scholarly journals The Relationship between Shyness, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Willingness to Communicate, Gender, and EFL Proficiency

Author(s):  
Sam Bashosh ◽  
Mohammad Abbas Nejad ◽  
Mina Rastegar ◽  
Amin Marzban
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Elias Bensalem

This paper sets out to investigate the potential correlation between foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and four background variables (gender, self-efficacy, self-perceived proficiency, and experience abroad) among multilingual EFL college-level students in Saudi Arabia. A group of 191 participants (80 females, 111 males) took part in the study by answering an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) as well as the Foreign Language Self-Efficacy Scale (Torres & Turner, 2016). The statistical analyses revealed that participants experienced low to moderate rates of FLCA with females exhibiting higher levels of FLCAS than males. Statistical analyses showed that gender, self- efficacy and English self-perceived proficiency were significant predictors of FLCA in a multilingual context. In addition, experience abroad was not correlated with FLCA.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Yana Shanti Manipuspika

This present study probes the relationship between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ language anxiety and their willingness to communicate. The research questions are threefold: a) What are the types of anxiety experienced by the students, b) What is the anxiety level of them, and c) What is the correlation between foreign language anxiety (FLA) and the willingness to communicate (WTC) of the students. Quantitative descriptive approach was employed and the data were collected from 98 participants in an English Department by making use of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Likert-type WTC Scale. Pearson Correlation test was run to provide answers of the research questions. The results of this study indicated a strong positive correlation between learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety and their willingness to communicate. Fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and communication apprehension were the students’ types of anxiety. In addition, students had high level of anxiety, which in turn, made them difficult in dealing with language learning process and tend to have low desire to speak. Therefore, this study tries to highlight whether anxiety is a significant barrier to WTC, to determine the types and level of FLA, as well as to provide suggestions to help minimize the anxiety.


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.


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