engleski

The relationship between shyness, willingness to communicate, and foreign language anxiety

Foreign language learning (FLL) has been considered a very complex process affected by a number of factors, some of which have been identified as significant barriers to successful language learning. Among these, language anxiety has frequently been singled out as a factor that may have a negative impact on FLL. Since previous studies have confirmed connection between shyness and willingness to communicate with foreign language anxiety, this research aimed to ascertain if the relationship between those three factors would also be confirmed on the sample of preservice primary teachers. It was hypothesized that the participants who have higher results on the shyness scale and those who are less willing to communicate would report a higher level of foreign language anxiety. The participants were 71 students enrolled at the Faculty of Teacher Education University in Zagreb. The research instrument was a four-part anonymous online questionnaire used to elicit the participants' 1) general information, 2) level of shyness (the McCroskey Shyness Scale), 3) willingness to communicate (the Willingness to Communicate (WTC) Scale), and 4) foreign language anxiety (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale). Research results showed that the majority of the participants reported low or moderate levels of anxiety, shyness, and willingness to communicate. The relationship between FL anxiety and shyness was not confirmed, but it was found that the participants who reported less willingness to communicate also reported a higher level of FL anxiety. Therefore, it is proposed that these factors should be dedicated more attention in foreign language teaching and learning at the tertiary level as well.

anxiety ; communication ; foreign language learning ; preservice teachers

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