a certain gap when it comes to FLA levels of learners from different ages and learning activities in various educational environments. In that sense, this study uniquely spotlights young adolescent learners of foreign languages and their FLA levels in virtual classrooms. Considering the fact that young adolescents have a very close relationship with technology, such students’ FLA levels present distinctive variations in virtual classrooms when compared to face-to-face classrooms. This study fundamentally aims to reveal to what extend virtual classrooms and online materials affect young adolescents’ FLA and to explore the reasons lying behind the possible changes in FLA levels by using a sample group of learners of English studying in middle school. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to obtain data. Based on the collected data, it was discovered that the upsides of virtual education positively affected young adolescents’ FLA levels. However, certain shortcomings of virtual education have also been unveiled during this study. This study presented crucial insights on young adolescents’ FLA levels and how these levels showed an alteration in virtual classrooms.

Mindfulness and foreign language learners’ self-perceived proficiency: the mediating roles of anxiety and burnout

ABSTRACT Mindfulness has been overlooked in previous studies of second or foreign language learning. This study aims to explore the relationship between mindfulness, anxiety, burnout and self-perceived foreign language proficiency among a sample of 492 learners. Further, it seeks to make up for the deficiency in the current empirical literature regarding the mediation roles of anxiety and burnout in the relationship between mindfulness and students’ self-perceived foreign language competence. The findings were as follows: (1) students have a moderate level of mindfulness and foreign language anxiety, low level of perceived proficiency and foreign language learning burnout; (2) an increased level of mindfulness was associated with higher perceived foreign language competence and lower levels of anxiety and burnout; (3) anxiety and burnout mediated the relationship between mindfulness and students’ self-perceived FL proficiency. It is suggested in the implications that school administrators and policymakers might need to provide space and time to integrate mindfulness practices into the curricula. Language instructors could also incorporate brief and accessible interventions in classrooms to enhance students’ level of mindfulness. Limitations and future directions are discussed for further investigations.

Socio-affective strategies for reducing foreign language anxiety levels in university students

The main objective of the research is to analyse the impact it has the use of socio-affective strategies employed by university students to gain confidence and reduce foreign language anxiety when performing monologues. The participants of the study were students of Basic English of a language centre from a southeast Mexican university. Some authors argue that success in learning a foreign language depends on students’ attitude towards it. Such attitude implies high levels of motivation and low levels of anxiety. Therefore, in order to enhance students’ language performance teachers should employ classroom activities that lower students’ Foreign Language Anxiety levels. The methodological design adopted an action research approach. The stages of the action research were developed since the beginning of the English Basic lessons. Then, it was designed the intervention by applying socio-affective strategies and monologues. The outcomes were that English Basic students reduced their levels of Foreign Language Anxiety.

English Language Speaking Anxiety among Afghan University Students

Background/purpose: English language plays an important role in Afghanistan higher education. Proficiency in English as the language of communication is becoming progressively important for the development of higher education. However, speaking in English is one of the anxiety provoking skills for most of Afghan learners. This study therefore aims to investigate Afghanistan undergraduate English and literature students’ perceptions on foreign language speaking anxiety, and its components of communication apprehension (CA), fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and test anxiety (TA). Method: An adapted version of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and an interview protocol were used to investigate 302 Afghan students’ foreign language anxiety. Results/conclusion: The findings suggested that the students experienced a moderate level of anxiety. The female students had higher level of foreign language anxiety (FLA) than male students. The study further revealed that CA was the highest factor which contribute to students’ FLCAS. The study found no statistically significant differences between the university location and components of FLA. This means that the students either from Kabul as the capital or from Bamyan as a central province experienced FLA. Furthermore, the components of FLA significantly correlated to each other. The findings suggest facilitating short and long-term training for both teachers and students to employ effective strategies on reducing the level of anxiety in English language classes.

