Anxiety and personality as indicators of academic performance in university foreign language classrooms (original) (raw)
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AN INVESTIGATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING ANXIETY, STRESS AND PERSONALITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the correlations between foreign language anxiety, coping with stress and personality characteristics in higher education learners. The study was carried out with 399 learners (164 females and 235 males). The learners' age ranged between 17 and 32, and the mean age was 19.30. The data collection instruments used in the study were Personality Test Based on Adjectives, Scale for Coping with Stress and the Anxiety Scale for Foreign Language Learning. Pearson's conduct moment correlations and independent samples t test were used to analyze the data. Statistical analyses revealed that the mean anxiety scores of the males and females did not differ significantly. Moreover, there was not a significant correlation between coping with stress and personality characteristics.
Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom
System, 2004
This study is concerned with possible relationships between general foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA), foreign language reading anxiety (FLRA), gender, extended overseas experience, and classroom performance. Versions of previously published measurement scales (the FLCAS and the FLRAS) were administered to three different groups in nine intact firstsemester English classes (252 students) at a Japanese university. Based on this data, the possible relationships between the two theoretical constructs of foreign language classroom anxiety and foreign language reading anxiety, and the variables of gender and extended overseas experience were explored. The results of the analysis suggest that the factor related to self-confidence in speaking English seemed to be significantly affected by overseas experience. Following this, the first-year student subgroup data was analysed for possible predictors of success in required English classes. It was demonstrated that self-confidence in speaking English, gender and proficiency played an important role in classroom performance of firstyear students. #
Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 2020
Foreign language learners experience a unique type of anxiety during the language learning process: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA). This situation-specific anxiety is frequently examined alongside academic achievement in foreign language courses. The present meta-analysis examined the relationship between FLCA measured through the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and five forms of academic achievement: general academic achievement and four competency-specific outcome scores (reading-, writing-, listening-, and speaking academic achievement). A total of k = 99 effect sizes were analysed with an overall sample size of N = 14128 in a random-effects model with Pearson correlation coefficients. A moderate negative correlation was found between FLCA and all categories of academic achievement (e.g., general academic achievement: r =-.39; k = 59; N = 12585). The results of this meta-analysis confirm the negative association between FLCA and academic achievement in foreign language courses.
Anxiously Anxious: How Foreign Language Anxiety Affects Students’ Academic Performance
International Journal of English Language Studies
Over the last decades, language anxiety has emerged as a major concern in second and foreign language learning studies, and it is a topic that has sparked much debate. This paper reviews the related studies conducted on the said topic. Specifically, this scoping review focuses on the effect of language anxiety on the academic performance of students. Results show that there is an indirect relationship between language anxiety and the academic performance of students. Hence, it is important to note that strategies that will lessen language anxiety in the learning process will be a great help for students to perform well in class.
Examination of University Students' Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
Examination of University Students’ Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, 2016
Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning. And, many researches such as MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) indicate there is a negative relationship between anxiety and second language learning achievement. In current study, it was aimed to determine whether the students' foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) display significant differences on the basis of gender, language level, receiving English preparatory training, and the kinds of high school they graduated from. The research group included 320 male (65.6 %) and 168 female (34.4 %) English preparatory students at Istanbul Technical University. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) and adapted in Turkish by Aydın (2001) was used as the data collection tool. Data were analysed using independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA and the Scheffe's post-hoc test. T-test results showed female students' FLCA score is higher. But, there was not a statistically significant relationship between FLCA and receiving preparatory training. ANOVA results indicated high school differentiation does not affect it. Yet, Scheffe's test findings demonstrated the students' FLCA change over depending on their language level. In other words, female students are more appropriate to suffer from FLCA and FLCA is affected by students' language level.
Big Five Personality Traits and Test Anxiety among English as a Foreign Language Learners
This study investigated Big Five Personality Traits and test anxiety of Turkish EFL learners. The data were gath-ered via two questionnaires, Goldberg’s (2001) International Personality Item Pool and adapted version of Sarason's (1984) Test Anxiety Scale. The main objectives were to find out partic-ipants' test anxiety and to identify personality traits predicting students’ test anxiety. Descriptive statistics showed that stu-dents had a moderate level of test anxiety. It was obvious that students had a confidence problem. Students believed that they would do better after the exam. On the other hand, the partici-pants were found to be less anxious about the motivation relat-ed items. Pearson product moment analyses yielded negative relationships between test anxiety and personality traits of ‘emotional stability’, ‘imagination’, and ‘extraversion’. Regres-sion analyses significantly identified ‘emotional stability’, and ‘imagination’ personality traits as predicting test anxiety.
This paper describes a study that focused on individual differences in the foreign language anxiety (FLA) of 216 participants in a Spanish university context. Participants, English learners, completed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). The main interest of this study lies in the relevant contribution it makes to the research field in question. In the literature reviewed no studies have been found which address anxiety in a Spanish university context and with the aims established here. Anxiety levels were determined, and the relationship between FLA and gender, age, grade and language level was identified. Statistical analyses reveal that (a) participants had an average level of anxiety and females experienced more anxiety than males; (b) age had a significant negative correlation with anxiety; (c) lower grade students tended to have higher anxiety levels; (d) lower level students tended to be more anxious.
This study explores the relationship among three variables: cognitive load, foreign language anxiety and academic performance; focusing specifically on tasks such as oral presentations and listening comprehensions. The author hypothesised that these tasks would elevate the rate of anxiety within a pupil thus affecting and lowering their test scores. In addition to academic causes of anxiety the author has investigated variables such as social aspects that have been found to elevate foreign language anxiety in children. Several pedagogical strategies were also offered to assist instructors in helping learners acknowledge, cope with, and reduce anxiety, as well as to encourage them to make the learning context less stressful to their students.
Foreign Language Anxiety and Performance of Language Learners in Preparatory Classes
This study aims to determine whether there is a relationship between foreign language anxiety levels and language performance of 331 A1 level university preparatory students learning English as a foreign language in Turkey by Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. Foreign language anxiety levels were measured by FLCAS, and language performance was determined by the achievement test scores. The findings of the study are: (1) the participants in the current study exhibited relatively low levels of anxiety in their English classes (2) female students were more apt to suffer from foreign language anxiety; (3) there was a statistically significant negative relationship between foreign language anxiety and language performance. Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, language performance, gender