High Anxiety Students Research Articles

Digital game-playing to enhance English vocabulary and content learning among anxious foreign language students

This study aimed to investigate how game-playing affected low- and high-anxiety students’ English vocabulary and content learning in a digital game-based learning (DGBL) environment. The participants were 132 fifth-grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students, divided into an experimental group using DGBL instruction (n = 68) and a control group using traditional instruction (n = 64). They were defined as low- and high-anxiety students based on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), with 38 low- and 30 high-anxiety students in the experimental group and 34 low- and 30 high-anxiety students in the control group. Data was collected from FLCAS, game-playing logs, pre- and post-tests, and an open-ended questionnaire. The results found that both low- and high-anxiety students benefited from a DGBL environment designed with game mechanics (game challenges, points, and comments) to improve their English vocabulary and content learning performance, with high-anxiety students making greater progress. In the DGBL environment, the game challenges for entertainment purposes motivated the high-anxiety students to engage in learning. The high-anxiety students’ confidence in learning was then enhanced through the points and positively encouraging comments, leading to active and repeated engagement in game-playing. This self-motivated learning facilitated the high-anxiety students’ English vocabulary and content learning performance. This study suggests that the gap between low- and high-anxiety students’ English vocabulary and content learning performance could be narrowed in a DGBL environment with game mechanics.

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.

The Effectiveness of Numbered-Head-Together and Socrates Strategies to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skill in Speaking to High and Low Anxiety Students at SMK Zaenuddin Tegal

The Effectiveness of Numbered-Head-Together and Socrates Strategies to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skill in Speaking to High and Low Anxiety Students at SMK Zaenuddin Tegal

Influence of Language Learning Strategies on Willingness to Communicate in Chinese Among Students With High and Low Anxiety

Abstract: With the global expansion of China's economy, Chinese has established itself as a major language. Since then, higher education students' desire to learn Chinese has increased dramatically. However, strategies for foreign language learning and students' anxiety both play a key role in students' ability to communicate in Chinese. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the influence of language learning strategies (LLS), particularly those associated with different levels of anxiety, on students' willingness to communicate (WTC) in Chinese. Using a quantitative research design, a questionnaire assessing students' WTC, LLS and a speaking anxiety scale was distributed to 130 students enrolled in Mandarin as a foreign language course at MARA professional college in the Eastern region of peninsular Malaysia. The study gathered data from 66 low- and 64 high-anxiety students using the speaking anxiety scale. The findings demonstrated a significant correlation between LLS and WTC among both groups of students. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the best predictors of students' WTC. It was discovered that indirect LLS were the best predictors for students with low-level anxiety, whereas direct and indirect LLS were both good predictors for students with high-level anxiety. This research reveals that in order to improve students' ability to communicate, educators must emphasise a variety of different learning strategies, depending on the speaking anxiety level of their students.
 
 Keywords: Chinese Language, Foreign Language, Learning Language Strategies, Speaking Anxiety, Willingness to Communicate.

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.

Perceived friendship network of socially anxious adolescent girls

In this study we investigated how social anxiety and expressed friendship relate to the perceived friendship network of adolescent girls. We define an expressed friendship as a friendship choice made by an individual, and a perceived friend as one whom the individual perceives as choosing them as a friend; expressed and perceived friends need not be the same. We applied Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) to understand effects of social anxiety and expressed friendship on structural patterns of the perceived friendship network, aiming to shed light how social anxiety and expressed friendship choices relate to cognitive perceptions of the social environment (in terms of perceived friendship partners). Participants were 94 year-nine students recruited from an all-female high school in Melbourne, Australia. Results indicated that socially anxious students were similar to other students in terms of their number of perceived friends but were themselves less popular in the perceived friendship network. High anxiety students perceive friendship from low anxiety alters. Expressed and perceived friendship ties tended to be congruent so that students expressed friendship to partners who they perceived would nominate them as friends. Furthermore, students tended to be accurate in understanding their social environment in that perceived friends did tend to nominate them. Socially anxious students did not differ markedly from other students in terms of congruence and accuracy, although congruence was less likely in in ties from high anxiety to low anxiety students.The results indicate the ways in which social anxiety influences how students perceive their friendship relations.

What does students’ recognition of procedural mistakes in the chemistry laboratory tell us?

