Chinese Senior High EFL Learners’ Foreign Language Reading Anxiety: Profile and Sources

Abstract

In comparison with other skill-specific foreign language anxiety, foreign language reading anxiety (FLRA) was a less-researched realm. The purpose of the study was to investigate the general profile and possible sources of FLRA in the under-explored Chinese senior high EFL students. The 60 participants were from 2 high schools in China. The study employed the “explanatory sequential mixed method design” (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). First, the quantitative data were collected via the adapted Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) (Lu & Liu, M., 2015), and analyzed with SPSS. Then, based on participants’ scores on FLRAS (adapted), specific responses, and consent to further interviews, 4 subjects were selected as sources of qualitative data. The conclusions were drawn that (1) more than half the learners (78.33%) were generally exposed to little FLRA (M=2.57); (2) possible FLRA sources could be divided into 4 main categories, with overall 16 subsets: (a) individual factors (reading interest, self-expectation, reading strategy use, background knowledge); (b) textual factors (topic, task type, text length, tested vocabulary, grammar, text structure, rhetoric); (c) instructional factors (teaching method, evaluation); (d) situational factors (teacher-student dynamic, parental anticipation, peer pressure). Despite limitations such as limited sample size and scope, absence of further validation testing, and neglect of examination of background variables, the study purveyed valuable suggestions for language educators to enhance strategies addressing FLRA among Chinese EFL senior high learners. These suggestions included considering the impact of text structure and rhetorical devices on FLRA, prioritizing vocabulary instruction, and implementing anxiety-reducing interventions, e.g. the “flipped classroom model” (Gök et al. 2021). Furthermore, the study emphasized the need for further research on the more representative FLRA profile of Chinese young EFL learners, statistical examination of the relevance of various sources to FLRA, investigation of the relationship between background variables and FLRA among Chinese senior high EFL learners, and exploration of the universality and language-specific nature of different FLRA sources.