1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Journal of Second Language Studies
  4. Volume 7, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 7, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2542-3835
  • E-ISSN: 2542-3843
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

The present study investigated the nature of Chinese as First Language (L1) speakers’ anxiety when completing an oral task in English as Foreign Language (L2). Chinese second-year university students ( = 96) performed a video narration task and completed questionnaires measuring their trait anxiety, foreign language anxiety, and task anxiety. Exploratory factor analysis identified the underlying sub-facets of the task anxiety construct, including language-related difficulties, environment-related anxiety, setting-related anxiety and physiological symptoms. Language-related difficulties explained the largest amount of variance and emerged as the most influential factor. Structural equation modelling demonstrated that task anxiety was an independent construct subject to direct influence from foreign language anxiety and indirect influence from trait anxiety. Findings suggest that task anxiety is a context-specific construct that warrants distinct attention from teachers and researchers. Implications for helping students to cope with anxiety in task-based pedagogy and practice are discussed.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
2024-02-12
2024-12-08

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aida, Y.
    (1994) Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope’s construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. Modern Language Journal, 78(2), 155–168. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.1994.tb02026.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1994.tb02026.x [Google Scholar]
  2. Botes, E., van der Westhuizen, L., Dewaele, J.-M., MacIntyre, P., & Greiff, S.
    (2022) Validating the Short-form Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. Applied Linguistics, 43(5), 1006–1033. 10.1093/applin/amac018
     https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amac018 [Google Scholar]
  3. Bronfenbrenner, U.
    (1979) The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. CET wei yuan hui [The CET committee] (2017) fen shu jie shi [scores interpretation]. AccessedSeptember 23, 2021atcet.neea.edu.cn/html1/folder/19081/5124-1.htm
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Cheng, Y. S., Horwitz, E. K., & Schallert, D. L.
    (1999) Language anxiety: Differentiating writing and speaking components. Language Learning, 49(3), 417–446. 10.1111/0023‑8333.00095
     https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00095 [Google Scholar]
  6. Chiang, Y. N.
    (2010) Foreign language anxiety and student interraters’ learning outcomes: Implications for the theory and measurement of interpretation learning anxiety. Meta: Translators’ Journal, 55(3), 589–601. 10.7202/045079ar
     https://doi.org/10.7202/045079ar [Google Scholar]
  7. Clark, D. M., & Wells, A.
    (1995) A cognitive model of social phobia. InR. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp.69–93). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Cohen, J.
    (1992) A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155–159. 10.1037/0033‑2909.112.1.155
     https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155 [Google Scholar]
  9. Dewey, D. P., Belnap, R. K., & Steffen, P.
    (2018) Anxiety: Stress, foreign language classroom anxiety, and enjoyment during study abroad in Amman, Jordan. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 381, 140–161. 10.1017/S0267190518000107
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190518000107 [Google Scholar]
  10. Ellis, R.
    (2009) Task-based language teaching: sorting out the misunderstandings. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 19(3), 221–246. 10.1111/j.1473‑4192.2009.00231.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1473-4192.2009.00231.x [Google Scholar]
  11. Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G.
    (2007) Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion, 7(2), 336–353. 10.1037/1528‑3542.7.2.336
     https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336 [Google Scholar]
  12. Gkonou, C.
    (2017) Towards an ecological understanding of language anxiety. InC. Gkonou, M. Daubney & J. M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp.135–155). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783097722‑009
     https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783097722-009 [Google Scholar]
  13. Greene, J. O.
    (1995) An action-assembly perspective on verbal and nonverbal message production: A dancer’s message unveiled. InD. E. Hewes (Ed.), The cognitive bases of interpersonal communication (pp.51–85). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Gregersen, T., MacIntyre, P., & Olson, T.
    (2017) Do you see what I feel? An idiodynamic assessment of expert and peer’s reading of nonverbal language anxiety cues. InC. Gkonou, M. Daubney & J. M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp.110–134). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783097722‑008
     https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783097722-008 [Google Scholar]
  15. Horwitz, E. K.
    (1986) Preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of a foreign language anxiety scale. TESOL Quarterly, 20(3), 559–562. 10.2307/3586302
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3586302 [Google Scholar]
  16. (2001) Language anxiety and achievement. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 211, 112–126. 10.1017/S0267190501000071
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190501000071 [Google Scholar]
  17. (2016) Factor structure of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale: Comment on Park (2014). Psychological Reports, 1(6), 1–6. 10.1177/0033294116653368
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294116653368 [Google Scholar]
  18. Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J.