ABSTRACT Students’ recognition of the common procedural mistakes in the chemistry laboratory was examined in this study. Data were collected from 49 undergraduates studying Science Teaching. A video in which a student is purposefully making common procedural mistakes was shown to the students, and they were asked to recognize the mistakes. A Written Response Form (WRF), Chemistry Laboratory Anxiety Scale (CLAS), Laboratory Equipments Knowledge Form (LEKF), and Calculation Form (CF) were the data collecting tools. Students’ scores from WRF indicated that they could not recognize many mistakes. Correlation analysis was made between students’ scores from recognizing mistakes (WRF) and their CLAS, LEKF, and CF scores. The study’s findings imply that only the feelings towards laboratory work (anxiety in this case) correlated with WRF. When high anxiety students and low anxiety students were examined, it was found that high anxiety students did not recognize some mistakes at all.

The effectiveness of Safety Aid Elimination Intervention targeting safety behavior for high social anxiety students.

The effectiveness of Safety Aid Elimination Intervention targeting safety behavior for high social anxiety students.

An Exploration of Writing Self-Efficacy and Writing Self-Regulatory Behaviours in Undergraduate Writing

Students will take independent action to improve their writing when they believe those actions will have a positive effect. The data presented focuses on the self-regulatory writing behaviours of nursing students in their third year. The purpose was to explore patterns of writing self-efficacy, anxiety levels, and student grade point average (GPA) in relation to student choices with help seeking, advanced planning of writing, revision habits, and response to feedback. Low writing self-efficacy, high anxiety students sought help from more sources, reported their feedback made them feel negative about their capabilities as writers, and were less likely to report reading and applying feedback to future writing efforts. No patterns of writing self-efficacy or anxiety levels emerged with respect to student revision habits or their choice to begin their assignments in advance of the due date. GPA was also not associated with the writing self-regulatory choices assessed. As the primary writing support for students in the later years of a nursing program, educators should consider interventions that encourage help seeking, facilitate students’ understanding and integration of the feedback they receive into their assignment revisions, and normalize the negative emotions that interfere with the self-efficacy levels required to write well.

Cognitive Processes of High Mathematics Anxiety Student in Solving Area Conservation Problem

Area conservation is a concept to modify the shape or position of a geometrical figure without changing its area. Skipping the concept of area conservation in learning area measurement causes students’ difficulties in this topic. One of students’ activity in math class is problem solving which is a cognitive process of the brain to search a solution for a given problem. Cognitive process is an activity that consist of receiving, processing, and using information. Cognitive process may affected by mathematics anxiety. Mathematics anxiety is a condition in which students experience unexplained anxiety during learning mathematics. This study is qualitative descriptive research which aimed at describing the cognitive processes of high mathematics anxiety student in solving area conservation problem. The data were collected by using mathematics anxiety test, area conservation problem test, and interview. The result showed that at the stage of receiving information, high mathematics anxiety students read the given problem and observe the given figures. At the stage of processing the information, the students devising plan by linked the received information with their knowledge, solving the problem, and evaluating the obtained solution. Student with high mathematics anxiety use the concept of area conservation to modify some figures. Moreover, high mathematics anxiety student did a simple estimation to determine the area of the given figures. At the stage of using information, student with high mathematics anxiety re-explain the given problem, the idea to solve the problem, every single steps in solving problem, and the obtained solution.

The Effect of Trait Anxiety on Recognition of Threatening Emotional Facial Expressions: A Study among High School Students.

Previous studies indicated that sensitivity to facial expressions of threat is related to anxiety in children, adolescents and adults. A small amount of anxiety often improves students' performance, but a high level of anxiety can interfere the learning process. The feeling of being threatened by particular stimuli would cause them to perceive many daily situations as threatening and this will result in more frequent experiences of fear of what may happen, especially for the high anxiety students. This research will explore the threat perception that the secondary school students might have in relation to negative facial expression and examine the sensitivity towards anger expressions as threatening stimuli. 49 students (25 low anxiety and 24 high anxiety) age between 16 to 18 years old have been recruited to answer a set of anxiety questionnaires and they were also required to identify the facial expression to explore the threat perception by looking at images posing facial expression in 2 and 3 dimensions. These images have been transformed into 5 levels of anger using FaceGen Modeller 3.5. Results demonstrated that the high anxiety students can identify threat stimuli from faces more accurately and faster than the low anxiety students. It is suggested that angry faces may be perceived as particularly threatening amongst students and play a significant role in their emotional well being. It is hoped that this research will increase our understanding of the relationship between anxiety and threat perception and this unique visual stimulus can generate a wealth of other research in Malaysia.

