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ANXIETY LEVEL TOWARDS LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
A FOCUS ON LEARNING JAPANESE LANGUAGE AMONG UTM STUDENTS
MAHFUZAH BINTI RAFEK
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Science with Education (TESL)
Faculty of Education
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2009
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To my beloved mama and papa-
For the incomparable love and support,
For still holding my hand through the things that make me scared,
You mean the world to me.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, all praise be to Allah, the Almighty, the Benevolent for His blessings
and guidance for giving me the strength and courage to embark on this PSM and finally
making it a reality.
I would particularly like to express my utmost gratitude to my beloved
supervisor, Dr. Azizah Rajab for her insightful comments and invaluable suggestions
while guiding me throughout the process and not to forget on every piece of her patience
while answering all my queries. Thank you Dr.
And to all my family members especially my parents, Dato’ Rafek Reshidullah
and Datin Hidayah Endut; with heartfelt gratitude for their undivided love, support, and
encouragement that made me who I am now. Without your love, this work would not be
possible. I love you.
To my best friend Atirah Izzah Che Abas who went through all the hard times
with me, thank you for your unconditional friendship and support.
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ABSTRACT
It is believed that the students in a foreign language class are having difficulties
where they tend to be more worried and anxious during the learning period (Price,
1991). Since anxiety can influence the foreign language learning and acquisition, it is
necessary to increase the awareness on the severity of the problem. This study was
conducted to identify the students’ perceptions as well as to determine the differences of
anxiety level for different gender, race and the three different groups which are the
TESL group, Elective (With Credit) group and Elective (Without Credit) group who
enrolled in the Japanese language class based on different purposes. A total of 96
respondents in this study were taken among UTM students. The instrument used in this
study was a set of questionnaire adapted from the measurement scale of foreign
language anxiety called FLCAS (Foreign Language Class Anxiety Scale) which was
introduced by Horwitz (1983). The questionnaire consisted of two different sections
which were the personal details and the contributing factors of foreign language anxiety.
The factors are the Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Evaluation, General
Feeling of Anxiety and Overall Level of Anxiety. The responses in the questionnaires
were represented by using the Likert Scale. The data obtained were analyzed by using
SPSS version 10 where it involved the use of percentage, frequency, t-Test and One-
Way ANOVA. The findings of this study indicate that there are significant differences
of anxiety level between race and Communication Apprehension factor as well as
between groups and General Feeling of Anxiety factor. However, there are no
significant differences between the anxiety level and gender for all the anxiety factors.
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ABSTRAK
Adalah dipercayai bahawa pelajar mengalami kesukaran ketika mengikuti kelas
bahasa asing dimana mereka menjadi lebih bimbang dan resah sepanjang tempoh
pembelajaran (Price, 1991). Oleh kerana faktor keresahan dapat mempengaruhi
pembelajaran bahasa asing, maka adalah penting untuk meningkatkan kesedaran tentang
permasalahan ini. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti tentang persepsi para
pelajar dan menentukan perbezaan tahap keresahan mengikut jantina, bangsa dan juga
kumpulan responden. Kumpulan-kumpulan responden terdiri daripada pelajar TESL,
pelajar Elektif (Berkredit) dan juga pelajar Elektif (Tidak Berkredit). Kesemua 96 orang
responden dipilih dari kalangan pelajar UTM. Selain itu, instrumen yang digunakan
dalam kajian ini termasuklah set soalan soal-selidik FLCAS (Foreign Language Class
Anxiety Scale) yang telah diadaptasi dari Horwitz (1983). Soalan-soalan dalam set soal-
selidik ini telah dibahagikan kepada dua bahagian iaitu maklumat personal dan juga
faktor-faktor yang menyumbang kepada keresahan bahasa asing. Faktor-faktor tersebut
adalah Keresahan Berkomunikasi, Takut Terhadap Penilaian Negatif, Perasaan Umun
Terhadap Keresahan dan Keseluruhan Tahap Keresahan. Maklumbalas terhadap soal-
selidik ini menggunakan Skala Likert. Data yang diperolehi dari kajian ini dianalisis
menggunakan SPSS versi 10 dimana ia melibatkan penggunaan peratusan, frekuensi, t-
Test dan One Way ANOVA. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan yang
signifikan dalam tahap keresahan diantara bangsa dan faktor Keresahan Berkomuniksi.
