Investigating Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety within the EFL Learner's Interlanguage System: The Case of Iranian Learners

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to investigate the status of the EFL learner's interlanguage system as dealt with foreign language (FL) speaking anxiety in the classroom. The objective of the study is first to specifically determine the extent to which Iranian EFL learners attribute their FL speaking anxiety to the constituents of their interlanguage system and second to indicate the related gender and level-based differences among the participants. To this end, the researcher divided the general notion of interlanguage system into its three main researchable constituents: interlanguage phonology, interlanguage grammar, and 'interlanguage meaning system' and then attempted to design a self-reporting questionnaire with a five Likert-type scale mainly on the basis of FLCAS developed by Horwitz, et. al. (1986). After analyzing the results, the findings indicated that the participants were more likely to attribute their most FL speaking anxiety experienced in the classroom to their interlanguage meaning system as compare with the other two subsets of their interlanguage system. In terms of the gender differences, the results suggested that the female participants were found to be more prone to experiencing FL speaking anxiety within the framework of their interlanguage system. With respect to level differences, the results demonstrated that gaining more FL knowledge may not necessarily lead to a substantial reduction in experiencing FL speaking anxiety, since more proficient participants were more subject to the anxiety-provoking factors within their interlanguage system than less proficient participants

Exploring the Causes of English Language Speaking Anxiety among Postgraduate Students of University of Balochistan, Pakistan

“…Furthermore, the findings of the first research question revealed that the majority of the postgraduate students of University of Balochistan attribute most of their foreign language speaking anxiety to inter-language meaning system. This finding is in line with the findings by Mehmoodzadeh (2012). The fear of communicating with foreign language instructors caused anxiety among learners since they were afraid of committing grammatical errors.…”

“…The questionnaire comprised of 33 items but only 18 items were included in the final questionnaire of this study since they solely accentuated on foreign language speaking anxiety (Mehmoodzadeh, 2012). The Cronbach's Alpha for these items was α=0.80.…”

Investigating Anxiety Symptoms and Reactions within EFL Learners’ Oral Narratives: The Case of Intermediate Level Students

“…As Mahmoodzadeh (2012) pointed out, the development of a good speaking ability has been one of the crucial and indispensable aspects of English language learning for non-native speakers. As such, foreign language learners have a great amount of interest in perception of their ability to speak.…”

La ansiedad y la presencia de un desconocido en una clase de lenguas extranjeras

“…Xu y Li (2010) en un estudio similar confirman los efectos negativos de la ansiedad de los estudiantes en el salón de clase de segunda lengua (L2), explicando como esa ansiedad es un factor negativo que influye en el estado de ánimo de los estudiantes (p. 250). Mahmoodzadeh (2012) aborda las características del alumno que dan pie a la ansiedad en su estudio de estudiantes iraníes que estudiaban inglés (p. 466). Liu (2012), en un estudio con estudiantes taiwaneses de inglés, escribe que más de 80% de los participantes respondieron que sentían ansiedad y que esta ansiedad afectó su rendimiento en la clase de una manera negativa (p. 132).…”