Disambiguating the relationship between Language Learning Anxiety (LLA) and oral performance: a reconceptualization of facilitative vs. debilitative anxieties

Abstract

Numerous attempts have recently been made to disambiguate the relationship between Language Learning Anxiety (LLA) and Oral Performance (OP). Nevertheless, these attempts have largely been hampered by the lump of factors associated with the anxietal phenomenon on the one hand and the lack of comprehensive scales capturingthe whole gamut of anxiety on the other. Utilizing two valid, reliable and practical instruments, i.e. the AnxietyQuestionnaire and FLOSEM, the present paper draws upon the data to arrive at the OLS equation of best fit for theassociated data thus quantifying the long-needed elucidation of the relationship between LLA and OP. Further pedagogical implications of the study are also discussed.