Kajian juga mendapati terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan diantara kumpulan dan faktor
Perasaan Umun Terhadap Keresahan manakala tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan
antara tahap keresahan dan jantina untuk kesemua faktor keresahan.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES xii
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of the Study 5
1.2 Statement of the Problem 7
1.3 Purposes of the Study 11
1.4 Objectives of the Study 12
1.5 Research Questions 12
1.6 Significance of the Study 13
1.7 Scope of the Study 14
1.8 Definition of Concepts 15
1.8.1 Anxiety in Language Learning 15
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1.8.2 Foreign Language 16
1.8.3 TESL Students 17
1.8.4 The Elective (With Credit) Students 17
1.8.5 The Elective (Without Credit) Students 18
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Definition of Anxiety 19
2.2 Foreign Language Anxiety 22
2.3 Contributing Factors of Anxiety 27
2.3.1 Communication Apprehension 27
2.3.2 Fear of Negative Evaluation 31
2.3.3 General Feeling of Anxiety 33
2.4 Effects of Anxiety in Foreign Language Learning 35
2.5 Anxiety in Gender 37
2.6 Anxiety in Race 39
2.7 Related Research 40
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Respondents of the Study 43
3.2 Instruments of the Study 44
3.3 Research Procedures 47
3.4 Data Analysis 47
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4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Respondents’ Background 50
4.1.1 Group 50
4.1.2 Gender 50
4.1.3 Race 51
4.1.4 Japanese Grade 52
4.1.5 Age 52
4.2 Descriptive Item 53
4.2.1 Respondents’ Perceptions for Communication
Apprehension 53
4.2.2 Respondents’ Perception for Fear of Negative
Evaluation 59
4.2.3 Respondents’ Perceptions for General Feeling
of Anxiety 62
4.3 Level Analysis for Each Anxiety Factor 68
4.4 Level Analysis According to Gender, Race and Group 69
4.4.1 Level Analysis According to Gender 69
4.4.2 Level Analysis According to Race 71
4.4.3 Level Analysis According to Group 73
4.5 Analysis of Comparison for Anxiety Level 75
4.5.1 Analysis of t-Test Comparison for Gender 75
4.5.2 Analysis of Mean Value and One Way ANOVA
for Race 76
4.5.3 Analysis of Mean Score and One Way ANOVA
for Group 78
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5 FINDINGS
5.1 Communication Apprehension 82
5.1.1 Students’ Perceptions 82
5.1.2 Comparison of Anxiety Level for Communication 85
Apprehension
5.1.2.1 Gender 85
5.1.2.2 Race 88
5.1.2.3 Groups 89
5.2 Fear of Negative Evaluation 91
5.2.1 Students’ Perceptions 91
5.2.2 Comparison of Anxiety Level for Fear of Negative
Evaluation 95
5.2.2.1 Gender 95
5.2.2.2 Race 97
5.2.2.3 Groups 99
5.3 General Feeling of Anxiety 101
5.3.1 Students’ Perceptions 101
5.3.2 Comparison of Anxiety Level for General Feeling
of Anxiety 104
5.3.2.1 Gender 104
5.3.2.2 Race 106
5.3.2.3 Groups 107
5.4 Overall Level of Anxiety 110
5.4.1 Students’ Perceptions 110
5.4.2 Comparison of Anxiety Level for Overall Level
of Anxiety 111
5.4.2.1 Gender 111
5.4.2.2 Race 113
5.4.2.3 Groups 114
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6 CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION
6.1 Conclusion 117
6.2 Implications of the Findings 118
6.2.1 UTM 118
6.2.2 Foreign Language Lecturer/Instructors 119
6.2.3 Students 120
6.3 Limitations of the Study 120
6.3.1 The Japanese Language 120
6.3.2 Numbers of Respondents 121
6.3.3 Questionnaires 121
7 RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1 Recommendations 123
7.1.1 UTM 123
7.1.2 Foreign Language Lecturer/Instructors 123 7.1.3 Students 125
7.2 Recommendations for Future Research 125
7.2.1 Foreign Languages 125
7.2.2 Data Collection and Questionnaires 126
7.2.3 Interview 126
REFERENCES 127
APPENDIX A
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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
3.1 Numbers and Division of Questions 45
3.2 The Likert Scale 46
3.3 The Mean Value for Anxiety Level 47
4.1 Frequency and Percentage According to Group 50
4.2 Frequency And Percentage According to Gender 50
4.3 Frequency and Percentage According to Race 51
4.4 Frequency and Percentage According to
Japanese 1 Grade 52
4.5 Frequency and Percentage According to Age 52
4.6 Respondents’ Perceptions for Communication
Apprehension 53
4.7 Respondents’ Perceptions for Fear of Negative
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Evaluation 59
4.8 Respondents’ Perceptions for General Feeling
Of Anxiety 62
4.9 Analysis of the Level for Each Factor 68
4.10 Level Analysis for Communication Apprehension,
Fear of Negative Evaluation, General Feeling of
Anxiety and Overall Level of Anxiety According
to Gender 69
4.11 Level Analysis for Communication Apprehension,
Fear of Negative Evaluation, General Feeling
of Anxiety and Overall Level of Anxiety According
to Race 71
4.12 Level Analysis for Communication Apprehension,
Fear of Negative Evaluation, General Feeling
of Anxiety and Overall Level of Anxiety According
to Group. 73
4.13 Analysis of t-Test for Communication Apprehension,
Fear of Negative Evaluation, General Feeling
of Anxiety and Overall Level of Anxiety for Gender 75
4.14 Analysis of Mean Value for Each Factor (Race) 76
4.15 Analysis of One Way Anova for Each Factor (Race) 77
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4.16 Analysis of Mean Score for Each Factor (Groups) 78
4.17 Analysis of One Way Anova for Each Factor (Groups) 80
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Introduction
Enrolling in the foreign language classroom has become quite popular in all
universities around Malaysia including Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). This is
due to the awareness of the importance of learning at least one foreign language. The
purpose of learning the foreign language might be different from one student to the
other. Some students might have learned the language because of the language itself. As
to learn the language is actually a matter of learning about the people (native speakers of
the language), they might have grown fond on some aspects such as the language,
culture, arts, literature, history, and lifestyle. Besides that, the factors of learning the
politics, economy, society as well as the science and technology are also among the
reasons for the students to learn more on the particular foreign language. This can be
considered as personal satisfaction in learning the foreign language.
