tran2012

Foreign Language Anxiety:
Understanding Its Status and Insiders’
Awareness and Attitudes
TRAN THI THU TRANG
Hue University
Hue, Vietnam
RICHARD B. BALDAUF JR. AND KAREN MONI
University of Queensland
St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
Foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been found to exist in all of the
cultures where it has been studied, yet the literature provides limited
empirical evidence to indicate whether foreign language students
and teachers, as the direct stakeholders in the phenomenon, are
aware of it. This study investigated the extent to which foreign
language students and teachers are aware of the existence of the phenomenon of FLA and their attitudes towards it. Some 419 nonEnglish-major students, who were undertaking various majors in a
university in Vietnam, and eight teachers of English as a foreign language participated in the study. Methodological triangulation, which
involved collecting data using questionnaires, interviews, and student
autobiographies, was adopted. The findings indicate that approximately two thirds of the students suffered from FLA to some degree,
yet the teachers did not attribute adequate importance to it. The
study suggests that FLA has an impact on the majority of students
and that teachers should take this into account in their teaching.
doi: 10.1002/tesq.85
F
oreign language anxiety (FLA) is defined as “a distinct complex of
self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language
learning process” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986, p. 128). In their
theory of FLA, which has been widely used in FLA research, Horwitz
et al. (1986) have conceptualised FLA as a unique type of anxiety specific to foreign language learning (see review by Tran, 2012).
FLA research has been conducted in different learning environments, including traditional classroom settings (e.g., Casado & Dereshiwsky, 2001; Kostic-Bobanovic, 2009; Liu, 2006; Liu & Jackson, 2008;
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TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 47, No. 2, June 2013
© 2012 TESOL International Association
Tallon, 2009; Von W€
orde, 2003) and online/distance learning environments (e.g., Coryell & Clark, 2009; Donahoe, 2010; Hauck & Hurd,
2005; Hurd, 2007; Hurd & Xiao, 2010; Pichette, 2009). Research has
also been conducted among different types of learners, including heritage students and nonheritage students (e.g., Tallon, 2006, 2009),
mainstream students (e.g., Pappamihiel, 2002), and second or foreign
language students. The findings have consistently indicated the existence of anxiety in students learning languages.
Research into the effects of FLA on learning achievement has
mainly provided evidence for the detrimental effects of FLA (e.g.,
Aida, 1994; Bailey, Onwuegbuzie, & Daley, 2000; Chen & Lin, 2009;
Elkhafaifi, 2005; MacIntyre & Doucette, 2010; MacIntyre & Gardner,
1994; Pappamihiel, 2002; Rodrıguez, 1995; Sellers, 2000; Woodrow,
2006; Yan & Horwitz, 2008; Zhao, 2009). Some studies have reported
stories of anxious students who perceived foreign or second language
learning as their worst learning experience and who found every way
possible to avoid language learning (e.g., Price, 1991). Research has
also provided evidence that FLA explains considerable variance in foreign language achievement; that is, FLA has been found to be one of
the best predictors of foreign language achievement (Horwitz & Young,
1991; Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 2000; Sanchez-Herrero & Sanchez,
1992). Onwuegbuzie et al. (2000) thus have postulated, “Any model
that seeks to predict foreign-language achievement that does not
include a measure of foreign-language anxiety likely would be underspecified” (p. 5). These findings support the hypothesis that FLA is one
of the factors influencing students’ performance and achievement.
Given the prevalence of FLA and its impact on foreign language
learning, it should be expected that foreign language students and
teachers are aware of FLA. Nevertheless, despite the importance attributed to FLA by researchers from many countries, the extent to which
foreign language students and teachers are aware of it as an issue is
still an open question. In addition, it is not clear whether foreign language teachers and students have an accurate understanding of the
status of FLA, and whether they have a positive or a negative view of
it. Although foreign language teachers may intuitively recognise the
existence of student anxiety, it should not be assumed that the issue is
familiar to all language teachers (Ewald, 2007). According to Von
W€
orde (2003), “unless teachers are sensitised to the issue of classroom
anxiety, they may not feel the need to expend the additional time and
effort in confronting the problem or may not realise that a defined
problem exists” (p. 10). As for students, if they are aware of the nature
of their anxiety, they may know how to work with it, because “a person
who is intimately aware of what is going on in his or her mind-heartbody environment . . . has the best chance of preventing an instance of
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
217
initial stress from becoming distress” (Bigdeli & Bai, 2009, p. 105). Students and teachers are the direct stakeholders in the language teaching and learning process; therefore, studies that examine their
awareness of, and attitudes towards, FLA are very important if the issue
is to be understood and handled appropriately. Unless students and
teachers perceive FLA to be a factor in their learning or in their teaching process, efforts to find strategies to manage it are not likely to
occur.
To date, there has been limited research that investigates teachers’
and students’ awareness of and attitudes towards FLA. The only survey
that focused on teachers’ awareness of student anxiety involved teachers
of sociology, not foreign language teachers, and it was conducted more
than 30 years ago (Rosenfeld, 1978). In addition, although anxiety
research to date has shown FLA to be pervasive, no research has examined whether students perceive FLA to be a problem. Students may be
aware of their anxiety, but it is not clear whether they perceive FLA as a
separate phenomenon in foreign language learning or consider it part
of their own struggle to learn a foreign language. Thus, how foreign
language students and teachers are aware of student FLA in their language learning or teaching process, and whether they have positive or
negative attitudes towards FLA, are not well understood. This study,
therefore, aimed to contribute to our understanding of these questions
with the focus being on FLA in English as a foreign language (EFL)
learning. The following research questions guided the study:
1. To what extent does FLA exist in Vietnamese non-English-major
students?
2. To what extent do EFL students and teachers report being
aware of the existence of FLA as a phenomenon in foreign language learning?
3. What are EFL students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards FLA?
METHOD
Participants
The participants included both EFL students and teachers in a public university in Vietnam. There were 419 non-English-major student
participants (162 male and 257 female) who enrolled in a Basic
English Level 2 course. These students came from five schools (i.e.,
Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, Economic and
Development Studies, Economic Information Systems, and Political
Economics). Their background information is presented in Table 1.