    (1986) Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.1986.tb05256.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x [Google Scholar]
  19. Jiang, Y., & Dewaele, J-M.
    (2020) The predictive power of sociobiographical and language variables on foreign language anxiety of Chinese university students. System, 891, 1–12. 10.1016/j.system.2020.102207
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102207 [Google Scholar]
  20. Kim, Y., & Tracy-Ventura, N.
    (2011) Task complexity, language anxiety, and the development of the simple past. InP. Robinson (Ed.), Second language task complexity: Researching the cognition hypothesis of language learning and performance (pp.287–306). Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tblt.2.18ch11
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.2.18ch11 [Google Scholar]
  21. King, J., & Smith, L.
    (2017) Social anxiety and silence in Japan’s tertiary foreign language classrooms. InC. Gkonou, M. Daubney & J. M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp.91–109). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. 10.21832/9781783097722‑007
     https://doi.org/10.21832/9781783097722-007 [Google Scholar]
  22. Kline, R. B.
    (2011) Principles and practice of structural equation modelling (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Kormos, J., & Dörnyei, Z.
    (2004) The interaction of linguistic and motivational variables in second language task performance. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht, 9(2), 1–21.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Liu, M.
    (2006) Anxiety in EFL classrooms: Causes and consequences. TESL Reporter, 39(1), 13–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Liu, M., & Jackson, J.
    (2008) An exploration of Chinese EFL learners’ unwillingness to communicate and foreign language anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 92(1), 71–86. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.2008.00687.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2008.00687.x [Google Scholar]
  26. Lu, Z., & Liu, M.
    (2011) Foreign language anxiety and strategy use: A study with Chinese undergraduate EFL learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 2(6), 1298–1305. 10.4304/jltr.2.6.1298‑1305
     https://doi.org/10.4304/jltr.2.6.1298-1305 [Google Scholar]
  27. MacIntyre, P. D.
    (1992) Anxiety and language learning from a stages of processing perspective [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]. The University of Western Ontario.
  28. MacIntyre, P., & Gardner, R.
    (1991) Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature. Language Learning, 41(1), 85–117. 10.1111/j.1467‑1770.1991.tb00677.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1991.tb00677.x [Google Scholar]
  29. (1994a) The effects of induced anxiety on three stages of cognitive processing in computerized vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 161, 1–17. 10.1017/S0272263100012560
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100012560 [Google Scholar]
  30. (1994b) The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language. Language Learning, 44(2), 283–305. 10.1111/j.1467‑1770.1994.tb01103.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01103.x [Google Scholar]
  31. Mak, B.
    (2011) An exploration of speaking-in-class anxiety with Chinese ESL learners. System, 39(2), 202–214. 10.1016/j.system.2011.04.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2011.04.002 [Google Scholar]
  32. Matsuda, S., & Gobel, P.
    (2004) Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom. System, 321, 21–36. 10.1016/j.system.2003.08.002
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2003.08.002 [Google Scholar]
  33. Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Bailey, P., & Daley, C. E.
    (2000) The validation of three scales measuring anxiety at different stages of the foreign language learning process: The Input Anxiety Scale, the Processing Anxiety Scale, and the Output Anxiety Scale. Language Learning, 50(1), 87–117. 10.1111/0023‑8333.00112
     https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.00112 [Google Scholar]
  34. Park, G. P.
    (2014) Factor analysis of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale in Korean learners of English as a foreign language. Psychological Reports: Relationships & communications, 115(1), 261–275. 10.2466/28.11.PR0.115c10z2
     https://doi.org/10.2466/28.11.PR0.115c10z2 [Google Scholar]
  35. Pyun, D. O.
    (2013) Attitudes toward task-based language learning: A study of college Korean language learners. Foreign Language Annuals, 46(1), 108–121. 10.1111/flan.12015
     https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12015 [Google Scholar]
