Factors causing students' anxiety in English speaking classes in Le Quy Don high school, Dong Da, Hanoi = Tác nhân gây lo lắng cho học sinh trong việc nói tiếng

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY
OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NHÀI

FACTORS CAUSING STUDENTS' ANXIETY IN ENGLISH SPEAKING
CLASSES IN LE QUY DON HIGH SCHOOL, DONG DA, HANOI
(Các nhân tố gây lo lắng cho học sinh trong việc nói tiếng Anh trên lớp tại
trường THPT Lê Q Đơn, Đống Đa, Hà Nội )

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2012


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION………………………………………………………………….i
ACKNOWDLEDGEMENTS ..........................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...............................................................................................iv
PART A:

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................1

1. Rationale ............................................................................................................1
2. Aims and objectives of the study .......................................................................2

3. Research questions.............................................................................................2
4. Scope of the study .............................................................................................2
5. Methods of the study .........................................................................................3
6. Organization of the study ..................................................................................3
PART B:

DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................................4

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................4
I. Theoretical background of anxiety.............................................................................4
1. Definitions of anxiety .......................................................................................4
2. Types of anxiety ................................................................................................6
2.1. Trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation - specific anxiety...............6
2.1.1. Trait anxiety.........................................................................6
2.1.2. State anxiety.........................................................................6
2.1.3. Situation-specific Anxiety....................................................7
2.2. Facilitating Anxiety and Debilitating Anxiety....................................7
II. Theoretical background of foreign language classroom anxiety............................8
1. Definition of foreign language classroom anxiety.............................................8
2. Early studies of foreign language anxiety..........................................................8
3. Components of foreign language anxiety.........................................................10
3.1. Communication apprehension...........................................................10
3.2. Test anxiety.......................................................................................11
3.3. Fear of negative evaluation...............................................................12
4. Manifestations of foreign language learning anxiety.......................................12
5. Sources of foreign language anxiety................................................................13

iv

6. Gender in foreign language anxiety.................................................................15
7. Effects of foreign language learning anxiety ..................................................16
7.1. Foreign language anxiety and its associations with three stages of
language learning...................................................................................................17
7.2. Foreign language learning anxiety and its associations with language
achievement..........................................................................................................18
a). Debilitating anxiety.................................................................18
b). Facilitating anxiety..................................................................19
8. Language anxiety in the speaking skill............................................................19
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................22
1. Context ............................................................................................................22
2. Participants ......................................................................................................22
3. Instruments ......................................................................................................23
3.1. Students' journal writings .................................................................23
3.2. Teacher's observation .......................................................................23
Chapter III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.............................................................24
I. FINDINGS .................................................................................................................24
1. Students' anxiety through teacher's observation..............................................24
1.1. Case 1................................................................................................24
1.2. Case 2................................................................................................25
2. Students' anxiety through students' journal writing.........................................26
2.1. Fear of making mistakes and negative evaluation............................26
2.2. Fear of testing....................................................................................27
2.3. Fear of being focus of attention.........................................................27
2.4. Comparison with oneself and with other students.............................27
2.5. Relationship between teacher and students.......................................28
2.6. Result of low achievement................................................................28
Lack of vocabulary.......................................................................28
Difficulties in pronunciation........................................................28
Difficulties in grammar................................................................29

II. DISCUSSION.............................................................................................................29
III. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS........................................................................31
v


1. Recommendations for students........................................................................31
2. Recommendations for teachers.........................................................................32
PART C:

CONCLUSION.......................................................................................34

1. Summary of the study.......................................................................................34
2. Limitations of this study...................................................................................35
3. Recommendations for further study.................................................................35
REFERENCES...............................................................................................................37
APPENDICES .................................................................................................................I
APPENDICE A......................................................................................................I
APPENDICE B.....................................................................................................II
APPENDICE C ...................................................................................................III

vi


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Getting students to respond in classes is a problem that most ESL teachers face.
The problem of that is particularly acute with non major English students, who are
generally considered to be more reserved and reticent than the majored ones. Language
teachers, including myself, have observed on numerous occasions when teaching in
classes, the apprehension and discomfort experienced by many students who are