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TABLE 1
Background Information of Student Participants
Age
Place of
origin
18
8.4%
North Central
Vietnam
90.9%
Major
Business
Administration
28.2%
Years
spent
studying
English
Since primary
school
37.7%
19
63.0%
South
Central
Vietnam
3.9%
Accounting
and
Finance
33.4%
Since junior
high
school
56.8%
20
23.4%
Central
Highlands
3.8%
21
5.2%
Red River
Delta
1.0%
Economic and
Development
Studies
20.0%
Since senior
high school
5.5%
Economic
Information
Systems
11.9%
South
Eastern
Vietnam
0.4%
Political
Economics
6.5%
The students’ broad diversity in terms of place of origin, major, and
EFL learning experience might help to enhance the generalisability of
the findings of the study to a broader population. The student participants took English courses that were typically teacher fronted and had
50–60 students in each class. Due to crowded class size, the dominant
classroom interaction pattern was teacher–student(s) oriented.
The teacher participants were eight female teachers who taught
English to the student participants. Most of them were in their early 30s,
with the youngest 24 and the oldest 42. At the time the data were
collected, the oldest teacher had been teaching English for 19 years,
and the youngest had been teaching for 2 years. Two teachers had more
than 10 years of teaching experience, and the other four had 7–8 years
of teaching experience. With regard to qualifications, five teachers had
an MA, one was pursuing a PhD, and two were pursuing MAs.
Instruments
Data were obtained using a student questionnaire, a teacher questionnaire, student autobiographies, student interviews, and teacher interviews. The student questionnaire comprised background information,
the Generalised Belief Measure (GBM), the Generalised Attitude
Measure (GAM), and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
(FLCAS). The teacher questionnaire included background information,
the GBM, and the GAM. In order to improve the validity of the data and
to avoid participants’ misunderstanding or failing to fully express their
views due to their English proficiency limitations, they were requested to
use Vietnamese in interviews and autobiographies, and the questionnaires were presented in an English-Vietnamese bilingual format.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
219
Generalised Belief Measure. The GBM (McCroskey, 2006; McCroskey & Richmond, 1989, 1996) was adapted to measure general beliefs
about the existence of FLA. This 7-point, 5-item scale was developed
using the semantic differential technique (see Dunn-Rankin, 1983;
Heise, 1970). The scale measures beliefs using 5 bipolar items that focus
on the degree to which an individual accepts a statement as representing an acceptable belief. For the purpose of this study, the belief that
was measured was learning English as a foreign language makes many
students anxious (see Appendix S1 for the English version of the GBM).
Generalised Attitude Measure. The GAM (McCroskey, 2006;
McCroskey & Richmond, 1989, 1996) was adapted to measure general
attitudes towards FLA. This is a 7-point, 6-item scale with six bipolar
pairs of adjectives. Like the GBM, the GAM was developed using the
semantic differential technique. The concept that was measured in this
study was foreign language anxiety (see Appendix S2 for the English version of the GAM).
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. The FLCAS developed
by Horwitz et al. (1986) was adapted to measure students’ level of anxiety. This scale consists of 33 statements which assess communication
apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation associated
with FLA. The original scale includes 24 positively worded and 9 negatively worded statements, with total scores ranging from 33 to 165 (the
responses to the 9 negatively worded items are reversed and recoded
before calculating total scores) and with lower total scores indicating
higher levels of anxiety. In this study, the questionnaire used a 5-point
Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with higher
total scores indicating higher levels of anxiety (see Appendix S3 for
the English version of the FLCAS).
Reliability analyses performed for the GBM, the GAM, and the
FLCAS reveal high internal consistency levels for the three scales (see
Table 2).
TABLE 2
Reliability of Scales (N = 419)
Scale
GBM
GAM
FLCAS
Reliability
Mean item-total
correlation
.98
.96
.93
.938
.876
.520
Note. GBM = Generalised Belief Measure; GAM = Generalised
FLCAS = Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale.
220
Attitude
Measure;
TESOL QUARTERLY
Student EFL learning autobiographies. Selected participants in this
study were asked to write an autobiography about their EFL learning
experiences based on prompts that aimed to direct the focus of their
experiences to their emotions and feelings in EFL classes. The
prompts were selected to facilitate students’ reflections on their EFL
learning experiences. No limit was placed on the length of the autobiography. The students were encouraged to provide as much information as possible.
Semistructured interviews. The purpose of student interviews and
teacher interviews was to elicit more information about their awareness
of and attitudes towards FLA. The interviews were face to face and
semistructured, with the interview protocol being designed in advance.
The main interview questions were as follows: How would you describe
your/your students’ feelings in English language sessions? Before you
were involved in this study, had you ever thought that many students
are anxious about learning EFL? What is your opinion about the
degree of student anxiety about EFL learning? What do you think
about the feeling of anxiety in EFL learning? Based on the interviewees’ responses, suitable probes were used to elicit additional
information.
Procedures
The student questionnaires were administered to 10 intact classes of
non-English-major students, which were randomly selected from 25
classes of 1,298 students enrolled in a Basic English Level 2 course. Of
434 collected questionnaires, 419 could be used (15 were discarded
because they were incomplete). Students’ overall anxiety levels were
determined by summing the responses to all of the questions in the
FLCAS and dividing the total by 33 (the total number of questions).
Based on the criteria set by Horwitz (2008), students were identified as
high anxiety (HA = averages near 4 and above), medium anxiety
(MA = averages around 3), and low anxiety (LA = averages below 3).
Eighteen students (6 HA, 6 MA, and 6 LA) were randomly selected for
student interviews, following a maximum variation sampling scheme.
Forty-nine autobiographies were collected from anxious students, following a critical case sampling scheme (see Onwuegbuzie & Collins,
2007).
