Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
Though foreign language anxiety (FLA) has long been recognized as an important affective factor in second language learning, its impact is worth studying in new educational contexts of emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study examines the key factors behind F...
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Sciendo
2021-12-01
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| Series: | ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2022-0005 |
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| author | Lađarević Maja Novak |
| author_facet | Lađarević Maja Novak |
| author_sort | Lađarević Maja Novak |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Though foreign language anxiety (FLA) has long been recognized as an important affective factor in second language learning, its impact is worth studying in new educational contexts of emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study examines the key factors behind FLA in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The research was conducted among a sample of 171 first-year undergraduate university students of Economics & Business economics and Informatics at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia, during the winter semester of 2020/2021. The research instrument used was a 33-item questionnaire adapted from the FLCAS scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) to reflect the online ESP classroom environment. The main results indicate that various background factors, such as gender, self-assessed levels of proficiency, length of learning English and frequency of English language use, significantly influence the reported levels of language anxiety. Furthermore, the study establishes the underlying structure of FLA, with five factors positively correlated with overall language anxiety at the. 01 level of statistical significance: speech anxiety, evaluation and comprehension anxiety, online ESP classroom environment, anxiety of talking to native speakers, and lack of motivation for online class attendance. Finally, multiple regression analysis shows that the five aspects of FLA, alongside the variables of gender and self-assessed pronunciation proficiency, represent statistically significant predictors of the total level of FLA among online ESP learners. The other independent variables are confirmed to be unreliable in predicting the overall level of language anxiety in an online ESP classroom. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fd117a0784734b96b0815d99a5656ece |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2303-4858 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) |
| spelling | doaj-art-fd117a0784734b96b0815d99a5656ece2025-01-31T08:34:31ZengSciendoExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics)2303-48582021-12-019210614210.2478/exell-2022-0005Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP)Lađarević Maja Novak0Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, CroatiaThough foreign language anxiety (FLA) has long been recognized as an important affective factor in second language learning, its impact is worth studying in new educational contexts of emergency remote teaching in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study examines the key factors behind FLA in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP). The research was conducted among a sample of 171 first-year undergraduate university students of Economics & Business economics and Informatics at the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Croatia, during the winter semester of 2020/2021. The research instrument used was a 33-item questionnaire adapted from the FLCAS scale (Horwitz et al., 1986) to reflect the online ESP classroom environment. The main results indicate that various background factors, such as gender, self-assessed levels of proficiency, length of learning English and frequency of English language use, significantly influence the reported levels of language anxiety. Furthermore, the study establishes the underlying structure of FLA, with five factors positively correlated with overall language anxiety at the. 01 level of statistical significance: speech anxiety, evaluation and comprehension anxiety, online ESP classroom environment, anxiety of talking to native speakers, and lack of motivation for online class attendance. Finally, multiple regression analysis shows that the five aspects of FLA, alongside the variables of gender and self-assessed pronunciation proficiency, represent statistically significant predictors of the total level of FLA among online ESP learners. The other independent variables are confirmed to be unreliable in predicting the overall level of language anxiety in an online ESP classroom.https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2022-0005foreign language anxiety (fla)english for specific purposes (esp)online teachinge-learninguniversity students |
| spellingShingle | Lađarević Maja Novak Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) ExELL (Explorations in English Language and Linguistics) foreign language anxiety (fla) english for specific purposes (esp) online teaching e-learning university students |
| title | Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) |
| title_full | Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) |
| title_fullStr | Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) |
| title_short | Examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety (FLA) in online teaching of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) |
| title_sort | examining the key factors behind foreign language anxiety fla in online teaching of english for specific purposes esp |
| topic | foreign language anxiety (fla) english for specific purposes (esp) online teaching e-learning university students |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2022-0005 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lađarevicmajanovak examiningthekeyfactorsbehindforeignlanguageanxietyflainonlineteachingofenglishforspecificpurposesesp |