attempting to acquire and produce a foreign language. The nervousness and anxiety
frequently seems to become particularly aggravated when students are required to speak in
front of teacher and other students. MacIntyre and Gardner (1991), for example, asserted
that "anxiety poses several potential problems for the students of a foreign language
because it can interfere with the acquisition, retention, and production of the new
language" (p. 86).
As a teacher of English at Le Quy Don high school, from my own observation and
experience, I myself have noticed that my students often experience foreign language
anxiety especially in speaking skill. They are afraid of speaking in front of the class, even
when the teacher asks them to practice English in pairs or in groups; many of them keep
their silence or have discussion in Vietnamese. Students are more confident with written
tests and they always feel reluctant when being asked to speak English and try to give
answers as short as possible. Some students even refuse to give any answers when
assigned. Some of them admit that they cannot find words to say and they always feel
nervous and anxious when speaking English with teachers.
From this reality in my school and some findings in research, I have found that
reducing anxiety in speaking English is of great importance to improve the communicative
competence of high school learners. Therefore, I decided to conduct a case study on the
topic: "Factors causing students' anxiety in English speaking classes in Le Quy Don
High School, Dong Da, Hanoi."
2. Aims and objectives of the study

1


The first aim of this study was to provide a review of major literature about foreign
language learning anxiety as affective variable uniquely related to foreign language
classroom situations, especially in speaking English. Based on the literature review, this
research aimed to take the initiative to investigate the cases' manifestations through
psychological symptoms, physical symptoms and behavioral symptoms. Moreover, it also

analyzed anxiety factors among students and based on those factors, some strategies were
suggested to reduce students' anxiety in speaking English.
3. Research questions
In relation to the major purpose of the study, which was to investigate the students'
anxiety in English speaking in classroom, two research questions were addressed. They are
as followed:
1). What are the factors that cause anxiety for high school students in speaking
English?
2). How do anxious participants describe their feelings while speaking English in
front of teacher and other students in class?
3). Which strategies can be used to successfully cope with language anxiety?
4. Scope of the study
In order to explore high school students' English speaking anxiety in classes, this
study investigated and analyzed 2 non major English students at Le Quy Don high school
because the researcher had an assumption that the non major English students might
experience a higher level of anxiety then the major ones. In addition, the researcher was
doing teaching those two students during the time this research was being conducted, as a
result, it was most convenient for researcher to collect data from students as well as
observe the students' manifestations. This study only investigated the students' anxiety
phenomenon in English speaking performance instead of focusing on all four skills or in
learning any foreign language in general.

2


5. Methods of the study
In my opinion, qualitative research methods are the most suitable for this case study
because they seek to understand the given research problem from the perspectives of the
cases. Moreover, qualitative methods are especially effective in obtaining culturally
specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors and social contexts of particular

subjects. Some qualitative methods I applied in this study are teacher's observation,
students' journal writings. In comparison with quantitative methods, qualitative methods
are typically more flexible. With qualitative methods, the relationship between the
researcher and the participants is often less formal. Participants have the opportunity to
express their ideas more elaborately in their journal writing with greater detail than the
case in quantitative methods.
6. Organization of the study
The study is organized into three main parts:
Part A: Introduction
This part offers a brief introduction to the rationale for choosing the topic, the aims
and objectives, research questions, the scope, the methods and the organization of the
study.
Part B: Development
The part consists of four chapters, as follows:
Chapter I: Literature Review
This chapter provides the theoretical background of anxiety with some definitions
and types of anxiety. It also gives the theoretical background of foreign language anxiety,
in which stated the findings of previous researches relating to the study, gender in foreign
language anxiety, the measurement of foreign language anxiety, the possible factors and
sources of anxiety and anxiety in speaking skill.

3


Chapter II: Methodology
This chapter addresses the research's context, the participants and the instruments
which were used to collect data including students' journal writing, teacher's observation
and interviews.
Chapter III: Findings and Discussion
The findings from the data collected from teacher's observation, students' journal

writing and interviews are presented and discussed in this chapter.
In this chapter, I also provide some possible suggested improvements to reduce
students' anxiety in English speaking in classroom.
Part C: Conclusion and implications
This part offers an overview of the major findings, the implications and suggestions
for further research in this matter.