The eight teacher participants first completed the teacher questionnaire, then participated in teacher interviews.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
221
Data Analysis
Data for this study include both quantitative data (questionnaires)
and qualitative data (interviews, autobiographies). The statistical
package SPSS was used to process the quantitative data, and NVivo
software assisted in processing qualitative data following content analysis procedures (Bryman, 2008; Tonkiss, 2004). The mode of data
integration was complementary, whereby each data source and data
analysis addressed differently framed research questions (Brannen,
2004, 2008), but was also connecting in that different data sets were
connected at the stage of interpretation (Creswell & Plano Clark,
2007).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The findings about the existence of FLA at the research site
(Research Question 1), students’ and subsequently teachers’ awareness
of FLA (Research Question 2), and students’ and subsequently teachers’ attitudes towards FLA (Research Question 3) are presented
sequentially in the following sections. In order to facilitate tracing references from the data, the following codes are used: Int = interview;
Aut = autobiography; L = line. For example, (Lan, Int, L5) indicates
that the reference is from the interview with Lan, Line 5 in the transcript. All names are pseudonyms.
Existence of Foreign Language Anxiety
Twenty-nine out of 33 statements on the FLCAS were supported by
more than one third of the students in the study. In particular, 20 of
these 29 statements were supported by over half of the students (see
Appendix S3), indicating that the students felt affected by a wide variety of FLA-related indicators. Among the 419 students, 68.7%
(n = 288) had scores of 99 or above (i.e., averages above 3) and were
considered to be suffering from some degree of anxiety. This indicates
that FLA in this population of students, as measured by the FLCAS,
was very noticeable. The descriptive statistics for the FLCAS show a
mean score of 108.26, with the minimum score of 51 and maximum
of 163 (SD = 19.777).
In order to develop a general view of the level of anxiety of this
population in comparison with other populations of university students, the results obtained in the previous studies which used the
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TESOL QUARTERLY
FLCAS to measure students’ levels of anxiety from 2000 onwards were
examined (see Table 3).
Table 3 shows that the mean FLCAS score obtained in the present
study was higher than that in other studies. Based on this observation
only, it was unpersuasive to conclude this population of students was
most anxious about studying English compared to other populations of
students. In fact, it was found that the degree of agreement between
reviewers was larger when using meta-analysis than when doing a narrative review (Botella & Gambara, 2006; Cooper & Rosenthal, 1980).
Therefore, a meta-analysis was then performed which compared the
mean and standard deviation of the FLCAS obtained in the current
study with those in other studies with comparable data. Except for the
data in the study by Marcos-Llinas and Garau (2009) and the data from
the Korean college students taking a conversation course in Kim’s
(2009) study, where there were no significant differences found
(p > .05), the mean FLCAS scores for all of the other studies were significantly lower than that in this study (p < .0001), using two-tailed t-tests.
Although it is premature to judge which population of students was
most anxious in their foreign language learning because of the influence of various factors such as age, gender, proficiency level, major,
and type of foreign language, the results of two-tailed t-tests presented
in Table 3 show that, with a mean score of 108.26, this study produced
the highest mean score found among the populations whose anxiety
level had been measured in a comparable way with the FLCAS, and
that it was significantly higher than those of 8 of the 10 populations
examined in comparable studies.
Awareness of FLA
Students’ awareness of FLA. The analysis of the student GBM provides an initial understanding of the extent to which the students
believed in the existence of FLA in foreign language learning. Descriptive analysis of the student GBM found a mean score of 29 and standard deviation of 6.499. With 1 or 7 indicating a very strong feeling,
and 2 or 6 indicating a strong feeling (depending on item polarity)
about the belief being measured, the results indicate that each of the
items reflected a very strong or strong belief about the existence of
FLA. This was supported by more than 70% of the students, which
suggests that the existence of FLA was widely recognised. Figure 1 presents the mean score of each item and the trend of the students’
responses to the items on the GBM.
As shown in Figure 1, the means and standard deviations of the five
items making up the scale were nearly identical. The items on the
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
223
224
TESOL QUARTERLY
Non-English-major students at a university in
Vietnam
Non-English-major students at a university in
China
Non-Spanish-major students at a university in
midwestern United States
Non-Spanish-major students at a university in
southwestern United States
Heritage students
Nonheritage students
Korean college students taking a conversation
course
Korean college students taking a reading
course
Preservice teachers at universities in Venezuela
Third-year students at a university in Chile
Students at a university in midwestern United
States
Current study
Rodrıguez & Abreu (2003)
Gregersen (2003)
Sellers (2000)
Kim (2009)
Tallon (2009)
Marcos-Llinas & Garau (2009)
Wang & Li (2011)
Population
Studies
TABLE 3
Mean FLCAS Scores Across Populations
59
English
110
26
89
209
204
59
Spanish
Spanish
English
English
English
Spanish
413
134
92
419
n
Spanish
Spanish
English
English
Language
85.98
92.96
85.69
98.4
78.78
94.66
104
86.76
106.36
93.29
108.26
Mean
21.03
5.4
28.13
17.5
24.52
24.75
19.5
25.86
22.71
9.65
19.78
SD
10.38
3.93
9.01
3.63
16.21
7.4
1.56
13.48
0.93
7.07
t
527
443
506
476
626
621
476
830
551
509
df
.0000
.0001
.0001
.0003
.0000
.0000
.1215
.0000
.3514
.0000
Sig. (2-tailed)
t-test
FIGURE 1. Mean values of students’ responses to the items on the GBM.
scale were functionally equivalent in assessing students’ awareness of
the existence of FLA, and one would therefore expect the responses
were similar in order to ensure reliability. The reasonably straight line
shown in the figure indicates the students’ careful attention in choosing answers for all items on the scale.
The students’ responses were generally related to one end of the
scale; that is, they were located towards the end expressing a stronger
belief about the concept being investigated. The general trend therefore was that the students were aware of the existence of FLA. Further
statistical analysis revealed 91.4% of the students had GBM scores
ranging from 22 to 35, whereas only 8.6% had scores from 5 to 16.
