Abstract
Although foreign language anxiety (FLA) and student engagement have both been found to have significant effects on a number of behavioural and academic outcomes for language students (Awan et al. 2010, Gargalianou et al. 2016). FLA is poorly understood in university students studying English as a second language. However, limited research shows it is present (Haley et al. 2015). Additionally, the relationship between FLA and student engagement has seldom been explored. Therefore, the present exploratory study investigated the relationship between FLA and online learning in university students, particularly focusing on online learning as the new mode of instruction since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to explore to what extent FLA is present among international students studying in L2 English at UK universities and whether FLA affects engagement with online learning. We tested 65 international students, studying at UK universities, using two newly developed scales for measuring FLA and student engagement with online learning. Participants completed an online questionnaire with background questions, the FLA scale, and the students’ engagement scale. The results of our multiple linear regression analyses suggest that FLA has a significant negative influence on students’ engagement with online learning.
References
Alsowat, Hamad H. 2016. Foreign language anxiety in higher education: A practical framework for reducing FLA. European Scientific Journal 12(7). 193. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n7p193.Search in Google Scholar
Anderson, Terry. 2004. Toward a theory of online learning. In Terry Anderson (ed.), Theory and practice of online learning, 45–75. Athabasca, Canada: Athabasca University.Search in Google Scholar
Assunção, Hugo, Su-Wei Lin, Pou-Seong Sit, Kwok-Cheung Cheung, Heidi Harju-Luukkainen, Thomas Smith, Benvindo Maloa, Juliana Álvares Duarte Bonini Campos, Ivana Stepanovic Ilic, Giovanna Esposito, Freda Maria Francesca & João Marôco. 2020. University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI): Transcultural validity evidence across four continents. Frontiers in Psychology. 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02796.Search in Google Scholar
Awan, Riffat-un-Nisa, Musarrat Azher, Muhammad Nadeem Anwar & Anjum Naz. 2010. An investigation of foreign language classroom anxiety and its relationship with students’ achievement. Journal of College Teaching & Learning 7(11). 33–40. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v7i11.249.Search in Google Scholar
Bensalem, Elias. 2017. Foreign language learning anxiety: The case of trilinguals. Arab World English Journal 8(1). 234–249. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol8no1.17.Search in Google Scholar
Cho, Moon-Heum & Yoon Jung Cho. 2014. Instructor scaffolding for interaction and students’ academic engagement in online learning: Mediating role of perceived online class goal structures. Internet and Higher Education 21. 25–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.10.008.Search in Google Scholar
Comrey, Andrew L. & Howard B. Lee. 1992. A first course in factor analysis, 2nd edn. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Search in Google Scholar
Delgado-Rico, Elena, Hugo Carretero-Dios & Willibald Ruch. 2012. Content validity evidences in test development: An applied perspective. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology 12(3). 449–460. https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-64551\10.17263/jlls.903294.Search in Google Scholar
Dewaele, Jean-Marc & Tsui Shan Ip. 2011. The link between foreign language classroom anxiety, second language tolerance of ambiguity and self-rated proficiency among Chinese learners. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 3(1). 47–66. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2013.3.1.3.Search in Google Scholar
Dixson, Marcia D. 2015. Measuring student engagement in the online course: The Online Student Engagement Scale (OSE). Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network 19(4). https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v19i4.561.Search in Google Scholar
El-Hariri, Yasmin. 2017. eTandem language learning and foreign language anxiety among Colombian learners of German. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal 19(1). 22–36. https://doi.org/10.14483/calj.v19n1.10219.Search in Google Scholar
Field, Andy, Jeremy Miles & Zoë Field. 2012. Discovering statistics using R. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.Search in Google Scholar
Fondo, Marta, Patrick Carroll & Christian Faber. 2017. Affordances of task-based speaking practice in an e-tandem platform: the issue around native and non-native speakers. In Proceedings of the 9th international conference on education and new learning technologies, Barcelona, Spain, 2009–2015.Search in Google Scholar
Fondo, Marta & Pedro Jacobetty. 2019. The lights and shadows of intercultural exchange projects for 21st-century skills development: analysis and comparison of two online case studies. In Alessia, Plutino, Kate, Borthwick & Erika, Corradini (eds.), New educational landscapes: innovative perspectives in language learning and technology, 63–69. Research-publishing.net.10.14705/rpnet.2019.36.957Search in Google Scholar
Fondo, Marta & Pedro Jacobetty. 2020. Exploring affective barriers in virtual exchange: The telecollaborative foreign language anxiety scale. Journal of Virtual Exchange 3. 37–61. https://doi.org/10.21827/jve.3.36083.Search in Google Scholar
García-Castro, Verónica & Jelena O’Reilly. 2022. Foreign language anxiety and online engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparison between EMI and FMI university students. English Teaching & Learning 46. 273–291.10.1007/s42321-022-00120-xSearch in Google Scholar
Gargalianou, Vasiliki, Katrin Muehlfeld, Diemo Urbig & Arjen van Witteloostuijn. 2016. Foreign language anxiety in professional contexts. Schmalenbach Business Review 17(2). 195–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41464-016-0007-6.Search in Google Scholar