4


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
In this review of literature, I shall state theoretical background of anxiety in
general, as well as foreign language anxiety and language anxiety in speaking skill.
I. Theoretical background of anxiety
1. Definitions of anxiety
There has been a variety of studies carried out on anxiety. Simply speaking, anxiety
is a kind of troubled feeling in the mind. It is "a subjective feeling of tension,
apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the automatic nervous
system" (Horwitz, 1986) or “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when
learning a second language” (MacIntyre, 1999). Second language anxiety is defined here
as distinct complexity of self- perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to using a
foreign/ second language for communication beyond class language.
Hansen (1977) called anxiety as "an experience of general uneasiness, a sense of
foreboding, a feeling of tension" (p.91). Anxiety might exert a deleterious influence on
language achievement, and equally intuitively, that poor language achievement might
arouse even more anxiety.
According to Hilgard, “anxiety is a psychological construct, commonly described
by psychologists as a state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated
with an object” (Hilgard, Atkinson, & Atkinson, 1971).

In short, anxiety is a feeling of tension, apprehension and nervousness associated
with the situation of learning a foreign language. In general, it can have physical,
emotional, and behavioral manifestations and these manifestations can differ with each
individual.
2. Types of anxiety

5


2.1. Trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation - specific anxiety
Usually anxiety is classified into trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation-specific
anxiety.
2.1.1. Trait anxiety
Trait anxiety has been referred to as "a constant condition without

a time

limitation" (Lewitt, 1980, p.11) and it is a stable feature of personality, referring to an
"acquired behavioral disposition that predisposes an individual to perceive a wide range of
objectively non-dangerous circumstances as threatening" (Spielberger, 1966, p. 16).
Mischel and Peake (1982) and Endler (1980) submitted that "Traits are meaningless, they
are considered in interactions with situations".
The four trait anxiety scale options are: (1) "Almost never" which responses
indicates lowest degree of trait anxiety; (2) "Sometimes"; (3) "Often"; and (4) "Almost
always" which signifies the highest degree of trait anxiety.
2.1.2. State anxiety
State anxiety, on the one hand, is fleeting and not an enduring characteristic of an
individual's personality. It is a "transitory state or condition of the organism that varies in
intensity and fluctuates over time" (Speilberger, 1966, p.12).
The four state anxiety scale options are (1) "Not at all" which points to the lowest

level of state anxiety; (2) "Somewhat"; (3) "Moderately so"; and (4) "Very much so" which
reflects the highest degree of state anxiety.
Morris et al. (1981), in their definitions of both state anxiety and trait anxiety, take
into account the importance of "situation": "State anxiety refers to transitory experiences of
tension, apprehension, and activation of the autonomic nervous system in certain
situations, whereas trait anxiety refers to a personality variable of anxiety proneness, the
tendency to experience state anxiety in a variety of situations" (p.543).
2.1.3. Situation-specific Anxiety
6


"It can be considered to be the probability of becoming anxious in a particular type
of situation, such as during tests, when solving mathematics problems, or when speaking a
second language" (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994, p.2). The author Oh (1990) thought of
foreign language anxiety as a situation-specific anxiety that "students experience in the
classroom which is characterized by self-centered thought, feelings of inadequacy, fear of
failure, and emotional reactions in the language classroom".
As regards investigating anxiety in language learning, which is of special interest to
us here, MacIntyre and Gardner (1991) considered that the situation-specific approach
"offers more to the understanding of anxiety because the respondents are queried about
various aspects of the situation" (p. 91).
2.2. Facilitating Anxiety and Debilitating Anxiety
Beside the classification above, other approaches have distinguished anxiety into
facilitating and debilitating, Alpert & Haber (1960); Klienmann (1977); Scovel (1978).
In which, facilitating anxiety is thought to be a kind of anxiety that improves
learning and performance, whereas debilitating anxiety is associated with poor learning
and performance.
Some early researches suggested that different quantities of facilitating anxiety and
debilitating anxiety may be present in the same individual at the same time. Alpert and
Haber (1960) asserted that "an individual may possess a large amount of both anxieties, or