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Nevertheless, there are also some students who learn a foreign language as an
aim to later benefit them for future employment. Most of the university students
nowadays do realize that learning foreign language has a lot more to offer later on in
their work field (Wan Zarina et al., 2007). It is known that learning a foreign language
can offer a very convenient qualification especially during job applications.
Furthermore, there are some companies or institutions that make it compulsory for their
workers to master certain level of foreign language proficiency. This is normally related
to the foreign based companies that require their workers or future workers to be able to
use the foreign language. The examples of popular foreign languages demanded by
companies all around Malaysia are Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, French and German.
Whether learning the foreign language based on the factors of adoring the
language or future employment, both are considered as personal interests since the
students themselves are willingly to learn the language. Besides that, there is also
another purpose for the university students to learn foreign language which is to fulfill
the university course requirement. In UTM, this scenario can be seen in the Japanese
language classes offered by the Faculty of Education.
Japanese language has become one of the popular foreign languages that is
mostly learnt by the UTM students. In UTM, there are two groups of students who enroll
in the Japanese language classes. The first group of students is the TESL students who
learn the foreign language as the university course requirement. As to fulfill the course
requirement, the Japanese language has been chosen as the foreign language that is
compulsory to be taken by the first year Teaching English as Second Language (TESL)
students. These future English teachers have to take the Japanese language up to the
second level. Besides that, they are also required to learn and pass both Japanese
Language I (SHL 1322) and Japanese Language II (SHL 1342) that are offered to them
in their first two semesters. The total credits for both Japanese I and Japanese II classes
are four credits which are included in their CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average).
Whether they like it or not, the subject has become one of the university course
requirements. It leaves them with no choice than to have to learn it.
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The second group known as the elective group is the group of students from
various courses in UTM who learns the foreign language based on personal interest.
UTM offers some Japanese language classes from the first level up to the third level.
Apart from that, there are also some other Japanese language classes offered to train and
prepare the UTM students for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). Overall,
these Japanese language classes are opened to all the UTM students regardless of their
courses and faculties. These classes are offered by the Department of Modern
Languages.
The students who are interested in taking a foreign language class are given
choices on whether they want to learn the subject as credit or without credit. For those
who choose to learn the Japanese language without credit, there will be no grade
involved since they are only required to pass the final test at the end of the semester.
This is to obtain a certificate as a proof of attending the Japanese language class. This
group of students is known as the Elective (Without Credit) group. As for the second
option, the students can also include the Japanese language as one of the subject with
credit. This group is called the Elective (With Credit) group. Even tough the main
purpose of learning the Japanese language is mainly because of their personal interest,
they are still required to sit for final examination where the credit will be counted.
Nevertheless, the situation for both Elective groups is different from the TESL group
since they are not forced to enroll in the Japanese language class.
Learning the foreign language is actually different from second language
learning (Crookall and Oxford, 1991). As foreign language is considered unfamiliar for
a first timer encountering it, this situation can demonstrate the feeling of unease, fear
and anxiety. These feelings generate the learning disabilities which later impede the
process of acquiring and learning the language as well as affect the students’ learning
abilities (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1991). Among all the feelings, anxiety has
become one of the most significant factors in determining the successful of foreign
language learning (Von Worde, 2003 and Cubukcu, 2007)
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Since anxiety is closely related to the students’ academic achievements, it is
crucial to determine the level of anxiety in learning a foreign language. The level of
anxiety may vary according to the purpose of learning it. Whether based on personal
interest or fulfilling the university course requirement, both purposes still generate the
feeling of anxiety in the foreign language classroom. Thus, it is important to identify the
level of the anxiety in the foreign language classroom as well as to see the connection or
relationship of purposes in determining the level itself (Wan Zarina et al., 2007).