Gender Differences in Written Communication Anxiety among Libyan Postgraduates in Malaysia

Writing represents an essential language skill. However, anxiety is often an obstacle to students’ positive writing outcomes. In Libya, students face detrimental challenges in English writing due to factors such as a high level of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) which affects their written communication performance. This study, therefore, aims to examine gender differences in the level of written communication anxiety amongst Libyan postgraduates studying in Malaysian universities. The study employed a descriptive survey in which a self-administered questionnaire was used as a data-collection tool. The analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, including frequency and the Chi-square test. The findings revealed that most Libyan postgraduates in Malaysia experience a moderate level of writing anxiety, whereas none of them experience a low anxiety level. Additionally, no significant differences exist between male and female students regarding the level of written communication anxiety. It is hoped that this study could provide useful information that can be used by instructors to help students overcome writing anxiety and achieve positive learning outcomes. Nevertheless, this analysis is limited to gender differences in the level of written communication anxiety across gender and does not consider the types of anxiety experienced by Libyan postgraduates, which can be an important step for further investigation.

Social media and academic success: Impacts of using telegram on foreign language motivation, foreign language anxiety, and attitude toward learning among EFL learners.

Concerning the ubiquity of social media, this research tried to examine the impacts of using Telegram on Iranian EFL learners’ foreign language motivation, foreign language anxiety, and attitude toward learning. To achieve these purposes, 60 Iranian EFL learners at the intermediate level were selected and randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control. After that, both groups were pretested on motivation and anxiety variables. After pretesting, the participants in the experimental class received treatment via using the Telegram application, and the control students were trained traditionally without using any social media. After an 18-session instruction, a post-test of motivation and a post-test of anxiety were given to both groups, and also an attitude questionnaire was distributed among the experimental group to inspect their attitudes toward the Telegram application in language learning. The results of using two one-way ANCOVA tests showed significant differences between the post-tests of the control and experimental groups in favor of the experimental group. The findings demonstrated that using the Telegram application increased the motivation of the experimental group and decreased their level of foreign language anxiety. Also, the results of one sample t-test showed that the participants of the experimental group held positive attitudes toward using the Telegram application in English language learning. The implications of this research can encourage both teachers and learners to use social media-based instruments in English teaching and learning.

Anxiety in Learning German as a Foreign Language: Its Association with Learners Variables

This study aims to investigate the foreign language anxiety (FLA) level among learners of German as a foreign language and discover the relationship between FLA and students’ variables that are gender, year of study, achievement in German classes, experience staying in Germany for more than six months, weekly contact hours, and course load of the term. The study used a quantitative research method using a survey approach. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), developed by Horwitz (1986), was administered to 246 German language learners in Jordan. Descriptive statistics, Chi-Squared, and univariate and multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the collected data then fitted on a regression model. The results suggest that the participants’ level of FLA was on a moderate level, with the anxiety of the German Class as the most dominant aspect and Text Anxiety as the least aspect. The gender of the participants and their weekly contact hours of the German language did not determine their level of anxiety in learning German as a foreign language. The variables that significantly affected the participants’ language anxiety, whether high or low anxiety, were the year of study, the German-language assessment score, staying for more than six months in Germany studying or field training, and the total number of credit hours registered for the term. It is recommended that language instructors create a positive and friendly attitude towards students to reduce language anxiety in the classroom.

INVESTIGATING HIGH-SCHOOL EFL LEARNERS’ FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY: A CASE STUDY AT SMA 4 BANDA ACEH

This study aimed to investigate the level of foreign language anxiety (FLA) experienced by senior-high-school English language learners (ELLs) and to explore plausible factors that contribute to the learners’ anxiety. This research employed a qualitative descriptive method with a case study approach, involving thirty-four twelfth-grade ELLs from SMA 4 Banda Aceh, Indonesia, as participants. In gathering the data, Horwitz et al.'s (1986) Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and semi-structured interview were used as instruments. The findings revealed that the majority of the ELLs were at a moderate level of anxiety, with more than half of them being at “Mildly Anxious” level and with no “Very Anxious” learners. The findings also indicated that the ELLs’ FLA was caused not only by teacher factors but also student factors. The teacher factors include oral presentation task, incomprehensible input, and teachers’ attitude, while student factors comprise learners’ fear of being laughed at, their’ beliefs about L2, and lack of preparation.