of one but not the other, or of none of either" (p. 213) and it has also been proposed that
"facilitating and debilitating anxiety may function together" (Scovel, 1978).
II. Theoretical background of foreign language classroom anxiety
1. Definition of foreign language classroom anxiety
Horwitz and her colleagues described the physiological and psychological
symptoms of foreign language classroom anxiety at the Learning Skills Center at the
University of Texas that many symptoms occur in anxious states in general:"tenseness,

7


trembling, perspiring, palpitations, and sleep disturbances" (p.129). In language learners,
anxiety was also observed in such symptoms as "freezing" in class, "going blank" before
exams, and feeling reticence about entering the classroom. The researchers noted how
these learners "experience apprehension, worry, even dread. They have difficulty
concentrating, become forgetful, sweat, and have palpitations. They exhibit avoidance
behavior such as missing class and postponing homework" (p.126). These observations and
discussions led authors to put forward a definition of foreign language classroom anxiety
as "a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to
classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process"
(p.128).
2. Early studies of foreign language anxiety
With the shifting of researches focus from teachers to learners in Second Language
Acquisition, anxiety, as a very important affective factor, has been mainly explored by
many researchers since the 1970s.
Chastain (1975), in an investigation into affective and ability variables in relation to
achievement in French, German, and Spanish at elementary levels, explored test anxiety,
trait anxiety, introversion as against extroversion, and creativity, and reported inconsistent
results. He encountered a "strong negative correlation" between test anxiety and scores in
French that had been taught through the audio-lingual method, but no statistically

significant connection to grades in French that had been taught in the traditional way.
In a later investigation into anxiety which made use of a modified and translated
Alpert and Haber's (1960) Achievement Anxiety Test, Kleinmann (1977) compared a
Spanish-or-Portuguese-speaking group with an Arabic-speaking group of learners of
English. He posited that each group would tend to avoid certain English grammatical
structures that were lacking in their mother tongue and speculated that students who had
higher levels of facilitating anxiety would utilize these difficult structures.
The major concern of the earlier studies was the causes of language anxiety. As
early as 1983, Bailey, through the analysis of the diaries of 11 learners, had found that

8


competitiveness can lead to anxiety. Besides, he found that tests and learners' perceived
relationship with their teachers also contributed to learners' anxiety. These three aspects
that Bailey identified were supported in subsequent studies, especially in Young‟s.
According to Young (1991), there are six potential causes of language anxiety which
include personal and interpersonal, learner beliefs about language learning, instructor
beliefs about language teaching, instructor - learner interactions, classroom procedures and
language tests. From this list we can see that Young, in fact, identified the causes from
three aspects, that is, the aspects of learners, teachers and instructional practice, to which
Bailey‟s findings also complied.
In Scovel's (1978) review of anxiety in language learning, he gave some other
instances of the "mixed and confusing results" (p. 132) encountered in the literature. He
suggested that it might be profitable to explore further Alpert and Haber's (1960) two fold
approach of debilitating and facilitating anxiety. He thought it might provide "an attractive
path down which future research on the effects of anxiety on foreign language acquisition
might proceed" (p. 138). In view of this confusion, Scovel recommended that researchers
should have a clear idea about the kind of anxiety they were investigating, such as
debilitating anxiety, facilitating anxiety, test anxiety, and so on, and about how these might

relate to the learner variables that intervene "intrinsic/extrinsic factors and the
affective/cognitive variables" (p. 140)
In mainland China, there have also been some studies conducted in the Chinese
context to explore the relationship between anxiety and achievement (Lei, 2004; Tang,
2005; Wang, 2003; Xue, 2005). Most of them employed Horwitz‟s FLCAS (Foreign
Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) and found a negative correlation. Going through these
studies, it was found that the subjects participating in the studies were mostly college
students. High school students who were at the critical stage of foreign language learning
and may experience more anxiety in this process, however, were neglected.
However, to date, findings by Horwitz et al. (1986) have been the most influential.
They identified three causes of language anxiety, that is, communication apprehension, test
anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Based on these three components they also
designed a Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale including thirty-three items. This
9