Haley, Melinda, Merranda Romero Marin & Jessica Gelgand. 2015. Language anxiety and counseling self-efficacy. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development 43(3). 162–172. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmcd.12012.Search in Google Scholar
Handelsman, Mitchell M., William L. Briggs, Nora Sullivan & Annette Towle. 2005. A measure of college student course engagement. Journal of Educational Research 98(3). 84–192. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.98.3.184-192.Search in Google Scholar
Horwitz, Elaine K., Michael B. Horwitz & Joann Cope. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 70(2). 125. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x.Search in Google Scholar
Horwitz, Elaine K., Michael B. Horwitz & Joann Cope. 1991. Foreign language classroom anxiety. In Elaine Horwitz & Dolly Young (eds.), Language anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications, 27–39. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.10.1037/t60328-000Search in Google Scholar
Hurd, Stella. 2007. Anxiety and non-anxiety in a distance language learning environment: The distance factor as a modifying influence. System 35(4). 487–508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2007.05.001.Search in Google Scholar
Kaiser, Henry F. 1974. An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika 39. 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02291575.Search in Google Scholar
Krause, Kerri-Lee & Hamish Coates. 2008. Students’ engagement in first-year university. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 33(5). 493–505. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930701698892.Search in Google Scholar
Kuh, George D. 2003. What we’re learning about student engagement from NSSE: Benchmarks for effective educational practices. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning 35(2). 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091380309604090.Search in Google Scholar
Lee, Jeongju, Hae-Deok Song & Ah Jeong Hong. 2019. Exploring factors, and indicators for measuring students’ sustainable engagement in e-learning. Sustainability 11(4). 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11040985.Search in Google Scholar
Lin, Shy-Hui & Yun-Chen Huang. 2018. Assessing college student engagement: Development and validation of the Student Course Engagement Scale. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 36(7). 694–708. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282917697618.Search in Google Scholar
Luo, Han. 2013. Foreign language anxiety: Past and future. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics 36(4). 442–464. https://doi.org/10.1515/cjal-2013-0030.Search in Google Scholar
MacIntyre, Peter D. & Robert C. Gardner. 1994. The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language. Language Learning 44(2). 283–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01103.x.Search in Google Scholar
Maroco, João, Ana Lúcia Maroco, Juliana Alvares Duarte Bonini Campos & Jennifer Fredricks. 2016. University student’s engagement: Development of the University Student Engagement Inventory (USEI). Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica 29(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-016-0042-8.Search in Google Scholar
McNeish, Daniel. 2018. Thanks coefficient alpha, we’ll take it from here. Psychological Methods 23(3). 412–433. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000144.Search in Google Scholar
Peters, Gjalt-Jorn. 2018. userfriendlyscience: Quantitative analysis made accessible. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/txequ.Search in Google Scholar
Pichette, François. 2009. Second language anxiety and distance language learning. Foreign Language Annals 42(1). 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2009.01009.x.Search in Google Scholar
Revelle, William R. 2020. psych: Procedures for psychological, psychometric, and personality research. Available at: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=psych.Search in Google Scholar
Stern, Vivienne. 2020. International facts and figures 2020. Available at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2021-07/International-Facts-and-Figures-2020.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Swan, Peter, Eric Shea & Karen Fredericksen. 2000. Building knowledge building communities: Consistency, contact and communication in the virtual classroom. Journal of Educational Computing Research 23(4). 359–383. https://doi.org/10.2190/W4G6-HY52-57P1-PPNE.Search in Google Scholar
Tabachnick, Barbara G. & Linda S. Fidell. 2013. Using multivariate statistics, 6th edn. Boston, MA: Pearson.Search in Google Scholar
Tilden, Virginia P., Christine A. Nelson & Barbara A. May. 1990. Use of qualitative methods to enhance content validity. Nursing Research 39. 172–175. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-199005000-00015.Search in Google Scholar
Thompson, Amy S. & Junkyu Lee. 2014. The impact of experience abroad and language proficiency on language learning anxiety. TESOL Quarterly 48(2). 252–274. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.125.Search in Google Scholar
van Buuren, Stef & Karin Groothuis-Oudshoorn. 2011. mice: Multivariate imputation by chained equations in R. Journal of Statistical Software 45(3). 1–67. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v045.i03.Search in Google Scholar
Wonglorsaichon, Bonggoch, Suwimon Wongwanich & Nonglak Wiratchai. 2014. The influence of students’ school engagement on learning achievement: A structural equation modeling analysis. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 116. 1748–1755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.467.Search in Google Scholar
Yan, Jackie Xiu & Elaine K. Horwitz. 2008. Learners’ perceptions of how anxiety interacts with personal and instructional factors to influence their achievement in English: A qualitative analysis of EFL learners in China. Language Learning 58(1). 151–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2007.00437.x.Search in Google Scholar
Supplementary Material
The online version of this article offers supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2022-2054).
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