Given that scores above 20 signify a belief that is more in support of
the statement, and scores below 20 signify a belief that is more in
opposition to the statement, the scale mean of 29 (with 91.4% at or
above 22, 8.6% at or below 16) obtained in this study indicates that
most of the students believed in, or were aware of the existence of,
FLA. In addition, the degree of their awareness was strong, with 66.3%
having GBM scores of 30 or above (M 6), which means they very
strongly or strongly believed in the existence of FLA. The number of
students who very strongly or strongly disagreed with the concept
amounted to 18 out of 419 (4.3%). However, based on these data, it
was not clear whether these students denied the existence of FLA or
did not perceive it as a problem. This question was examined through
the analysis of the students’ interview transcripts.
The analysis of the students’ interview transcripts explored the
students’ awareness of FLA from three perspectives: (1) whether they
had been aware of its existence before participating in the study, (2)
their perceptions about its spread, and (3) their perceptions about its
status.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
225
It was found that all of the students interviewed had been aware of
the existence of FLA before they participated in the study. They all
asserted that learning English made many students feel anxious. For
HA and MA students, they were aware of its existence because of discussions with their friends:
Int:
Before you participated in the study, had you ever thought that learning
English makes many students feel anxious?
Huu: Yes, I think it is a common problem of many students because almost all
students feel very anxious about studying English.
Int:
Your friends told you so? Or how?
Huu: Through discussions and knowledge exchange I recognise that.
(Huu, MA, Int, L14–19)
Whereas Huu was aware of his friends’ anxiety through his discussions with them, Long learned that he was not the only one who felt
anxious: “Through communicating and discussing with my friends I
find that many of them are in the same situation with me, most of
them are suffering from anxious feelings in studying English” (Long,
HA, Int, L24–25).
LA students, though they themselves did not suffer from anxiety,
acknowledged the phenomenon through observing their classmates.
For example, Thoai recognised the existence of FLA from such signs
as avoidance and silence:
I think anxiety about learning English exists among many students,
because during English language sessions I find that many students are
very quiet. They avoid looking at the blackboard or bend down, avoiding eye contact with the teacher for fear of being called on by the
teacher to answer questions or to do exercises. Many students are even
so trembling that when the teacher calls on them, they just hem and
haw for long moments without being able to give an answer. (Thoai,
LA, Int, L6–9)
Almost all of the students believed a large number of students felt
anxious about studying English. According to them, anxious feelings
were common for students in English classes. As a highly anxious student, Hieu asserted, “I think the number of students feeling anxious
about studying English is very high. I say so because many of my classmates are stressed about English language learning like me” (Hieu,
HA, Int, L261–262). Huu also considered FLA as “a very popular phenomenon among students learning English” (Huu, MA, Int, L31), and
Phat named anxiety as “a disease of students” because of the large
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TESOL QUARTERLY
number of students suffering from it (Phat, MA, Int, L55–57). Nhat
even asserted, “The feeling of tension and anxiety about English language learning is absolutely not rare in Vietnamese students, seven out
of ten students who study English feel anxious about studying it”
(Nhat, MA, Aut, L80–81). Though FLA was not a problem for Bao, he
also asserted its prevalence: “I see that . . . for instance, in my class the
number of students who are anxious of English language learning is
very high” (Bao, LA, Int, L19–20).
The analysis of the students’ perceptions about the status of FLA
found that 14 out of 18 students interviewed considered it to be quite
serious given the degree of FLA and the large number of students suffering from it. They believed attention should be paid to finding solutions for this problem. For example, in assessing FLA as a serious
problem, Long emphasised the importance of English in social development, the need for English proficiency in the society, and the role
of English in job requirements (Long, HA, Int, L38–52). According to
Long, there was a link between the social demand for English and
FLA. On the one hand, he asserted the severity of FLA given its prevalence among students; on the other hand, he implied that it was the
importance of English that made FLA a big issue. Long emphasised
the importance of English as one factor that made FLA serious; Hieu
not only stressed the importance of English, but also pointed out the
effects of FLA as the basis for his assessment:
I find this issue quite serious. Anxiety may affect not only English
achievement but also other subjects. It even affects health. I suppose
that the reason why students feel anxious is that students have recognised the importance of English, and feel anxious about their English
achievement because most students have low English proficiency.
Therefore, this issue is highly worth being paid more attention to. Solutions need to be found to help students reduce their anxiety. (Hieu,
HA, Int, L268–273)
LA students also had similar views when considering FLA as an
important matter. Bao supposed that FLA was serious because of its
prevalence and its negative impact on learning, given that “nowadays
the society is in need of people with high English proficiency” (Bao,
LA, Int, L14).
Four students had a different view about the status of FLA. One did
not consider it to be very serious because he supposed university
students were more and more self-reliant, hence FLA would not affect
them very much. Others seemed not to care much about EFL learning,
thus considering FLA to be inconsequential. For example, Phat
explained, “Generally speaking, anxiety is normal. We just have to study
so that we feel we can pass the exam” (Phat, MA, Int, L278–279). It can
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
227
be seen that Phat studied English only enough to pass the exams. This
was reflected in his disinterest in English. Although he “has no interest in studying English at all,” he had to study it because “it is compulsory to have an English certificate upon graduation” (Phat, MA, Int,
L10–14).
As such, the analysis of the student GBM found that in general,
the students were aware of the existence of FLA. Deeper analysis of the
students’ interview transcripts corroborated this finding. Most of the students interviewed perceived that FLA was widespread. Most of them considered FLA as a serious problem, mainly in regard to the importance of
English in society. A few students who did not consider FLA to be serious
either did not care about EFL learning or supposed that students were
clear about their goals, thus being better able to concentrate on EFL
learning and thereby reducing their anxiety accordingly.
Teachers’ awareness of FLA. The scale mean of 26 (with seven
teachers having GBM scores above 20, and one below 20) indicates
that most of the teachers were aware of the existence of FLA. However, only three out of eight teachers had GBM scores of 30–31 (i.e.,
an average score of about 6), which means they strongly believed that
many students were anxious about studying English. Three of them
had GBM scores of 23–25 (i.e., an average score of about 5), which
means their belief about the existence of FLA was fairly weak. One
teacher’s GBM score of 16 (i.e., an average score of 4) suggests that
she might have doubted the existence of FLA. Analysis of the teachers’
interview transcripts was undertaken to examine whether these teachers were not aware of the existence of FLA or did not believe that
many students felt anxious about EFL learning.