scale was later widely used by researchers to measure foreign language learners‟ anxiety
and examine the effect of anxiety on learning in different contexts.
3. Components of foreign language anxiety
As mentioned in previous part, the findings by Horwitz et al. (1986), which were
the most significant ones and we consider language anxiety with relation to performance
evaluation within academic and social contexts, include 3 components: communication
apprehension; test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation.
3.1. Communication apprehension
Horwitz et al. (1986) defines communication apprehension as "a type of shyness
characterized by fear or anxiety about communicating with people. According to
McCroskey (1997), communication apprehension is as "an individual's level of fear or
anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or
persons".
Daly (1991) presents five explanations in the development of communication

apprehension which can offer an insight into the issue of understanding what causes
language anxiety for EFL learners. In the first place, he explains communication
apprehension in terms of "genetic disposition" indicating that one's genetic legacy may be
a substantial contributor to one's anxiety. Later in 1997, McCroskey stated the same that
children seem to be born with certain personality predispositions towards communication
apprehension. Secondly, he explains it in terms of reinforcement and punishment related to
the act of communication. He asserts that individuals who, from early childhood, are
greeted with negative reactions from others in response to their attempt to communicate
develop a sense that staying quiet is more highly rewarded than talking.
Communication apprehension obviously plays a large role in foreign language
anxiety. People who are apprehensive speaking in dyads or groups are likely to be even in
more trouble when doing so in a foreign language class, where "in addition to feeling less
in control of the communicative situation, they also may feel that their attempts at oral
work are constantly being monitored" (Horwitz et al., 1986).
10

This apprehension is


explained "in relation to the learner's negative self-perceptions caused by the inability to
understand others and make himself understood" (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989).
3.2. Test anxiety
Test anxiety, as explained by Horwitz et al. (1986), "refers to a type of performance
anxiety stemming from a fear of failure". Test anxiety is quite pervasive in language
classrooms because of its continuous performance evaluative nature. Test - anxious
students often put unrealistic demands on themselves and feel that anything less than a
perfect test performance is a failure. Students who are test-anxious in foreign language
class probably experience considerable difficulty since tests and quizzes are frequent and
even the brightest and most prepared students often make errors. It is also important to note
that oral testing has the potential to provoke both test and oral communication anxiety

simultaneously in susceptible student.
3.3. Fear of negative evaluation
This component is defined as the apprehension about other's evaluation, avoidance
of evaluative situation, and the expectation that others would evaluate one negatively
(Horwitz et al. 1986). It's broader in scope than the test anxiety because it may occur in any
social, evaluative situation such as interviewing for a job or speaking in foreign language
classes. In the language classroom, fear of negative evaluation is likely to be manifested in
a student's over concern with academic and personal evaluation of his performance and
competence in the target language. (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1988). Like communication
anxious individuals, people who fear negative evaluation rarely initiate conversation and
interact minimally. Students who experience this anxiety tend to sit passively in the
classes, withdraw from activities that could increase their language skills and may even
avoid class entirely (Ely, 1986; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986).
4. Manifestations of foreign language learning anxiety
Anxiety, in general, can have physical/psychological, emotional, and behavioral
manifestation and these manifestations can differ with each individual.

11


According to Oxford (1999, cited in Williams & Andrade, 2009, p. 4, and cited in
Yanling & Guizheng, 2006, p. 98):
-

Physical symptoms can include rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, dry mouth,

and excessive perspiration.
-

Psychological

symptoms

can

include

embarrassment,

feelings

of

helplessness, fear, going blank, inability to concentrate, as well as poor memory recall and
retention.
-

Behavioral symptoms can include physical actions such as squirming,

fidgeting, playing with hair or clothing, nervously touching objects, stuttering or
stammering, displaying jittery behavior, being unable to reproduce the sounds or intonation
of the target language even after repeated practice. More importantly, behavioral
symptoms of anxiety can be manifested in negative avoidance behaviors like inappropriate
silence, monosyllabic or non-committal responses, lack of eye contact, unwillingness to
participate, coming late, arriving unprepared, showing indifference, cutting class, and
withdrawal from the course.
-

