Browsing by Subject "foreign language anxiety"

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a phenomenon affecting language learners on all proficiency levels. FLA can, for instance, cause avoidance behavior, increase unwillingness to communicate, and impede language learning. The purpose of this thesis was to gain information about the prevalence of FLA among Finnish upper secondary school EFL learners and study the connection between FLA and selected variables (gender, age, age of onset of English acquisition, foreign countries visited, living abroad, number of L1s, course grade, and self-perceived proficiency). The aim was also to look for student perceptions on the anxiety-provoking nature of a variety of classroom activities. A questionnaire was created to meet the objectives of this study. The questionnaire included sections on background information and the chosen variables, a Finnish translation of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz et al. (1986), and finally, a section measuring how often different English classroom activities cause anxiety among the respondents. The sample comprised a total of 304 upper secondary students from seven different schools in Finland. The participants’ FLA scores were calculated from the FLCAS results. The relationship between the students’ FLA levels and chosen variables was analyzed with t-tests and correlation analyses. Student perceptions on how often different classroom activities provoke anxiety were analyzed by comparing the average points given to each activity. The results of this study show that 40% of the students experienced low levels of anxiety in learning English, 40% fell to the medium-anxiety category, and one-fifth experienced high levels of anxiety. In this sample, females experienced considerably more FLA than males. The variables that were shown to have a connection to higher levels of FLA were older age, not having lived abroad, having only one L1, low average school grade, and low self-perceived proficiency. Age of onset of English acquisition and number of foreign countries visited did not have a connection to FLA in this sample. Classroom activities that were considered the most anxiety-provoking were presentations and activities where students need to speak in English in front of the whole group without preparation. Reading aloud was also considered very anxiety-provoking in the high-anxious group. Pair and small group exercises were perceived less anxiety-provoking than teacher-centered whole group activities. Based on the findings of this study it would be recommended for foreign language teachers to take into consideration students’ anxiety in foreign language learning. Even though language learning can be inherently anxiety-provoking, causing unnecessary anxiety can have impeding effects on learning. By utilizing methods that do not contribute to anxiety, teachers can create a relaxed and less threatening classroom atmosphere and consequently, make language learning more enjoyable.