engleski

EFL learners and the language learning anxiety in Croatia

This research paper aims at investigating the possible connections between the language learning anxiety and the three variables: gender, study program and the year of study. 89 participants were included in the study, which was carried out among the students of English language at the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Data were collected via questionnaire adapted from Horwitz (1986), which included 33 Likert scale questions alongside 5 preliminary questions. The results showed that even though male students were predominately less anxious, both male and female students experienced high levels of anxiety when it came to public speaking. The results were confirmed with respect to public speaking by the data connected to the year of study. Students’ anxiety levels tend to show a significant increase with the increasing years of study when it comes to being called on in a language class. A possible explanation for such results could be the changes in the curriculum and the increase in the number of more orally-oriented subjects at the university. When it comes to the study programs, analysis suggests that the students with two language majors are more anxious, prone to panicking when faced with the possibility of public speaking in a foreign language, more fearful of the consequences of failing their class and, more upset when they do not understand something the teacher is correcting as well as more likely to get nervous when the language teacher asks them something they have not prepared for in advance. Further studies should be carried in order to gain a deeper insight into this phenomenon.

language learning anxiety, EFL, higher education

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