Other signs which might reflect language anxiety are over studying,

perfectionism, hostility, excessive competitiveness, as well as excessive self-effacement
and self-criticism
5. Sources of foreign language anxiety
There are various causes or factors that lead to foreign language learning anxiety,
however, I just list in the study some major ones that students often cope with when
learning a foreign language.
The first is fear of negative evaluation. Students‟ fears are brought on by the
environment of the foreign language classroom, where they are constantly being evaluated
after each presentation. Young (1990) cites that speaking in front of teacher and other
students in the classroom is particularly anxiety-producing activity. She refers to studies
such as Koch and Terrell's (1991), in which the majority of students learning a foreign

12


language through the Natural Approach said that they experienced most anxiety when
doing oral presentations in front of the class. Horwitz also states that "the evaluation from
the only fluent speaker in the room, the teacher, is crucial to a second language student"
(Horwitz et al., 1986). However, the evaluation or criticisms from peers is also a major
cause of anxiety.

Young (1991) found that anxious learners thought their skills in

language were weaker than their peers‟ and they were being looked down. Kitano (2001)
uses information from Young‟s (1990) survey study in which students learning Spanish
said that they would speak out loud and answer more questions if they were not afraid to
give the wrong answer.
According to Skehan (1989), anxiety "may be partly the result of low achievement"
(p.115). He commented on an early assertion by Speilberger (1962) about academic
achievement that the "influence of anxiety changed as a function of ability level", in the

sense that anxiety was shown to be beneficial to learners of high ability, but was linked to
lower achievement in "low-ability students, and especially average ability students". For
example, students may think that they are unable to learn another language or pronounce
strange sounds and words, unable to understand and answer questions and they don't know
how to translate their ideas into the target language.
Searching for sources of language anxiety, Bailey (1983) took into account learners'
perspectives on language anxiety and made use of the diary entries of students. She
reported that learners attributed anxiety to several sources, listed by Skehan in the
following way:
-

"Comparison of oneself with other students, either for their performance, or

for their anxiety levels.
-

One's relationship with the teacher, either in relation to one's perceptions of

the teacher's expectations or one's need to gain the teacher's approval.
-

Tests

-

Comparison with oneself, and one's own personal standards and goal"

(Skehan, 1989, p. 116).
13

Learners‟ self perception of speaking ability in the target language is one of the
main cause of foreign language learning anxiety. Horwitz et al. (1986) claims that most of
the learners‟ anxiety comes from their self-concept of ability. They compare their skills
with native speakers of the target language, which lead to embarrassment and shame that
they cannot pronounce exactly like the native speakers.

Kitano (2001) argues that

“speaking skill is usually the first thing that learners compare with that of peers, teachers,
and native speakers” (p. 550).
A source of anxiety can also come from the fear of testing.

Most students

experience test anxiety, especially in the oral tests. Horwitz et al. (1986) state that many
students report that they know the grammar but forget it while taking the test when a lot of
grammar items must be remembered in a test. Anxiety is produced when students discover
that they make a mistake and give a wrong answer because of their nervousness during the
test. Some learners are apprehensive about certain formats, and are anxious when they find
that the test does not evaluate topics or use kinds of items covered in class. Young (1991)
states that, “In language testing, the greater degree of student evaluation and the more
unfamiliar and ambiguous the test tasks and formats, the more the learner anxiety is
produced” (p. 429). It means if students have never seen that specific question format, they
might experience test anxiety during that test. In addition, studying can cause test anxiety.
Some students may study a lot if they received a poor grade on a previous test or are
anxious about making mistakes on an upcoming test. If the material that the student
studied is not what is on the test, fear and anxiety could produce. This may lead to
studying avoidance.

