Effects of EFL Individual Learner Variables on Foreign Language Reading Anxiety and Metacognitive Reading Strategy Use

2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Lien
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Metacognitive Awareness ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Reading Anxiety

Past research has shown an association between foreign language reading anxiety and reading strategy. However, individual variables tend to affect foreign language anxiety and strategy use. The present study examined a hypothesized model that specified direct and indirect effects among English and foreign languages readers’ distinct variables, including academic level; self-perceived English level; and satisfaction with reading proficiency, reading anxiety, and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. A total of 523 volunteer Taiwanese college students provided 372 valid responses to a written questionnaire (281 women and 91 men; M age = 19.7 years, SD = 1.1) containing the translated versions of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale, Survey of Reading Strategies Inventory, and self-assessment background questionnaire. The results showed that self-evaluation of reading proficiency did not correlate with academic level and readers’ perceptions. Satisfaction had a direct effect on foreign language reading anxiety but not on metacognitive awareness of reading strategies. Results of path analysis demonstrated that the perception learners who had their own reading proficiency predicted their foreign language reading anxiety and was a mediating variable for metacognitive reading strategy use.

scholarly journals An investigation of Chinese university EFL learner’s foreign language reading anxiety, reading strategy use and reading comprehension performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongshe Lu ◽  
Meihua Liu
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Reading Anxiety

The present study explored the interrelations between foreign language (FL) reading anxiety, FL reading strategy use and their interactive effect on FL reading comprehension performance at the tertiary level in China. Analyses of the survey data collected from 1702 university students yielded the following results: (a) Both Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and Foreign Language Reading Strategy Use Scale (FLRSUS) had important subcomponents, (b) more than half of the students generally did not feel anxious when reading English, and were confident in and satisfied with their English reading proficiency. Meanwhile, (c) more than half of them moderately used different types of reading strategies such as planning, checking and confirming, predicting and assessing, when reading English, (d) compared with their female peers, male students felt significantly more anxious when facing reading activities, less satisfied with their English reading proficiency, and used specific analyzing and planning strategies significantly less often during a reading activity, (e) FLRAS was significantly inversely related to FLRSUS, and both were significantly correlated with the students’ FL reading comprehension performance, and (f) FLRAS (overall FL reading anxiety), FLRAS1 (general anxiety about FL reading), and FLRSUS2 (predicting strategies) were good predictors of FL reading comprehension performance. Based on the findings, some implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Foreign language reading strategy use of intermediate level adult Turkish EFL learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Fatma Aydin ◽  
Ozgur Yildirim
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Foreign Language Reading

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate foreign language reading strategy use of a group of intermediate level adult Turkish EFL learners. The participants of the study were 87 Turkish first-year university students who were taking intermediate level English courses at a state university in Turkey. The main instrument of the study was a reading strategies survey which consisted of 30 items with three sub-scales: global or metacognitive reading strategies, problem-solving or cognitive reading strategies, and support reading strategies. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted to support the quantitative data. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentages) and one-way ANOVA with repeated measures. As for the analysis of the qualitative data, tape-recorded interviews were first transcribed and then analyzed by grouping each interviewee’s response according to the sub-scales of the survey. Results of the study indicated that intermediate-level adult Turkish EFL learners show the moderate overall use of reading strategies; problem-solving strategies are the most favored strategies, and they are followed by global reading strategies and supplementary reading strategies.</p>

Approximate replication of Matsuda and Gobel (2004) for psychometric validation of the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Akira Hamada ◽  
Shuichi Takaki
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
Psychometric Validation ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Classroom Performance ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Reading Anxiety

AbstractThis paper reports an approximate replication of Matsuda and Gobel (2004) for the psychometric validation of the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS). Their study examined the structural aspects of the FLRAS developed by Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999). The results showed that the FLRAS measured three different subcomponents of foreign language reading anxiety; none of the factors predicted foreign language performance in content-based and four-skill classes. The present study aimed to reconfirm the psychometric validity of the FLRAS because it has been widely employed to make foreign language reading anxiety researchable. Our study retained the same methodology, with the exception of the measurements of classroom performance and reading proficiency. Matsuda and Gobel's conclusions were reproduced by showing a weak relationship between classroom performance and foreign language reading anxiety measured by the three-factor model of the FLRAS. However, this study newly demonstrated a strong association of reading-anxiety subcomponents with learners' reading proficiency. The administration, scoring, and interpretation methods of the FLRAS were reconsidered based on the replicated results.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Reading Strategy Use and EFL Test Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 39-52
Author(s):  
Saraswati Dawadi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Reading Test ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English Reading ◽  
The Relationship

There has been a steady interest in investigating the relationship between strategy use and English as a foreign language (EFL) test performance. Despite numerous studies on strategy use, the relationship between the two is still not clear. This paper reports on a study that investigated the use of reading strategies in the Secondary Education Examination English reading test and the relationship between reading strategy use and the test performance. A sample of 312 EFL learners studying at Grade 10 in Nepal participated in this study. They were asked to take the test and then respond to a reading strategy questionnaire. The quantitative software SPSS (version 20) was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that participants were active strategy users, and they used cognitive strategies more frequently than metacognitive strategies. A significant relationship was identified between reading strategy use and EFL proficiency; high-proficiency learners reported significantly higher use of reading strategies than moderate-proficiency learners, who in turn reported higher use of those strategies than their low-proficiency peers. Implications of these findings for EFL teaching and recommendations for further research are discussed.Journal of NELTA ,  Vol. 22, No. 1-2, 2017 December, Page: 39-52

scholarly journals The Relationship between Learning Style Preferences and Reading Strategy Use in English as a Foreign Language