PORTRAYING STUDENTS’ SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY LEVEL DURING ONLINE AND OFFLINE LEARNING

The purpose of this present research was to find out the students’ speaking foreign language anxiety level during the online and offline learning. The participants involved in this research were 28 students of junior high school students in SMP Insan Mandiri Bandar Lampung. This research was in descriptive qualitative design. The data were collected by using speaking foreign language anxiety questionnaire adopted from Ozturk (2014). The questionnaire form was in 5-graded likert scale, the data were analyzed by classifying the results using the range levels guideline adopted from Ozturk (2014). The results from the questionnaire showed that: during the online learning, most of students were in the moderate level of speaking anxiety, and a few students categorized in the high level of speaking anxiety. Meanwhile, after the pandemic era where the students got the limited offline learning, it was found that the majority of students were still on the moderate level of speaking anxiety, but there was no student categorized in the high level of speaking anxiety.

Preservice EFL teachers’ online learning anxiety

With a prompt rise in the development of technology and with the advent of the internet in the 1990s, walls of classrooms have been demolished by the innovations of the current century. These developments also breathe new life into foreign language education and change the concept of the classroom while casting challenging roles for both learners and instructors, which ends up a new type of education on the stage of online education platforms. This brand-new way of foreign language learning has brought about extra anxiety in learners. In order to find out the reasons for foreign language anxiety, which affects learners’ process of foreign language learning in the online world, a total number of 75 undergraduate foreign language learners (n=75) who are taking online oral communication courses in the English Language Teacher Education Program (the Spring of the academic year 2019-2020) at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Turkey are involved in this research voluntarily. This study aims to investigate what kind of effects online learning has on foreign language learners’ anxiety in the process of online foreign language education, what the challenges are for online foreign language learners, how learners perceive online foreign language education, and what the learners' perceived reasons are for anxiety in an online foreign language learning environment through semi-structured interview forms. Certain significant factors which affect learners’ foreign language learning anxiety in an online world context have been determined. Some certain suggestions are made to alleviate the foreign language anxiety levels of the learners in online foreign language learning contexts.

Effects of Collaborative Learning on Young ESL Learners’ L2 Anxiety and Speaking Performance

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is one of the issues of interest attracting researchers in recent decades. However, while collaborative learning introduced a prospective tool for FLA, it has not been much researched in the L2 classroom context, particularly in Vietnam. This paper focuses on using collaborative learning to reduce foreign language anxiety and enhance the L2 speaking performance of young learners at an English center in Ho Chi Minh City. A combination of tools, including Aydin et al.’s (2017) Children Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (CFLAS) for the pre-tests and post-tests, the teacher’s diary, and follow-up interviews, was used to measure the changes in learner’ FLA level and speaking performance. After five-week implementations, these learners’ FLA was slightly alleviated, and their speaking performance was improved using a collaborative learning approach. Moreover, learners were found to have positive attitudes and experience with learning in the new approach. These findings implied that collaborative learning could be a potential treatment to help L2 learners uncover their anxious selves and find more confidence in using the target language

Systematic Work with Speaking Skills and Motivation in Second Language Classes

Learning a foreign language is more difficult for some students than others, and particularly speaking out loud in class may be a challenge. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of a systematic approach to facilitate mastery, motivation and a supportive language learning environment, to limit foreign language anxiety. An intervention was carried out in different language learning contexts, including English classes in Norway and Poland and Spanish classes in Norway. The research material collected consists of student logs, student evaluations and self-reported data from a validated questionnaire on foreign language anxiety. The findings show that many students reported becoming more motivated and comfortable in class and that the method helped them work with strategies to overcome problems. Self-reported questionnaire data suggest that in two of three contexts, the foreign language anxiety level of the students decreased significantly during the intervention period. It may be difficult to generalise based on the findings presented here as the sample from each context is limited, the data is self-reported, the intervention period was limited and there is no control group. To strengthen the study’s findings, triangulation of multiple data sources was used. To conclude, the five-step method presented in this study may be a useful strategy to facilitate developing motivation and creating a supportive learning environment in the language classroom. However, more longitudinal and extensive studies are needed to investigate the potential of the approach presented here further.

