Language anxiety among university students: Causal factors and coping strategies / Siti Faridah Kamaruddin
The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of English language anxiety among university students, the specific English language skills that causes the greater amount of language anxiety for university students, the possible factors that contribute to English language anxiety from the...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2015
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| Online Access: | http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/14952/ http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/14952/1/TM_SITI%20FARIDAH%20KAMARUDDIN%20ED%2015_5.PDF |
| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of English language anxiety
among university students, the specific English language skills that causes the greater
amount of language anxiety for university students, the possible factors that contribute
to English language anxiety from the perspective of university students and the coping
strategies to cope and alleviate English language anxiety from the perspective of
highly anxious university students. This study employed a survey design with a
mixed-method approach. A total of 125 Malaysian ESL university students from nonEnglish
majors of different semesters participated in this study and completed two
survey questionnaires for the data collection. A Demographic Background
Questionnaire was used in order to obtain demographic information about the
participants’ background. A self-developed questionnaire, the Factors of Language
Anxiety Questionnaire (FLAQ) was used in order to assess the participants’ selfperceived
anxiety levels, the specific skills that caused them greater anxiety and the
main factors that contribute to their language anxiety in an English language
classroom. Eight university students were chosen based on their high score on FLAQ
to participate in eight standardized email interview sessions. The results of this study
demonstrated that: (1) the majority of university students had a moderate level of selfperceived
level of anxiety in an English language classroom; (2) writing skill is
identified as the most anxiety-provoking skill among university students; (3)
instructor-students interaction is considered as the main factor that contribute to
language anxiety among university students; and (4) the highly anxious students
employed the coping strategies such as utilizing language learning strategies,
relaxation and preparation. The conduct of this study can provide pedagogical
implications for the instructors in giving them the awareness of language anxiety and
in creating an anxiety-reduced English language classroom. |
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