age, Gender and Grade Effect on Foreign language Anxiety Among Children

Abstract

The number of studies on the relationship between certain demo- graphic variables, age, gender and grade, and the levels of foreign language anxiety (FLA) in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context regarding adult and young learners is fairly limited, whereas the findings obtained from prior studies did not reach a consensus on the influences of FLA, and studies mainly focused on adult language learners rather than young learners. This study aims to explore the effect of age, gender and grade differences on FLA and its types, communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety, among Turkish children who learn English as a foreign language. The participants were 494 children enrolled at primary and secondary schools. The data collection tools were a background questionnaire interrogating the variables mentioned and the Children’s Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (CFLAS). After computing the reliability coefficient of the scale and total variance, independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used to see the relationships between the levels of FLA and its types and subject variables, age, gender, and grade. The results showed that age, gender, and grade constitute significant differences regarding FLA and its types, when several items in the CFLAS were considered. In the light of findings, several practical recommendations are listed.

Students’ Age, Perceptions of Poor Performance, and Fear of Negative Assessment in English Speaking as Predictors of Academic Performance in Male and Female Students

“…The factors of age and gender can contribute to differences in implicit theories and anxieties. The young students, as compared to old students, seem to have more English speaking anxiety (Aydin et al, 2017;Gaibani & Elmenfi, 2016). The females also seem to feel more anxious while speaking English due to fear of negative evaluation and failure (Aydin et al, 2017).…”

“…The young students, as compared to old students, seem to have more English speaking anxiety (Aydin et al, 2017;Gaibani & Elmenfi, 2016). The females also seem to feel more anxious while speaking English due to fear of negative evaluation and failure (Aydin et al, 2017). Therefore researchers in this study conceptualised that there will be different patterns in relationships of English speaking anxiety dimensions of fear of negative evaluation and perception of poor performance with age and academic grades in male and female sampled groups.…”

Examining the Issue of Abolishing English Tuition in Primary School in Indonesia

“…Therefore, the government decides to reduce students' pressure by omitting the English subject. A study conducted by Aydin, Harputlu, Çelik, Uştuk, and Güzel (2017) concludes that younger learners feel more anxiety and more worried than adults' students when they learn a foreign language. Learning a foreign language can be very frustrating for students and may experience anxiety, burden and pressure for learners (Tran, 2012).…”

French and Chinese Third Language Learners’ Communication Apprehension in a Nigerian University: Influence of Prior Knowledge and Their Demographic Profiles

“…Another demographic variable that would be considered in this study is the gender of learners. The influence of gender on foreign language students' ability to successfully attain proficiency in the four language skills has been investigated particularly, with respect to foreign language anxiety as a whole (Aydin et. al, 2017).…”