Ortaokul Öğrencilerinin Yabancı Dil Kaygıları Üzerine Bir Çalışma: Öğrenci ve Öğretmen Algıları

This study examines secondary school students’ and their teachers’ perceptions of foreign language anxiety. Also, the current study aims to compare public and private secondary school students’ foreign language anxiety level. Demographic variables such as gender and grades were also investigated to reveal whether they were acting as provoking or easing factors for foreign language anxiety among students. The sample group of this study consisted of 379 secondary school students chosen randomly and 9 English language teachers from public and private secondary school in Sakarya province, Turkey. The data were collected through two measurement tools, a scale for students and a questionnaire for teachers, which included open and close-ended questions. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics, and for the qualitative data analysis, content analysis was conducted. The findings of the research revealed that public school students experience moderate level of foreign language anxiety, while private school students experience low level of foreign language anxiety. The findings of current study demonstrate that there is meaningful difference between public and private school students in terms of their foreign language anxiety. In both schools, females were more anxious than males; however, the difference between two gender groups was significant in private school. Grade was not a predicting factor for foreign language anxiety in the current study. However, in both schools, 8th graders are the most anxious group of all. As for the teachers, they were well aware of their students’ anxieties, and they implemented useful strategies for decreasing this anxiety. Also, they adapted their pedagogical instructions in order to reduce their students’ foreign language anxiety. However, research findings demonstrated that there was a discrepancy between teachers’ and students’ perceptions in terms of test anxiety.

EFL FUTURE ENGINEERS’ LANGUAGE ANXIETY: FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS AND ORAL EXAMINATIONS

For many years, undergraduate students’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been investigated. These students have experienced different levels of FLA due to several variables leading them to feel anxious during final summative examinations. In this context, several EFL future engineers show anxiety when performing classroom final project presentations and oral examinations at ESPRIT, School of Engineering, Tunisia. Despite the significance of FLA for research and researching, few studies missed the correlation between anxiety and final oral assessments in Tunisian academic settings. Thus, the researchers in this study were interested in reviewing the factors and causes of anxiety as experienced by EFL students so that the right strategies can be implemented. This study collected data from 129 participants of both electromechanical and civil engineering second-year students through an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz, et al. (1986). The results show eight factors and six causes impeding undergraduate students from speaking their minds orally. It follows some implications for language teaching are offered to reduce EFL Future Engineers’ English Language Anxiety while performing Final Project Presentations and Oral Examinations.

Exploring the Link between Foreign Language Anxiety and Attitudes towards English among Turkish High School EFL Learners

The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and attitudes towards English. A total 518 Turkish students studying at private and state high schools participated in the study. Quantitative research design was adopted in the present study. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Attitudes towards English Scale were used as data collection tools. In order to analyze data, SPSS 23 software was used, and Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and correlation statistics were utilized. According to data analysis results, the study revealed that students’ FLA levels were at moderate level and they had negative attitudes towards English. The results of data analysis also indicated that there was a negative strong relationship between students’ FLA levels and their attitudes towards English. Although gender had a significant impact on students’ anxiety levels, grade levels of students were not seen as a factor strongly related to FLA. It was also found that ninth and tenth graders had more positive attitudes towards English classes. However, gender was not a predictive factor for students’ attitudes towards English. These results suggest that positive attitudes help students to overcome FLA. That is why, fostering positive and enjoyable language learning environment is significant to increase success in English.

Reducing students’ foreign language anxiety to improve English vocabulary learning in an online simulation game

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is considered a central affective factor influencing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. This study thus developed an online simulation game to create a virtually situated learning environment for reducing EFL primary school students’ FLA levels and improving their English vocabulary learning. A total of 110 fifth graders from four classes participated in this study. Two classes were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N = 57) using the online simulation game, and the other two classes were the control group (N = 53) using onsite instruction. Each participant was then classified as a low, moderate, or high anxiety student based on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). This study found that, compared to the onsite instruction, the online simulation game more effectively assisted the low, moderate, and high anxiety students in reducing their FLA. Situated learning in the online simulation game made a connection between English vocabulary learning and the real world explicitly and visibly, which could further promote their English vocabulary learning. In particular, the moderate and high anxiety students’ English vocabulary learning was significantly improved after the online simulation game. These results suggest that an online simulation game can create a situated learning environment that helps reduce EFL students’ FLA and subsequently facilitate their English vocabulary learning.