Using Mobile Phone to Overcome Students’ Anxiety in Speaking English

The goal of this research is to discover whether the use of mobile phone can minimize students’ anxiety in speaking English and in turn will improve their speaking skill. Anxiety has become a major problem for students when asked to speak in a speaking class. Using quasi experimental method, the data of this research was collected through questionnaire of foreign language anxiety classroom scale, and oral test for speaking ability. Factorial design 2 x2 using ANOVA is used to analyze the data of this research. The result has shown: (1) the score of students’ learning achievement in speaking English who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than the students’ who were taught by using conventional teaching. It means that the use of mobile phone application results in better influence towards students’ speaking ability; (2) The learning achievement of the students with high anxiety in speaking English who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than the high-anxiety students who were taught by conventional teaching; (3) The learning achievement in speaking English of low anxiety students who were taught by using mobile phone application was higher than low anxiety students’ who were taught by conventional teaching.

THE EFFECT OF ACADEMIC SELF MANAGEMENT AND READING ANXIETY TO STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION IN EFL CLASSROOM

The objectives of this research were to find out the interaction of academic self management and reading anxiety in English reading comprehension, the difference of students high and low reading anxiety in reading comprehension, the difference of reading comprehension students having higher academic self management have high and low reading anxiety and the difference between low academic self management that have high and low reading anxiety in reading comprehension. Expost facto was employed as the design of the study with Riau Kepulauan University as the population. To measure students reading anxiety and academic self management, it was used questionnaires. Furthermore, reading test was used for measuring the students’ reading comprehension. Data analysis used Two –Way ANAVA, then Tuckey Test. It was found that there was difference between high and low reading anxiety students in which Qcount(3.47)> Q table (2.89). Then the interaction showed students academic self management and reading anxiety in reading comprehension, the score of Qcount bigger than Qtable (12,22>3,07). Next, high academic self management between high and low reading anxiety was found different. It was counted that Qcount (9.00)> Qtable (3.01). In contrast, there was no difference of reading comprehension between students low academic self management having and low reading anxiety. It was calculated that Qcount (-0.08)<Q table (3.01). Keywords: Academic Self Management, Anxiety, Reading Comprehension

Using Smartphone-Integrated Model of Teaching to Overcome Students’ Speaking Anxiety in Learning English as a Foreign Language

<p>The goal of this research is to investigate the effect of a model of teaching that integrating the use of Smartphone towards the learning achievement of both high and low anxiety students. We found it hard to ask students to speak English during the teaching and learning process. This is caused by their anxiety and also the limitation of time allotment provided to teach speaking skill in schools. The use of Smartphone in teaching speaking is suggested to minimize students’ anxiety from a peer pressure, as well as to overcome the limitation of the time allotment in teaching speaking. Using quasi experimental method, the data of this research was collected from 63 middle school students using questionnaire of foreign language anxiety classroom scale. This questionnaire is used to classify the students into the group of high anxiety and low anxiety students. Oral test for speaking ability is used to measure the students’ learning achievement. Factorial design 2 x2 using ANOVA is utilized to analyze the data of this research. The result has shown that both high and low anxiety groups of students achieve higher score when they are taught by using Smartphone compare to their score when they are taught by using conventional model of teaching. This means that the use of Smartphone integrated model of teaching can overcome the students’ anxiety in speaking English.</p>

An embodied agent helps anxious students in mathematics learning

Mathematics anxiety is known to be detrimental to mathematics learning. This study explored if an embodied agent could be used to help alleviate student anxiety in classrooms. To examine this potential, agent-guided algebra lessons were developed, in which an animated agent was equipped with prescriptive instructional guidance and anxiety treating messages. The lessons were deployed in regular mathematics classrooms, one lesson per day over a week, with 138 boys and girls in the 9th grade in the United States. After taking the weeklong agent-based lessons, students decreased in their mathematics anxiety (p = .042) and increased in mathematics learning (p = .001), regardless of the presence or absence of the agents’ anxiety messages. The presence of the agents’ messages only seemed to make a difference for high-anxiety students. This finding suggests that an embodied agent could provide affective support for students with special needs.