First, the question about awareness of the existence of FLA was
raised with the teachers. Out of eight teachers, seven reported they
had been aware of the existence of FLA before they participated in
the current study. From observing students’ attitudes and behaviours
in English sessions, these teachers speculated that a number of students were usually anxious about EFL learning. For example, Ngoc
was aware of signs of student FLA. From her experience, apart from
such explicit signs as looking puzzled and making complaints, students
who looked as if they were listening to the teacher attentively might
also have been feeling anxious (Ngoc, Int, L1–9). Similarly, Que and
Nhi could “read” their students’ anxiety from their facial expressions
and behaviours. Que asserted, “I think I see it on my students’ faces
even if they don’t tell me” (Que, Int, L18). Nhi described her students’ reactions when she asked them to introduce themselves in English: “They were hardly able to speak, could not do anything, and I
had the feeling that they . . . crouched into the corner, clutched
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TESOL QUARTERLY
together” (Nhi, Int, L121–122). From this observation, Nhi supposed
that these students were anxious.
In addition, student FLA was recognised through their sharing of
FLA with their teachers. Seven teachers admitted having had the experience of students sharing their anxiety when they came to them to
seek advice. However, the number of students who were willing to
share their anxiety with their teachers was limited. Ngoc and Nhi
reported only 2–5 students in a class of approximately 50 students had
told them about their anxiety. Although Chau had experienced students’ sharing, she explained that only a few students shared their
problems with their teachers; most of them discussed it with their
friends instead. This is understandable because students might find it
easier to discuss their problems with their friends in an informal way
rather than with their teachers. Nevertheless, it might also depend on
teachers’ attitudes. According to Bang, those teachers who appeared
to be friendly and close to students tended to have more students
come to them to share their problems:
Students usually trust and share their problems with the teachers who
have a caring and sympathetic manner. Most of the students who have
come to me to share their anxiety are those that I play the role of an
academic advisor for. They contacted me directly or via email. They
usually asked for my advice on learning strategies, how to cope with
difficult assignments, etc. (Bang, Int, L26–30)
It was Bang’s devoted attitude that encouraged students to contact
her for advice when they met with difficulties. From such interactions,
Bang could also better understand students in order to develop more
appropriate behaviours as well as to optimise her teaching.
The only teacher who admitted never having thought of FLA before
participating in this study was Nguyet, who also affirmed that no
students had ever shared their anxiety with her. Though Nguyet had
not thought of FLA as a problem, she noticed students’ silence as a
sign of their anxiety, and she was aware of some reasons behind their
anxiety:
I have taught some classes with multilevel students. And I found that
students with limited English proficiency usually felt quite worried during their lessons. When I called on them to ask about any issue, they
often felt anxious because they were afraid of making mistakes and
being laughed at by the better ones. So they often kept silent. (Nguyet,
Int, L51–54)
Nguyet was aware of her students’ anxiety, but she had not seriously
considered it as a problem to be taken into account in her teaching.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
229
Although all of the teachers were aware of the existence of FLA,
they differed in their perceptions of how widespread FLA was.
Whereas three teachers supposed that a large number of students were
anxious when studying English, five teachers assigned only a low number of students to the anxious group, that is, only a few, or 5 out of 50
students.
In accounting for this difference in the teachers’ perceptions, one
reason might be that the number of anxious students was unequal
between classes. However, because the teachers were asked to judge
the spread of FLA in general, not in their current and specific classes,
it can be said that the teachers’ perspectives differed from one
another about how widespread FLA was.
The teachers also differed in their perceptions of the status of FLA.
Five teachers did not consider the status of FLA to be severe, including Nguyet, who admitted not having been aware of FLA. According
to them, the number of students suffering from FLA was not large,
and the degree of their anxiety was not high. For example, Nhi’s evaluation was that FLA really existed but its degree was not very high: “I
do not judge its degree as very serious. It exists, but it is not very tense
for students” (Nhi, Int, L343–344). Ngoc even judged her students’
attitudes to be “quite comfortable” when they studied in English class,
and they just showed their anxiety when it came to tests or exams:
Int:
What is your opinion about the degree of English as a foreign language
anxiety of your students?
Ngoc: I see that they are quite comfortable when they study, and their anxiety
increases as the exam comes.
Int:
What do you mean by quite comfortable? Do you mean that your
students are not anxious when studying in class, but feel anxious
because of the exams?
Ngoc: Most of my students laugh, talk, put questions to me freely. I don’t feel
they are under any pressure in my class. But some are. I say so since
when I told them that they would take the midterm test the week after,
they showed their disappointment immediately by making ohhhhhhhhhh
sound and their faces changed into sorrowful expression.
(Ngoc, Int, L26–34)
In contrast, three teachers regarded FLA as serious. Que asserted,
“Many students are anxious when studying English, and this is a serious problem” (Que, Int, L30). Chau explained the severity of FLA by
emphasising that “if anxiety prolongs it will negatively affect students’
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TESOL QUARTERLY
learning, causing fear and obsession to students when they study
English” (Chau, Int, L27–29). Bang also suggested that some highly
anxious students were prone to disappointment, pessimism, and fear
of EFL learning. She believed FLA should be seriously studied given
its severity.
Based on these analyses, the teachers were aware of the existence of
FLA. They recognised the signs of anxiety in students. However, they
differed in their perceptions about how widespread FLA was and its
severity. Although three teachers acknowledged that FLA existed
among a large number of students and its severity was worth noticing,
the other five teachers did not consider FLA as an important issue
because they supposed the number of anxious students was not large
and the level of FLA in general was not high.
