DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L319.472
Authors: Ms. Nadia Tarique Haque
Abstract: The present study, which also builds on the work of Mamhot et al. (2013), examines a sample of 80 Bangladeshi undergraduates from English and Banglamedium backgrounds for the purposes of: investigating the level and type of language anxiety experienced by the students, identifying the major anxiety-provoking instances in the language classroom and associating them with the stage/s in the language learning process. The data was collected using a background survey and adapted versions of FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986) and Williams and Andrade’s (2008) questionnaires, and was analyzed based on: Horwitz et al.’s (1986) FLA theory, Tanveer’s (2007) “factors associated with language learner’s sense of ‘self’ and ‘language classroom environment’” (p. 14), and a combination of Tanveer (2007) and William and Andrade’s (2008) stages of language learning. According to the findings: (i) the anxiety levels of the students ranged from moderate to slightly-high with the Bangla-medium students appearing more apprehensive about speaking in English in contrast to their Englishmedium counterparts; (ii) Fear of negative evaluation and communication apprehension were the two major performance anxieties for both English and Banglamedium students; (iii) Language anxiety was often associated with in-class instructional practices that required students to speak in English in front of the whole class – especially in response to unfamiliar topics and/or without adequate preparation – and language tasks that were related to output and processing stages of learning; and (v) students’ perception of their language proficiency, competency and performance was related to the language anxiety that they experienced.
Keywords: language anxiety, English language classroom, English as second language, ESL, EFL, language learner, tertiary-level, English speaking class
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