An investigation of the factors causing language anxiety for Iraqi EFL learners at the university level and their influence on achievement : a psycholinguistic study

Dissertant

Khammat, Ali Hasan

Thesis advisor

Awdah, Ala Husayn

Comitee Members

Lazim, Abd al-Karim
Hawil, Zaynab Sami
Jasim, Majid H.

University

University of Basrah

Faculty

Education for Human College

Department

English department

University Country

Iraq

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2013

English Abstract

Anxiety is an important affective variable in language learning and teaching which must not be overlooked.

It should be investigated since it may interfere negatively or positively with the learning process at different levels affecting the learners' performance and achievements.

With feelings of discomfort and insecurity, learners of English as a Foreign Language may find it difficult to share their opinions and participate in class discussions.

This study falls into five chapters.

Chapter One is concerned with preliminaries: the problem of the study, the hypothesis, the objectives, the limits, the significance of the study and the definition of terms.

Chapter Two deals with anxiety; its definitions and classification in terms of effects, personality and situational perspective, and in terms of Foreign Language Learning perspective.

Chapter Three sheds light on anxiety and language learning.

It comments on the stages of language learning and the correlates of Foreign Language Anxiety.

Chapter Four is the practical side of the study.

It explains the adaptation of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)and discusses the results.

This study is designed to investigate the relationship between foreign language anxiety and students’ achievement.

For this purpose, fifty nine fourth-year students at College of Education for Humanities, University of Basrah, Iraq, have been selected.

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), developed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) is administered to measure the students’ foreign language classroom anxiety level.

To determine the relationship between English classroom anxiety and students' achievement, the students’ first semester examinations results have been used.

To test the study problem, descriptive statistics is used to determine anxiety level and t-test to find out differences between high and low anxiety groups and achievement.

The findings of this study show that anxiety is common among the subjects of the study and has a negative correlation with their English language achievement.

Conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further studies are presented in Chapter Five.

Main Subjects

Languages & Comparative Literature

No. of Pages

115

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-748007