Attitudes Towards FLA
Students’ attitudes towards FLA. The analysis of the student GAM
provides an initial understanding of whether the students had positive
or negative attitudes towards FLA. In this study, six bipolar pairs of
adjectives on the GAM were understood to indicate two sides of the
nature of FLA, including the facilitating side (which is represented by
the functionally equivalent adjectives good, right, beneficial, fair, wise, positive) and the debilitating side (which is represented by the functionally
equivalent adjectives bad, wrong, harmful, unfair, foolish, negative). Those
students who emphasised the facilitating aspect of FLA were considered to have favourable attitudes towards FLA, and those who emphasised the debilitating aspect of FLA were considered to have
unfavourable attitudes towards FLA.
Descriptive analysis of the student GAM revealed a mean score of
32.46 and standard deviation of 8.209. Similar to the GBM, 1 or 7 indicate a very strong feeling and 2 or 6 indicate a strong feeling (depending on item polarity) about the concept investigated. It was found that
each of the poles of the items reflective of the debilitating nature of
FLA was very strongly or strongly supported by more than half of the
students, whereas the poles of the items reflective of the facilitating
nature of FLA were very strongly or strongly supported by only 5%–
9%. This indicates that the debilitating aspect of FLA was more
strongly emphasised. Figure 2 presents the mean score of each item
and the trend of the students’ responses to the items on the GAM.
As shown in Figure 2, the students’ responses were generally related
to one end of the scale, that is, they were located towards the end
expressing negative opinions about the nature of FLA. In other words,
the responses show that the students tended to hold unfavourable
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
231
FIGURE 2. Mean values of students’ responses to the items on the GAM.
attitudes towards the concept investigated. However, the overall mean
score of 32.46 (i.e., an average score of 5.41) indicates that the students did not have a very strong feeling about the debilitating nature
of FLA (which is represented by an average score of 6 or above); that
is, they did not express an absolutely negative attitude towards FLA.
This suggests that there might be different attitudes towards FLA
among students.
In order to better understand how students differed in their attitudes towards FLA, students were classified into three groups based on
their responses to the 6-item GAM. Those who very strongly or
strongly agreed with the items reflective of the nature of FLA were
judged to hold explicit attitudes towards FLA, either positive or negative, depending on item polarity. The remaining students who chose
more moderate responses were considered to have a mixed attitude
towards FLA, that is, between positive and negative. Based on this analysis, we categorised students as being positive towards FLA who very
strongly or strongly believed that FLA was good, right, beneficial, fair,
wise, positive (i.e., whose total GAM scores were 12 or lower; M 2).
Students were judged as being negative towards FLA who very strongly
or strongly believed that FLA was bad, wrong, harmful, unfair, foolish, negative (i.e., whose scores were 36 or higher; M 6). Students were
judged as having a mixed attitude towards FLA whose scores were
between 12 and 36 (2 < M < 6). A statistical description of the three
groups is presented in Table 4.
Only 4.3% of the students expressed an explicitly favourable attitude towards FLA, whereas 48.4% reported an explicitly unfavourable
attitude. The remaining 47.3% were less explicit in expressing their
attitudes towards FLA. One possibility for this ambivalence might be
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TESOL QUARTERLY
TABLE 4
Classification of Attitude Groups Based on GAM Scores
Attitude towards FLA
Positive
Negative
Mixed
n
Percentage
Range
Mean
SD
18
203
198
4.3
48.4
47.3
6–12
36–42
13–35
10.11
38.18
28.62
2.083
2.151
6.610
Note. GAM = Generalised Attitude Measure.
that these students admitted both the facilitating and the debilitating
aspects of FLA. Further analysis of students’ interview transcripts and
autobiographies (n = 67) was undertaken to clarify this question.
The analysis of students’ attitudes towards FLA was undertaken from
two perspectives: (1) whether they saw FLA as natural or abnormal
and (2) whether they were positive or negative about FLA.
First, almost all of the students (64 out of 67) considered FLA to be
normal in EFL learning, because English was a new language completely different from their mother tongue. According to Lien, for
example, “anxiety about studying English is popular; it is not a phenomenon that is too bad or worth being condemned because it is a
natural feeling when studying a foreign language apart from Vietnamese” (Lien, Int, L11–15). These students shared the same view that
anxiety and tension in studying English was unavoidable and was natural because every student had a certain level of anxiety when studying
in general, and English was no exception. More concretely, Thoai
explained, “Every student has a certain degree of anxiety about studying English; we only differ in the degree of anxiety” (Thoai, Int, L12–
13). Only 3 out of 67 students did not find FLA natural, with the argument that students should not feel worried. Hoang even commented
that anxiety was unreasonable, that is, it should not happen: “About
anxiety in studying English, several times I have felt it rather unreasonable but I have had no way to solve it completely” (Hoang, Aut, L53–
54). However, these students also believed a certain degree of anxiety
was natural.
Second, the students were found to differ in their attitudes towards
English. Although 29 students showed an explicitly unfavourable attitude towards FLA, 4 were explicitly in favour of FLA, and 34 expressed
a mixed attitude.
Students were judged to have an explicitly unfavourable attitude
when they emphasised the debilitating side of FLA over its facilitating
side. Even though these students admitted that FLA was beneficial in
pushing them to study, to them its positive effects were overwhelmed
by its negative ones. For example, Dao reported:
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
233
In my opinion, not every anxiety is negative. If we feel anxious then we
study harder to overcome it, it is positive. However almost all anxiety
occurrences make us feel bored with studying English, and want to
abandon English, because once we have no interest, no motivation, we
cannot study well. (Dao, Aut, L40–43)
Similarly, Quan shared his view: “In my opinion, anxiety about
studying English has two sides, both beneficial and harmful; however,
the bad, harmful side dominates” (Quan, Aut, L44–45). Tuyet affirmed
her unfavourable attitude towards English: “Despite being university
students now, the anxiety about learning English is the nightmare not
only for me but also for many other students” (Tuyet, MA, Aut, L35–
36).
