Measuring foreign language anxiety among learners of different foreign languages: in relation to motivation and perception of teacher’s behaviors

要旨

This study investigates foreign language anxiety among Indonesian undergraduate students of English, French, Japanese, Korean and Arabic language programs, and examines its relationship with students’ motivation and their perception of teachers’ behaviors. Questionnaires were distributed to 182 s-grade undergraduate students majoring in five foreign languages at an Indonesian public university. One-way ANOVA analysis revealed that learners of Japanese have the highest foreign language anxiety level compared to others. Furthermore, using independent sample T-test method, it showed that learners of non-Latin languages group (Japanese, Korean, and Arabic) have a higher foreign language anxiety level than those of Latin language group (English and French). The relationship between foreign language anxiety, learners’ motivation and their perception of teachers’ behaviors, was analyzed using a multiple-regression method, and the finding indicated that learners’ motivation does not affect foreign language anxiety. Meanwhile, their perception of teacher’s behaviors significantly affects foreign language anxiety. Based on the results, the present study suggests that foreign language teachers should give more attention to their teaching method and behaviors applied inside the classroom, and on how to create a more conducive learning environment in the classroom in order to reduce foreign language anxiety experienced by their students.

主題