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Article Excerpt
Abstract
This study examined the role of anxiety in predicting student attrition in foreign language courses at the college level. Participants were 259 students enrolled in Spanish, French, German, or Japanese introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses at a mid-southern university. Anxiety was assessed using three scales, namely, the Input Anxiety Scale, the Processing Anxiety Scale, and the Output Anxiety Scale, which measure how anxious students feel at the input, processing, and output stages of the foreign language learning process, respectively. Findings revealed that students who dropped out of their foreign language classes tended to report statistically significantly higher levels of input, processing, and output anxiety, with moderate-to-large effect sizes. Recommendations for foreign language instructors are provided.
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Many college students are required to enroll in foreign language courses in order to complete their degree programs. Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of students underachieve in these classes. Further, for many students, foreign language classes can be the most anxiety-inducing courses in their programs of study (Campbell & Ortiz, 1991; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991c). For example, Maclntyre and Gardner (1989) reported that French classes were rated by learners as significantly more anxiety-provoking than were mathematics and English courses. Moreover, since the development of measures of foreign language anxiety that consistently yield reliable and valid scores (Horwitz et al., 1986), a myriad of studies has documented the prevalence of anxiety in the foreign language context (Horwitz et al., 1986; Maclntyre & Charos, 1996; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1989, 1991b, 1991c; Onwuegbuzie, Bailey, & Daley, 2000). Specifically, a moderate negative association between foreign language anxiety and various measures of foreign language achievement repeatedly has been found (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993; Gardner, Moorcroft, & MacIntyre, 1987; Horwitz et al., 1986; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a; Onwuegbuzie et al., 2000). In fact, Gardner and MacIntyre (1993) found language anxiety to be the best single correlate of foreign language achievement. More specifically, Sanchez Herrero and Sanchez (1992) reported that student anxiety in learning a foreign language accounted for 38% of the variance in English achievement among sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students in a public school in Madrid (Spain). Also, Onwuegbuzie et al. (2000) documented that anxiety explained 10.5% of the variance in foreign language achievement.
Foreign language anxiety is best described as a form of situation-specific anxiety (MacIntyre, 1999), which often is characterized by physiological signs and behavioral signs. Physiological signs include perspiration, sweaty palms, dry mouth, muscle contractions and tension, and increases in heart and perspiration rates (Chastain 1975). Behavioral signs include avoiding class, not completing assignments, and a preoccupation with the performance of other students in the class (Bailey 1983; Horwitz et al., 1986). Furthermore, according to Horwitz...
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