Thirty-four students were judged to have a mixed attitude towards
FLA when they emphasised both its facilitating and debilitating
aspects. For example, anxiety made learning English more difficult
and stressful for Long, but it also made him focus more on studying:
In the exam time, it was the anxiety towards English that pushed me to
focus on studying more in order to gain good result. It is different
from ordinary days, when I have no anxious feeling I never study English. (Long, Int, L65–67)
Taking it more generally, Na and Yen admitted anxiety made learning more difficult, but they also supposed that if students did not feel
anxious at all, they might think they were good enough at English and
did not need to study, thus making no progress, or that anxiety
implied students’ concern about studies, whereas for those who did
not feel anxious it might mean they had abandoned EFL learning. In
fact, it could be determined from Duc’s sharing of his anxiety that
Duc did not feel highly anxious because he did not care much about
EFL learning: “I don’t like studying English, so I mainly learn it to
cope with exams. My target is to pass the exams only, I do not expect
much on the results, therefore I do not feel very anxious” (Duc, Aut,
L5–8). This view was also supported by Trong, who assumed that once
students started to study seriously, they would unavoidably experience
many pressures and that, “in order to get success, it seems that we
have to endure considerable pressures” (Trong, Aut, L38–39, 59).
Four students were judged to be more positive towards FLA because
they emphasised the positive over the negative effects of FLA. According to these students, FLA was not harmful, but beneficial for them
because it motivated them to study harder. Not only affirming the
positive effects of FLA on themselves, they also pointed out that anxiety had a positive impact on every student. This view was reflected in
Thanh’s response:
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TESOL QUARTERLY
Int:
In your opinion, how does EFLA affect students?
Thanh: Anxiety about studying English has very good impact on students.
Particularly, students have to spend more time studying, enrich
knowledge on English; actively practise listening, speaking, reading,
writing skills, etc. These will help students enhance English proficiency
in order to use in studies and to apply in future jobs. . . . In my case,
when anxious feeling occurs to me, it has good effect on my study
result, because the anxiety makes me recognise that I have to try to
study more in order to supplement the knowledge I lack.
(Thanh, Int, L58–64, 81–83)
Although these four students did not deny the detrimental effects
caused by high levels of anxiety, they focused on the facilitating side
of anxiety that forced students to improve their English proficiency,
which was, from their point of view, necessary and important for their
future. For example, Trung explained:
My anxiety only makes me try to study English more, not causing me
to neglect studying English because I think English is very necessary for
my future when I graduate and apply for jobs. And without English
proficiency, opportunities for further studies for professional development are far from feasible. (Trung, Aut, L45–49)
Trung was strongly aware of the role of English for his future, therefore anxiety played the role of warning him to pay more attention to
his EFL learning.
In summary, the analysis of the student GAM found variability in
the students’ attitudes towards FLA. Detailed analysis of the students’ interview transcripts and autobiographies elaborated on this
finding, indicating that almost all of the students considered a certain level of FLA to be natural, and they acknowledged both the
good and the bad aspects of FLA. However, the students differed in
their judgments on which aspect prevailed and how strongly one
prevailed over the other. Specifically, whereas 52.7% had explicit
attitudes (mainly negative) towards FLA, 47.3% had a mixed attitude
towards it.
Teachers’ attitudes towards FLA. The analysis of teachers’ attitudes
towards FLA was based on the data from eight teacher interview transcripts. Relevant questions were asked to ascertain how the teachers
perceived the nature of FLA and whether they had a positive or negative view about it.
According to all of the teachers, anxiety was a natural feeling that
was inherent in every student in their foreign language learning. For
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
235
example, Bang supposed that anxiety was a natural reaction when
students found it difficult to adapt to the learning environment or
course requirements, and Chau elaborated: “That students have anxious feelings is very natural. Approaching new textbooks different from
those at high school, new teachers, new or different teaching methods,
etc., all these factors cause anxiety more or less to students” (Chau,
Int, L21–25). Regardless of the reasons behind student anxiety, these
teachers postulated that anxiety at a certain level was natural in EFL
learning.
When asked about their feelings towards FLA, these teachers emphasised both the facilitating and debilitating aspects of FLA. For
example, Que said:
To some extent, anxiety about English language learning is negative
when students lose their interest and enthusiasm in learning English.
However, some students can gain their English proficiency from that
first anxiety. They know what level they are in and try their best to master the language. (Que, Int, L33–36)
Que stressed that anxiety might cause both positive and negative
effects. Similarly, Bang commented, “Anxiety can either be a motivation to push students to try more or create more pressure to students
in learning” (Bang, Int, L34–35). Although these teachers were negative about FLA, perceiving that it might cause detrimental effects on
students if their degree of anxiety was high, they also believed anxiety
could be a sign of concern about studies: “To some extent, it is good
because they at least care about their English language learning rather
than ignoring it” (Uyen, Int, L17–18).
According to these teachers, if students did not feel anxious at all,
it was likely that they did not care about EFL learning. For them, those
students who did not want to study English seemed not to be anxious
at all, whereas those who felt anxious and sought help from teachers
were likely to be serious about their learning. This view was reflected
in Vy’s response: “If students are serious about their learning a foreign
language and see its importance, the degree of anxiety is higher than
lazy ones” (Vy, Int, L13–14). Given the importance of English, students
were supposed to be serious in learning English. In this sense, anxiety
was favoured. For instance, Nguyet commented, “A bit of tension is
necessary, especially for not-very-hard-working students” (Nguyet, Int,
L36–37).
As such, all of the teachers considered FLA to be both facilitating
and debilitating depending on its degree. There was no evidence to
determine whether they judged which aspect dominated. The interviews indicate that the teachers had a mixed attitude towards FLA,
expressing both positive and negative comments about it.
236
TESOL QUARTERLY
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
This study explored the existence of FLA in Vietnamese non-Englishmajor students and sought answers to the questions about whether EFL
students and teachers, as the key stakeholders in the EFL learning and
teaching process, were aware of the existence of FLA as a phenomenon
in EFL learning and whether they had a positive or negative view of it.
Several conclusions can be drawn from the findings of this study.