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Elżbieta Danuta Lesiak-Bielawska
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Reading Strategy ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Learning Style Preferences ◽  
Task Requirements ◽  
Style Preferences ◽  
The Relationship

The study explored the relationship between learning style preferences and the use of reading strategies triggered during the performance of a reading comprehension assignment in English as a foreign language (EFL). The research conducted drew on the hypothesis that the type of language task activates a battery of strategies that reflect the subject's learning style preferences and the task requirements.

scholarly journals The underlying factors of foreign language reading anxiety: Their effects on strategy use and orientation toward reading

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-234
Author(s):  
Hyang Il Kim
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Support Strategies ◽  
Reading Anxiety ◽  
Degree Of Orientation

Both positive and negative emotions have been the focus of a wealth of language learning research in recent years. This can mostly be attributed to the established links between an individual’s psychological responses, existing and emerging from learning, the learning processes they engage in, and the outcomes they achieve. A look at advanced research on language anxiety, a negative emotion that appears to be strongly involved in learning, has shown that specific information about reading anxiety is comparatively insufficient. This study, therefore, examines the underlying factors of reading anxiety in Korean university students, using the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale. Subsequently, it explores how these anxiety factors are related to strategy use (i.e., metacognitive, cognitive, and support strategies) and orientation toward reading, which demonstrates a reader’s active involvement while reading. Three sub-factors of reading anxiety were found: anxiety experienced during the process of reading English, confidence in reading, and anxiety when reading English characters. Interestingly, confidence or positive emotion was found to be a far more powerful positive contributor to Korean EFL university readers’ use of metacognitive strategies and the degree of orientation to reading than was anxiety experienced while reading. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Indonesian theology students' foreign language reading anxiety and reading performance: A correlational study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Jeane Theresia Limeranto ◽  
Adaninggar Septi Subekti
Keyword(s):  
Reading Achievement ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Reading Strategies ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Reading Anxiety ◽  
Medium Level ◽  
Specific Finding ◽  
Theology Students

This study investigated Theology students’ Foreign Language Reading Anxiety (FLRA) and the relationship between their FLRA and their reading achievement. A number of 63 Theology students participated in this quantitative study. A questionnaire developed by Saito et al. (1999) was used in obtaining the data for the study. The study was conducted to fill the void in the literature on the scarcity of empirical research on FLRA in the Indonesian English for Specific Purpose (ESP) context, especially among Theology students who were required to read a lot of English text and thus were very likely susceptible to experience reading anxiety. The study found that in general, the students experienced a medium level of FLRA. Low self-perceived reading competence and the unfamiliar topic of reading passages were reported to be attributed to higher FLRA levels whilst the formation of reading habits, reading exposure, and reading strategies were believed to reduce reading anxiety. This study further found a statistically significant negative correlation between the students’ FLRA and their reading achievement, albeit the strength being weak. This finding suggested that students’ FLRA could be a factor hampering learning. The present study’s specific finding on the possible positive impacts of reading strategies and the duration of reading exposure may indicate the urgency to incorporate these two aspects in the instructional design of English reading classes. Based on the findings, contributions, limitations, and suggested future studies were formulated.

scholarly journals Investigating the relationship between the foreign language reading anxiety and reading proficiency: a case study of preparatory year students at the University of Jeddah

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (32) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Saleh Mohammad Ali Alqahtani
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Reading Proficiency ◽  
Foreign Language Reading ◽  
Reading Anxiety ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Preparatory Year ◽  
The University

This study is an in-depth analysis on the association between the anxiety experienced known as Foreign Language Reading Anxiety (FLRA) and the proficiency in reading exhibited by the preparatory year students. The Saudi learners from the science and arts stream and the gender were also considered as the moderator variables for this study. A mixed group of 84 students from both the genders of the preparatory year studying English at the Institution of Languages from the University of Jeddah were considered as the variables for this research. The participants were measured on as 20-item Likert-style Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale and examined by undergoing a 20-item proficiency test in reading a comprehension and a demographic questionnaire. The data was analyzed by applying The Pearson product moment correlation, t-Test, and descriptive analysis. The results indicated that the anxiety level while reading had varied values from moderate to high most of the respondents in the test were found to be in the moderate anxiety group. In addition, a notable negative relationship was found to be existing between the FLRA and the reading proficiency. The association existing between the foreign language reading anxiety and the group field was identified in this study. Analyzing the concept considering the gender, the female students were identified to experience more anxiety compared to the male students involved in the study. The findings of this study are advantageous to the language teachers and the curriculum planners too. It enables them to decrease the deteriorating and weakening factors in the classroom and thereby improve the reading ability of the language learners’.  Reducing the reading anxiety amongst the learners can be achieved by exposing the language learners to understandable reading texts and familiarize them with cultural texts. This in turn develops the learners’ self-confidence and motivates them to be better readers.

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