The anxiety-proficiency relationship and the stability of anxiety: The case of Chinese university learners of English and Japanese.

• Authors: Yinxing Jin , Kees de Bot , Merel Keijzer
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Adopting a longitudinal design, this study investigates the effects of foreign language anxiety on foreign language proficiency over time within English and Japanese learning contexts. It also explores the stability of anxiety in English and Japanese over time and the stability of anxiety across English and Japanese. Chinese university students (N=146), who were simultaneously learning Japanese and English, participated in this study. Data were collected twice over a 2-month interval, using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, the English Proficiency Scale, and the Japanese Proficiency Scale. Results showed that anxiety changes had a significantly negative, but weak, correlation with the development of overall proficiency and the proficiency in sub- skills such as reading or speaking, for both English and Japanese, suggesting the interference of anxiety with proficiency levels. Anxiety in Japanese tended to decrease significantly over time, but no significant change was found for English. Furthermore, no significant difference between anxiety in Japanese and English was found at either testing time.

Keywords

EN

foreign language anxiety; foreign language proficiency; stability; Chinese university student

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 41-63

Dates

published

2015-03-01

Contributors

author

Yinxing Jin

• University of Groningen the Netherlands

author

Kees de Bot

• University of Groningen the Netherlands

author

Merel Keijzer

• University of Groningen the Netherlands

Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/ssllt.2015.5.1.3