Saudi EFL Learners’ FLA: Levels, Causes, Gender, and Impact on Academic Performance

As a common psycholinguistic barrier that hinders EFL learning, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) has become an important study area in EFL learning and teaching. This study investigated the level and causes of FLA among 69 first-year EFL learners at Bisha University in Saudi Arabia. The influence of gender on the level of FLA was also examined. Moreover, the study examined the impact of FLA on the participants' language achievement. The researchers utilized a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel were used to analyse the data. The results showed that most learners typically had a moderate level of FLA caused by communication apprehension and fears related to negative feedback and language tests. The results also revealed that gender does not affect the level of FLA. In addition, the results indicated that high levels of FLA among learners had a significant impact on their performance. Based on these findings, this study provided recommendations for teachers to mitigate the causes of FLA.

Converting a conventional flipped class into a synchronous online flipped class during COVID-19: university students’ self-regulation skills and anxiety

ABSTRACT Flipped learning has emerged as an innovative teaching and learning model, in part due to the critical role it plays in transforming the nature of student-teacher interaction in and out of the classroom. With the spread of COVID-19, a new concept has appeared: online flipped learning, which essentially refers to flipping synchronous online classes. In this study, the researchers adapted the principles of the conventional flipped learning model to an online environment and amassed favorable feedback from students. Data on students’ perceptions gathered through semi-structured interviews revealed that the flipped learning model facilitated speaking practice. However, the results of the questionnaire given to students before and after the intervention revealed that the flipped learning model was ineffective in alleviating students’ foreign language anxiety levels compared to synchronous learning, and it did not make a significant difference in students’ self-regulatory behaviors. At the end of the study, students did not report any differences between the conventional and online flipped learning models in terms of instructional practices, materials and classroom activities.

Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

Abstract Though foreign language anxiety (FLA) has long been recognized as an important affective factor in second language learning, its impact is worth studying in new educational contexts of emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study examines the key factors behind FLA in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The research was conducted among a sample of 171 first-year undergraduate university students of Economics & Business economics and Informatics at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia, during the winter semester of 2020/2021. The research instrument used was a 33-item questionnaire adapted from the FLCAS scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) to reflect the online ESP classroom environment. The main results indicate that various background factors, such as gender, self-assessed levels of proficiency, length of learning English and frequency of English language use, significantly influence the reported levels of language anxiety. Furthermore, the study establishes the underlying structure of FLA, with five factors positively correlated with overall language anxiety at the. 01 level of statistical significance: speech anxiety, evaluation and comprehension anxiety, online ESP classroom environment, anxiety of talking to native speakers, and lack of motivation for online class attendance. Finally, multiple regression analysis shows that the five aspects of FLA, alongside the variables of gender and self-assessed pronunciation proficiency, represent statistically significant predictors of the total level of FLA among online ESP learners. The other independent variables are confirmed to be unreliable in predicting the overall level of language anxiety in an online ESP classroom.

Primary school students’ foreign language anxiety in collaborative and individual digital game-based learning

Few studies have focused on the comparison between collaborative and individual digital game-based learning (DGBL) performance for students who study English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In collaborative DGBL, how the composition of foreign language anxiety (FLA) within groups of students affects students’ performance remains uncertain. This study aimed to examine the effects of anxiety composition on DGBL performance of primary school students with different FLA levels to inform collaborative DGBL instruction. Ninety-six fifth-graders from four classes were identified as low, moderate, and high anxiety students according to Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Two classes were randomly assigned into collaborative DGBL while the other two classes in individual DGBL. The students in the collaborative DGBL were further grouped into 12 heterogeneous groups with anxiety composition of Low & Moderate (LM), Low & High (LH), Moderate & High (MH), and Low, Moderate & High (LMH). Those in the individual DGBL underwent individual gameplay learning. It was found that either collaborative or individual DGBL effectively assisted the students to reduce their FLA. The results also showed that the students in the heterogeneous groups generally had better DGBL performance than those who worked individually. Particularly, groups with anxiety composition of LM outperformed those with LH, those with MH, and those with LMH. The study suggests group composition be considered a critical factor that may enhance students’ learning with FLA in collaborative DGBL.