Horwitz et al. (1986) states that, “Anxious students may avoid

studying and in some cases skip class entirely in an effort alleviate their anxiety” (p. 127).
Finally, the instructor can serve as a source of anxiety. Contrary to research, some
instructors think that intimidating their students will cause them to become motivated to
learn the foreign language. Young (1991) states that anxiety may be evoked if instructors
believe that an authoritarian manner is conducive to improving students' performance, if
they consider that all students' mistakes should be corrected, and if they "think their role is
more like a drill sergeant's than a facilitator's" (p. 428).
6. Gender in foreign language anxiety
14


In general, females are thought to be more adept in language learning than males.
Female students usually score higher than male students in English exams. Therefore, it is
not hard to imagine that females are more confident in their abilities to learn a new
language well. Once they gain faith in their capabilities, they will be more ready to
“approach threatening situations” (Dörnyei, 2001) in English classes. On the contrary,
males, who have higher frequency of language learning failure, are inclined to attribute
their bad performance in English classes to their low ability. Consequently, they are more
anxious in English classes.
However, possible differences between female and male participants as regards
anxiety levels and in achievement have been examined in some language anxiety studies.
Some researches (Chang, 1997; Daly, Kreser, & Rogharr, 1994) have suggested that
female students often have higher levels of anxiety than males in academic settings. In the
field of language learning, Padilla, Cervantes, Maldonado, and Garcia (1988) reported that
female students were more likely to be more apprehensive than male learners. Cheng
(2002), who investigated English writing anxiety in Taiwanese learners, discovered that
females were significantly more anxious than males.
Elkhafaifi (2005) found that females and males exhibited different levels of anxiety

depending on the kind of anxiety experienced: female students presented significantly
higher levels of general Arabic language anxiety levels than males, but no statistically
significant differences were seen between sexes in Arabic listening anxiety.
According to Pappamihiel (2001), English language anxiety experienced by
females in the mainstream classroom was related to "social performance" (p.34), and was
"a type of performance anxiety more related to interactions with peers" (p.33), whereas in
the ESL classroom it was "more related to academic anxiety and worries about
achievement" (p.33). As regards language achievement, Aida (1994) reported that females
received significantly higher grades than males in Japanese in the final exam, females
scoring an average of 89.7%, as against an average mark of 86.1% for males. Similarly, in
Kitano's study (2001) of Japanese college students, male students have been found to feel
more anxiety when they perceived their spoken Japanese less competent than that of
others; however, such a relationship was not observed among female students.
15


7. Effects of foreign language learning anxiety
7.1. Foreign language anxiety and its associations with three stages of language
learning
Language learning includes three stages: input, processing and output and language
anxiety has been theorized to occur at all these three stages. This description will point out
why second language learners make mistakes and the reasons of linguistic difficulties
second language learners face in learning and using the target language. This can offer an
insight to help understand anxiety experienced while communicating in the target
language.
Input is the first stage of language learning and anxiety at input stage (input
anxiety) refers to the anxiety experienced by the learners when they encounter a new word
or phrase in the target language. Input anxiety is receiver's apprehension when receiving
information from auditory and visual clues. According to Krashen (1985, p.3), what causes
incomprehensibility is learners' affective filter which needs to be lower for successful

language acquisition, otherwise input may be filtered out by nervous or bored learner that
makes it unavailable for acquisition. „Affective filter‟ at the input stage may reduce the
effectiveness of input by restricting the anxious students‟ ability to pay full attention to
what their instructors say and reduce their ability to represent input internally (Tobias,
1977, cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., (2000, p.475)). Learners‟ with high level of input
anxiety request their instructors to repeat sentences quite frequently compared to their lowanxious counterparts (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994b, p.475). Input anxiety is more likely to
cause miscomprehension of the message sent by the interlocutors, which may lead to the
loss of successful communication and an increased level of anxiety.
Meanwhile, Onwuegbuzie et al. stated that anxiety at the processing stage, called
processing anxiety, refers to the “apprehension students experience when performing
cognitive operations on new information” ., (2000, p.476). Psychologists believe that
learners have to process information and to pay attention to produce any linguistic aspect
by using cognitive sources, however, the amount of information or focused mental activity
a learner can engage in at one time is limited. Where limited processing mental capacity

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