Learners' anxiety and cultural values in relation to english language achievements

Abstract

English language teachers numerously faced various challenges in the teaching of English as the second language (L2) either at school levels or tertiary levels. Feelings of anxiety, fear and worry in communicating in English are all examples of inconsistent psychological state which potentially exerts adverse effects on L2 classroom learning and performance. Mastering English language in Malaysia is a crucial stepping stone towards a promising future ever since English became a widespread means of local and international transactions. This study has attempted to investigate ESL learners’ state of foreign language anxiety as they learn the language. Extending from Horwitz et. al (1985) Communication Apprehension (CA), Test Anxiety and Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) were among the types of language anxiety studied in this research. The study also investigated learners’ level of adherence towards cultural values in relevance to L2 learning. Relationship between anxiety, cultural values and achievements were tested in this study. Three hundred and ten ESL learners in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) were involved in this study. The survey methods used to collect the data were adapted from Horwitz’s (1986) Foreign Language Anxiety Classroom Scale (FLACS) and Kim et. al (1999) Asian Cultural Values (AVS). The FLACS consists of 33 items while A VS consist of 25 items each one on a 5-point Likert Scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Data collections were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 and were presented in the form of descriptive statistics which include percentage, mean, frequency and inferential statistic which involved One Way ANOVA and Pearson V Correlation. Results of the study suggested that ESL learners in UTM experienced moderate level of foreign language anxiety (FLA) and adherence towards cultural values during second language learning. Learners with different levels of achievements significantly projects different levels of anxiety but not different levels of adherence towards cultural values. Findings also reveal that neither language FLA nor cultural values correlates with learners English language achievements. Significantly, learners’ state of anxiety is found to be correlated learners adherence towards cultural values.