First, the results obtained from the FLCAS show that this population of students had a high level of anxiety about EFL learning. It was
even higher than many other populations that had previously been
studied. Based on this finding, FLA was shown to exist as a phenomenon in EFL learning in Vietnam as another context of foreign language anxiety research.
Second, given the importance attributed to FLA research in the literature and the high level of FLA in this population, the students and
teachers were expected to be aware of the existence of FLA. The
results obtained from the GBM indicate that the students reported
learning EFL made many students feel anxious. That is, they were
aware of the existence of FLA and perceived it as a phenomenon in
EFL learning, not just part of their own struggle to learn a foreign language. This finding was obtained from 419 students of different
majors, from various places of origin, and with different starting points
in time for learning English, thus having reasonable generalisability.
This result was also corroborated through the analysis of 18 students’
interview transcripts, which included 6 HA, 6 MA, and 6 LA students.
This process of maximum variation sampling allowed us to assume the
findings were reasonably stable (D€
ornyei, 2007). The analysis of the
students’ interview transcripts reveals that almost all of the students
believed FLA existed in a large number of students. Most of them considered FLA as a serious problem that needed to be managed. This
was aligned with the actual situation of FLA as identified by the FLCAS
measure. However, there seemed to be a mismatch between students’
and teachers’ perceptions of the spread and severity of FLA. The students tended to consider FLA to be more serious than their teachers
did. Based on the analysis of the teacher GBM and interview transcripts, most of the teachers were aware of the existence of FLA, but
they considered it to exist in only a small number of students. Most of
the teachers did not consider FLA as a serious problem; they therefore
had not seriously taken it into account in their teaching. The discrepancy between the students’ and teachers’ beliefs about FLA and the
finding about the existence of FLA obtained from the FLCAS suggest
that these teachers underestimated the importance of this issue.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
237
Third, the analyses of students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards FLA
found a consensus that a certain degree of FLA was natural for students learning English. This is in accordance with the position that
anxiety is “part of our existence” (Bigdeli & Bai, 2009, p. 108) and that
foreign language learning is “rarely without anxiety of some kind”
(Jones, 2004, p. 30). However, the teachers tended to have a more
positive attitude towards FLA than did the students. Whereas nearly
half of the students expressed an explicitly unfavourable attitude
towards FLA, all eight teachers expressed a mixed attitude towards it;
that is, they tended to consider FLA to be both good and bad for students without emphasising either extreme. Although the teachers’ view
was not necessarily wrong, because nearly half of the students still
emphasised the debilitating side of FLA over its facilitating side, these
teachers did not appear to understand the full impact of FLA on students. It is possible that FLA has both positive and negative effects on
learning, but given that nearly half of the students still had a negative
view of FLA, this implies that the level of FLA was still beyond their
control, thus causing more negative than positive effects on their
learning.
Pedagogical Implications
Based on these findings, this study suggests that the prevalence of
FLA that has been demonstrated in the literature does not guarantee
that foreign language students and teachers are aware of it. Because
teachers play a supportive and guiding role in the foreign language
teaching and learning process, they should pay more attention to
understanding the existence of FLA in students and enrich their
knowledge about FLA. In planning curriculum, teachers should be
more responsive to students’ anxieties and needs. Being more responsive helps teachers both understand their students and be able to support students in managing their anxiety through designing
appropriate learning activities. By doing so, teachers would be able to
build a supportive learning environment, which is believed to reduce
anxiety levels (Casado & Dereshiwsky, 2001; Ewald, 2007; Gregersen &
Horwitz, 2002; Tallon, 2009; Von W€
orde, 2003) and helps teachers
enrich their teaching experiences so as to optimise their role.
Limitations and Implications for Future Research
This study found a high level of FLA among the student population.
However, the factors that made these students feel so anxious about
238
TESOL QUARTERLY
EFL learning remain to be uncovered. Whether these factors are
related to learning, performance, or cultural features should also be
unpacked. Further research needs to be done to shed light on these
factors. In addition, so far there has been limited research on FLA in
the Vietnamese context; therefore, we do not know if the unusually
high level of FLA found in this study is typical of Vietnamese students.
More research on FLA with students of different majors should be useful in clarifying this question.
The awareness of FLA among EFL students and teachers in the
study was examined in terms of their perceived existence of FLA only.
How EFL students and teachers are aware of the elements of FLA,
including its possible sources, effects, and management strategies,
needs to be examined if this awareness is to be understood adequately.
In addition, given that FLA has been the focus of numerous studies,
many of which have found evidence of its detrimental effects, there is
no doubt that efforts should be made to find solutions to deal with
these effects. However, with all of the teachers in this study recognising both the facilitating and the debilitating aspects of FLA, and half
of the students having both positive and negative views of FLA, we suggest that the facilitating side of FLA is also worth attention. Given that
limited research has examined the facilitating side of FLA, in addition
to finding solutions to reduce FLA, future research on managing FLA
should also find ways to take advantage of the positive effects of FLA
on language teaching and learning.
THE AUTHORS
Tran Thi Thu Trang is an English lecturer and officer dealing with research management and international relations at Hue University, in Vietnam. She is currently doing research at the School of Education, University of Queensland. Her
research interests include educational psychology, affective factors in language
learning, and teaching and learning in higher education.
Richard B. Baldauf Jr., professor of TESOL at the School of Education, University
of Queensland, has published numerous articles in refereed journals and books.
He is coauthor of Language Planning From Practice to Theory (1997), Language and
Language-in-Education Planning in the Pacific Basin (2003), and Planning Chinese
Characters: Evolution, Revolution or Reaction (2008).
Karen Moni is an associate professor and coordinates curriculum and literacy
courses at the School of Education, University of Queensland. Her research interests include literacy and young adults with intellectual disabilities and teaching,
learning, and assessment in higher education. She is currently the president of
the Australian Association for the Teaching of English.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND INSIDERS’ AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES
239
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Supporting Information
Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher’s website:
Appendix S1. Generalised Belief Measure.
Appendix S2. Generalised Attitude Measure.
Appendix S3. Students’ Responses to FLCAS Items.
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