Foreign Language Anxiety and Achievement: Systematic Review

Al-Shboul, Murad M.; Ahmad, Ismail Sheikh; Nordin, Mohamad Sahari; Rahman, Zainurin Abdul

doi:10.5539/ijel.v3n2p32

Cited by 40 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This distinction reflects the dual roles of anxiety, namely, facilitating and debilitating anxiety. As previous studies reported, anxiety could be a conducive facilitator in students' language learning (Al-Shboul et al, 2013). Respondents in previous research also mentioned their favourable attitudes towards the language anxiety in their English learning (e.g., Trang, Baldauf & Moni, 2013).…”

Section: Effects On Speaking Performancementioning

confidence: 88%

Chinese Students’ English-speaking Anxiety in Asking Questions in the MSc TESOL Classroom

Wang¹,

Roopchund²

2015

IJELT

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This study explores the nature of anxiety in asking questions in class from the perspective of seven Chinese learners of English (ESL), with reference to their self-reflective accounts of emotional difficulties encountered in a UK university setting. Through the use of an in-depth semi-structured qualitative interview format, this study identified the effects, sources, and coping strategies pertaining to these learners' anxiety in asking questions in class. This anxiety exerts compound effects on respondents with respect to their mind, body and actual speaking performance. A series of factors contributing to this anxiety are reported by respondents, which can be categorised as 1) personal and interpersonal anxiety; 2) learner beliefs about English language learning; 3) role of instructors; 4) students' personality; 5) students' educational and cultural background; and 6) time for asking questions. Effective strategies for coping with this anxiety reported by respondents mainly consist of 1) preparation; 2) self-encouragement; 3) peer seeking; 4) relaxation; 5) practice; and 6) ignoring others' negative evaluations. Recommendations for EFL/ESL instructors mainly concern 1) instructors' awareness of students' language anxiety 2) instructors' attitudes towards students' questions 3) instructors' feedback to students' questions 4) instructors' classroom management. Recommendations for EFL/ESL learners are almost the same as those strategies respondents reported. This study has enriched the understanding of foreign language anxiety from the perspective of foreign language classroom speaking anxiety in asking questions in class. Future research should check the effectiveness of the coping strategies reported in this study and look into other aspects of foreign language speaking anxiety.

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Section: Effects On Speaking Performancementioning

confidence: 88%

Chinese Students’ English-speaking Anxiety in Asking Questions in the MSc TESOL Classroom

Wang¹,

Roopchund²

2015

IJELT

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“…Abu-Ghararah, 1999;Awan, Azher, Nadeem, & Naz, 2010;Batumlu & Erden, 2007;Chiang, 2010;Ghonsooly & Elahi, 2011;Horwitz, 2001;Macintyre & Gardner, 1994;Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 1999). Consequently, Al-Shboul, Ahmad, Nordin, and Rahman (2013) have conducted a comprehensive review to conclude that foreign language anxiety not only affects the students' learning process and outcomes but also the negative relationship between foreign language anxiety and achievement seems to vary according to specific skill.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreign Language Reading Anxiety in a Jordanian EFL Context: A Qualitative Study

Al-Shboul¹,

Ahmad²,

Nordin³

et al. 2013

ELT

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In the last two decades, investigating the sources of foreign language anxiety in general has increasingly attracted the attention of many researchers in the field of foreign language teaching. However, the sources of anxiety that influence the acquisition of certain specific language skills such as reading in particular have rarely been investigated. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore and understand the underlying problems and factors that contribute to reading anxiety faced by EFL students at Yarmouk University, Jordan. It was a qualitative exploration of the sources of English language reading anxiety for which observation, semi-structured interviews and diaries were collected from six informants with different levels of English language proficiency. The findings of the study revealed that there were two aspects of foreign language reading anxiety: personal factor and text feature. Under the concept of personal factor there were also two main sources of foreign language reading anxiety, which are: afraid of making errors and worry about reading effects. On the other hand, there were three main sources of foreign language reading anxiety under the concept of text feature, which are: unknown vocabulary, unfamiliar topic, and unfamiliar culture. The five main sources of foreign language reading anxiety were arranged according to their occurrences and percentages in the study. Moreover, recommendations were proposed.

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“…Although language anxiety can sometimes work as a helpful energizer for L2 learning, the harmful effects of anxiety which is considered debilitating anxiety (Brown, 1994) cannot be easily ignored in the context of L2 teaching. Evidence of negative relations between anxiety and achievement has been studied in several researches to find the processes which are likely to be involved in such a negative relation (Al-Shboul, Ahmad, Nordin, & Rahman, 2013;Ay, 2010;Cubukcu, 2007;Jafarigohar, 2012).…”

Section: Foreign Language Anxietymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Teaching Reading Strategies on EFL Learners’ Reading Anxiety

Marashi

Rahmati

2017

IJREE

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The present study was conducted to explore the effects of teaching reading strategies on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' reading anxiety. To fulfill the purpose of this study, 55 intermediate EFL learners were selected among a total number of 90 through their performance on a sample piloted Preliminary English Test (PET), and then randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (27 in the control and 28 in the experimental groups). Subsequently, the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) was administered between the two groups to make sure that both groups were homogeneous in terms of their reading anxiety at the outset. Then both groups underwent the same amount of teaching time (14 sessions) by the same teacher using the same textbook. The students in the experimental group also received the instruction of the Super Six Comprehension Strategies (i.e. making connections, predicting, questioning, monitoring, visualizing, and summarizing). Finally, the FLRAS was administered again as the posttest to both groups and their mean scores on the test were compared through an independent samples t-test. The results (t = 2,718, p = 0.009 < 0.05) led to the rejection of the null hypothesis, thereby indicating that there was a significant difference between the experimental group and control group. In other words, the instruction of reading strategies significantly lowered EFL learners' reading anxiety.

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Foreign Language Anxiety and Achievement: Systematic Review

Cited by 40 publications

References 27 publications

Chinese Students’ English-speaking Anxiety in Asking Questions in the MSc TESOL Classroom

Chinese Students’ English-speaking Anxiety in Asking Questions in the MSc TESOL Classroom

Foreign Language Reading Anxiety in a Jordanian EFL Context: A Qualitative Study

The Effect of Teaching Reading Strategies on EFL Learners’ Reading Anxiety

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