scholarly journals Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of Arab learners of English: The effect of personality, linguistic and sociobiographical variables

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele ◽  
Taghreed M. Al-Saraj

The present study focuses on the link between psychological, sociobiographical and linguistic variables and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of 348 Arabic learners of English (250 females, 98 males). Data were collected using the Arabic Foreign Language Anxiety Questionnaire (AFLAQ; Al-Saraj, 2011, 2014) and an Arabic version of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF; van der Zee, van Oudenhoven, Ponterotto & Fietzer, 2013). Multiple regression analyses revealed that self-perceived proficiency in oral English and frequency of use of English explained over a third of variance in FLCA: More proficient and frequent users felt less anxious. Two personality traits, Emotional Stability and Social Initiative explained a further fifth of variance in FLCA, with emotionally stable and more extraverted participants scoring lower on FLCA. Age was the final predictor of a small amount of variance, with older participants feeling less anxious. Degree of multilingualism, sex and education level had no effect on FLCA.

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele ◽  
Cemal Özdemir ◽  
Durmuş Karci ◽  
Sinem Uysal ◽  
Elif Derya Özdemir ◽  
...  

AbstractThe present study focuses on foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) of 592 learners of Turkish as a foreign language (FL) in Kazakhstan. Mean levels of FLE and FLCA were found to be similar to previous studies in different settings with different target languages. In contrast with previous literature, a weak positive correlation was found between FLE and FLCA and the gender effect went in the opposite direction, with male participants reporting more FLCA than female participants. Multiple regression analyses revealed that FLE and FLCA were more strongly predicted by learners’ attitude toward Turkish and teacher-related variables than by learner-internal variables, confirming previous research outside Kazakhstan. Attitude toward the FL, teacher’s friendliness, strictness and frequency of use of the FL, attitude toward the teacher, participant’s age and FL exam result explained a total of 25% of variance in FLE. Differing slightly from previous studies, FLCA was found to be only weakly predicted (6% of variance) by some learner-internal variables (FL exam result, attitude toward the FL) as well as teacher-centred variables (friendliness, strictness). The findings suggest that variation in FLE and FLCA among Kazakh learners of Turkish is quite similar to that established in other contexts.


2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine K. Horwitz

By employing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Park has provided an important contribution to understanding the underlying constructs of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. To Park’s concerns about previous research on the components of the measure, this article adds the necessity of considering the specific learner populations and learning contexts where foreign language anxiety (FLA) is being examined since the components of FLA likely vary in different learner populations, especially with respect to cultural and proficiency differences. It is particularly important to consider that FLA has different triggers and manifestations in different cultures.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elouise Botes ◽  
Lindie van der Westhuizen ◽  
Jean-Marc Dewaele ◽  
Peter MacIntyre ◽  
Samuel Greiff

Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) is a popular construct in applied linguistics research, traditionally measured with the 33-item Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). However, recent studies have started utilising the 8-item Short-Form Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (S-FLCAS). There is therefore a need, which this study addressed in five sequential steps, to validate the S-FLCAS in order to ensure the validity and reliability of the scale. A sample of n = 370 foreign language learners was utilised in the validation efforts, which included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the establishment of convergent and discriminant validity, and invariance testing. The S-FLCAS was found to have a unidimensional structure with the 8 items loading on a single latent variable. Evidence was provided of the internal consistency and the convergent and discriminate validity of the S-FLCAS. In addition, the measure was found to be fully invariant across age, gender, educational levels, and L1 groups. It is therefore with some considerable confidence that we can recommend the future use of the S-FLCAS in peer-reviewed research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armineh Martirossian ◽  
Anahid Hartoonian

<p>Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and self-regulated learning strategies (SRLSs) are two important factors that influence language learning process in negative and positive ways respectively. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between FLCA and SRLSs. To this end, 100 university students majoring in TEFL were selected. For collecting data, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, &amp; Cope, 1986) and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich &amp; De Groot, 1990) were used. To analyze the data, Kendall correlation was run. The results revealed that there is a negative relationship between FLCA (communication apprehension, test anxiety, &amp; fear of negative evaluation) and SRLSs (cognitive strategy use &amp; self-regulation).</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-225
Author(s):  
Laurane Jarie ◽  
Carlos Salavera Bordás ◽  
Abel Merino Orozco ◽  
Pablo Usán Supervía

La ansiedad ante el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras es una de las variables más influyentes en el aprendizaje de idiomas extranjeros.  Horwitz y Cope (1986, 1991) desarrollaron un marco teórico alrededor del constructo específico  de ansiedad lingüística que consigue explicar el rol de esta variable dentro del proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras. Los autores elaboraron una escala estadísticamente fiable y válida para poder medir  los niveles de ansiedad lingüística. La presente investigación pretende estudiar  la validación y la confiabilidad del instrumento Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale traducido al idioma francés  para su aplicación con estudiantes  franceses de secundaria  así como repetir el análisis factorial de la FLCAS realizado por Aida (1994), Pérez y Martínez (2001).   La adaptación del instrumento, se distribuye, tras el análisis con rotación Varimax, en cuatro factores que explican el 58,78% de la varianza total y un alpha de Cronbach de ,77.


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