An Investigation of Anxiety Among Elementary School Students Towards Foreign Language Learning

Merzin Alshahrani, Awad Alandal

Abstract


Foreign language anxiety (FLA) plays a crucial role in language learning. This study aims to investigate the level of FLA and the impact of gender differences among EFL elementary school students. The sample of the study was 146 males and 114 female 6th. Grade Saudi Students of public schools in the Southern Region of Saudi Arabia. Foreign language classroom anxiety Scale (FLCAS) was administered and 10 students were selected and interviewed. Statistical package for social science (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. T-test was used to compare the level of foreign language anxiety among male and female students. The findings of the quantitative and qualitative data went in parallel. They showed that FLA was moderate among our participants. They also revealed that gender difference did not play a significant impact on anxiety towards foreign language learning. Furthermore, some pedagogical implications and recommendations were provided to enrich early age EFL teaching in Saudi Arabia and to overcome the negative effects of anxiety among foreign language learners.


Keywords


Anxiety; Gender; EFL; Language learning; Teaching

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/n

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