Perceptions of Blended Learning Competencies and Obstacles among Educational Technology Students in Light of Different Anxiety Levels and Locus of Control

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of locus of control and anxiety level on the Jordanian educational technology students’ perceived blended learning competencies and obstacles. The independent variables were the locus of control (Internal, External) and anxiety level (Low, Moderate, High). The dependent variables were the students’ perceptions of their personal blended leaning competences (Knowledge & Technological) and students’ perceptions of the obstacles of blended leaning. The study sample consisted of 107 undergraduate educational technology students. Inferential statistics were conducted to analyze the data. Analysis of variance and pairwise post hoc tests were carried out to examine the main effects as well as the interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. The findings of this study showed that students with internal locus of control performed significantly better than external locus of control students in blended learning competencies (Knowledge &Technological) and blended learning obstacles. The findings of this study also showed that moderate anxiety students performed significantly better than low and high anxiety students in blended learning competencies (Knowledge &Technology) and blended learning obstacles. Finally, the study found that there was no significant difference between the low and high anxiety students in blended learning obstacles.

‘It is the situation that makes it difficult’: Experiences of nursing students faced with a high-stakes drug calculation test

Test anxiety affects the learning, performance and well-being of students, and it increases as the stakes get higher. Norwegian nursing students must pass a drug calculation test with a flawless performance if they are to qualify as nurses. The aim of the current study was to investigate the test anxiety experiences of students faced with such a high-stakes test. We used a mixed methods approach where the data were collected using a survey questionnaire and a focus group interview. In total, 203 freshman nursing students completed the questionnaire, six of whom also participated in the focus group interview. The survey results showed that 44.3% of the students reported high mathematics test anxiety in the months before the drug calculation test. More than 12% of the high-anxiety students reported a low mathematics self-concept. High and medium self-concept students also experienced high test anxiety. Our analysis of the focus group interview data confirmed that the high stakes of the test increased the test anxiety dramatically.

Scared Stiff? The Effectiveness of Threat Appeals in Counseling Services Advertising to High-Anxiety Students

This exploratory study proposes and tests a theoretical model that analyzes threat appeals in regard to their effectiveness for high-anxiety students, one of the major target groups for counseling services. In particular, affective and cognitive responses to a threat appeal advertisement and their effects on attitude toward the advertisement and behavior are examined. The results suggest that a strong threat appeal is not effective for counseling services but that positive emotions toward the advertisement and cognitive involvement have a positive impact on advertising outcomes. The study contributes further to knowledge of threat appeal effectiveness, targeting “anxious” audiences.

Gender differences in the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale

Abstract This study examined gender differences in language anxiety and a possible influence of gender and anxiety on L2 performance. Anxiety was measured by the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and L2 performance was determined by the final grade of 948 university students learning English in Korea. The results indicated that (a) females reported higher anxiety levels compared to males, (b) females and high anxiety students received higher grades than males and low anxiety students, respectively, (c) six items in the anxiety scale showed differential item functioning across gender with females endorsing higher levels of anxiety than males, and (d) the result of gender differences in the scale was not significantly influenced by the six items, providing evidence to the construct validity of the scale. The findings were discussed along with theoretical and practical implications for better understanding of language anxiety both in L2 acquisition and in teaching.

An Investigation of the Relationship between Test Anxiety, Self Esteem and Academic Performance among Polytechnic Students in Nigeria

The aim of this study was to discover how test anxiety and self esteem affect academic performance. Two hundred and fifty randomly drawn final year National Diploma (NDII) students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro were involved in the study. They were given two questionnaires that took between forty and forty five minutes to complete. The study was carried out in a classroom environment during regular school hours. After collecting information from the students through questionnaires, their comprehensive Grade Point Averages (GPA) in previous year were also collected. This GPA data were then compared to the scores obtained from the questionnaires. This study discovered that overall, low anxiety students had higher GPAs than high anxiety students and that there is a positive relationship between self esteem and academic performance. The implication of the findings were that stakeholders in education should formulate policies that help students to cope with anxiety and also initiate programs that will assist the process of learning and mastering challenges as such would result in higher academic achievement.