  36. Révész, A.
    (2011) Task complexity, focus on L2 constructions, and individual differences: A classroom-based study. Modern Language Journal, 951, 162–181. 10.1111/j.1540‑4781.2011.01241.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01241.x [Google Scholar]
  37. Robinson, P.
    (2001) Task complexity, task difficulty, and task production: Exploring interactions in a componential framework. Applied Linguistics, 22(01), 27–57. 10.1093/applin/22.1.27
     https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/22.1.27 [Google Scholar]
  38. (2007) Task complexity, theory of mind, and intentional reasoning: Effects on L2 speech production, interaction, uptake and perceptions of task difficulty. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 451, 161–176. 10.1515/iral.2007.009
     https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.2007.009 [Google Scholar]
  39. (2011) Second language task complexity, the cognition hypothesis, language learning, and performance. InP. Robinson (Ed.), Second language task complexity: Researching the cognition hypothesis of language learning and performance (pp.3–37). Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tblt.2.05ch1
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.2.05ch1 [Google Scholar]
  40. Schoonen, R.
    (2015) Structural equation modelling in L2 research. InL. Plonsky (Ed.), Advancing quantitative methods in second language research (pp.213–242). New York, NY: Routledge. 10.4324/9781315870908‑10
     https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315870908-10 [Google Scholar]
  41. Shao, K., Stockinger, K., & Pekrun, R.
    (2023) Applying control-value theory for examining multiple emotions in L2 classrooms: Validating the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire – Second Language Learning. Language Teaching Research. 10.1177/13621688221144497
     https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221144497 [Google Scholar]
  42. Spielberger, C. D.
    (1989) State-trait anxiety inventory: A comprehensive bibliography. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S.
    (2014) Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Tobias, S.
    (1979) Anxiety research in educational psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(5), 573–582. 10.1037/0022‑0663.71.5.573
     https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.71.5.573 [Google Scholar]
  45. Tompson, B.
    (2004) Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Understanding concepts and applications. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 10.1037/10694‑000
     https://doi.org/10.1037/10694-000 [Google Scholar]
  46. Tseng, W-T., & Schmitt, N.
    (2008) Toward a model of motivated vocabulary learning: A structural equation modeling approach. Language Learning, 58(2), 357–400. 10.1111/j.1467‑9922.2008.00444.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00444.x [Google Scholar]
  47. Wang, Q., East, M., & Li, S.
    (2021) Measuring Chinese EFL learners’ motivation and anxiety when completing a video narration task: Initial steps in designing two questionnaires System, 1001, 102559. 10.1016/j.system.2021.102559
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2021.102559 [Google Scholar]
  48. Wang, Z., & Skehan, P.
    (2014) Structure, lexis, and time perspective. InP. Skehan (Ed.), Processing perspective on task performance (pp.155–185). Amsterdam/Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tblt.5.06wan
     https://doi.org/10.1075/tblt.5.06wan [Google Scholar]
  49. Woodrow, L.
    (2006) Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC Journal, 37(3), 308–328. 10.1177/0033688206071315
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688206071315 [Google Scholar]
  50. Xu, H., & Gao, Y.
    (2014) The development of English learning motivation and learners’ identities: A structural equation modeling analysis of longitudinal data from Chinese universities. System, 471, 102–115. 10.1016/j.system.2014.09.020
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2014.09.020 [Google Scholar]
  51. Yan, J. X., & Horwitz, E. K.
    (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), 15–183. 10.1111/j.1467‑9922.2007.00437.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2007.00437.x [Google Scholar]
  52. Zhang, X.
    (2019) Foreign language anxiety and foreign language performance: A meta-analysis. The Modern Language Journal, 103(4), 763–781. 10.1111/modl.12590
     https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12590 [Google Scholar]
  53. Zheng, Y., & Cheng, L.
    (2018) How does anxiety influence language performance? From the perspectives of foreign language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety. Language Testing in Asia, 8(13), 1–19. 10.1186/s40468‑018‑0065‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-018-0065-4 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
Loading
Measuring L1 Chinese speakers’ anxiety when completing an English as L2 video narration task
Journal of Second Language Studies 7, 99 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.00027.wan
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): communicative task; foreign language anxiety; language-related difficulties; task anxiety; trait anxiety

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error