Besides that, the anxiety level could also vary according to different gender and
races as well. As the anxiety level varies according to gender (Wicks-Nelson & Israel
(2006), the anxiety level in learning a foreign language could also be different for both
genders. Some studies indicate that female students are more anxious than male in
language classroom. However there are also some studies indicating that there are no
differences in anxiety level between genders (Rosenfeld and Berko, 1990; Fayer,
McCrosky and Richmond, 1984). Therefore, it is important to determine the connection
between anxiety level and gender as to find out whether the factor of gender influences
the anxiety level in a foreign language class or not.
As for the factor of race, there are not many studies conducted in Malaysia on the
differences of anxiety level among the races in Malaysia. However, according to Phillips
(1978), the anxiety level differs according to different race. It is very important to find
out whether different race influence the anxiety level in foreign language learning or not.
Since learning a foreign language is considered as implementing a new culture, it is very
beneficial to determine the correlation between the race and anxiety levels as to see
which race experiences the most difficulties in a foreign language classroom.
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1.1 Background of the study
As foreign language is considered unfamiliar for the first time encountering it,
this situation can demonstrate the feelings of unease, fear and anxiousness. Among all
the feelings, anxiety has become one of the most significant factors in determining the
success of foreign language learning.
Learning a foreign language is actually different from second language learning.
As learning foreign language is considered as learning something new (Wan Zarina et
al., 2007) there will be some difficulties occur during the process of learning and
acquiring the language. These difficulties usually become one of the factors that can
hamper the process of learning and acquiring the foreign language (Banks, 2008). It is
believed that there are some prominent emotional factors that arise in foreign language
learning such as intelligence, motivation, attitudes and anxiety which are capable of
affecting the foreign language learning abilities (Banks, 2008). Among these, anxiety
stands out as one of the main influential factors in determining the successfulness of
language learning. Anxiety can cause the students to have an undeveloped proficiency in
a particular foreign language (Horwitz, Horwitx and Cope, 1991). The higher the level
of anxiety, the more it will hamper the learning process.
This study focuses on the three groups of students who enrolled in the Japanese
Language classes based on different purposes. The first group involved in this study was
the group of TESL students who learned the foreign language based on university course
requirement. On the other hand, the second and the third groups were groups of students
who enrolled in the foreign language class based on personal interest. It is believed that
this group of students will experience lower level of anxiety than those who were forced
by the educational system. Therefore, the educational system that makes it compulsory
for the students to enroll in a foreign language class might become the reason for the
students to experience the detrimental feeling of anxiety.
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This study is also focusing on the anxiety level for both male and female students
as in to compare their anxiety levels in foreign language learning. It is believed that
different gender possesses different ways of handling worries and fear thus resulting in
different anxiety level. According to studies by Pappamihiel (2001), and the theory by
Wicks-Nelson & Israel (2006), there are differences between male and female anxiety
level where female tend to be more anxious than male. Therefore the same situation
applies to the foreign language learning where female students might experience high
level of anxiety than male. Additionally, the same condition goes to the factor of race
where different race influences the anxiety level. The races involved are the Malays,
Chinese, Indians as well as Others.
Some studies had been conducted to investigate the levels of anxiety. These
studies had used the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) as an
instrument to measure the anxiety level. The FLCAS is based on the analysis of potential
sources of anxiety in a language classroom by integrating three related anxieties namely
the communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and general feeling of
anxiety as posited by Horwitz (1983).
Communication apprehension refers to the feeling of anxiety in communicating
with others. Some of the students might have very well thoughts and ideas but fail to
express them properly. Not only that, most of the students are also facing some problems
in comprehending others thoughts and ideas. This inability leads to apprehension.
Students who have problems as such would choose a positive response to questions like
“I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my language class”. They would
also choose a negative response to question like “I feel confident when I speak in foreign
language classroom”.
The second component which is fear of negative evaluation indicates that the
students in a foreign language class are afraid to receive negative feedbacks not only
from other classmates but also from the lecturers or instructors. This leads to the feelings
of being afraid of making mistakes as well as trying to maintain their faces in front of
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their classmates and instructors. At the same time, they are trying to avoid the face
threatening situation in a foreign language class. Students with fear of negative
evaluation would choose a positive response to questions like “I am afraid that the other
students will laugh at me when I speak the foreign language” but would settle for
negative response to questions like “ I don’t worry about making mistakes in language
classroom”.
The third component which is the general feeling of anxiety is the feeling that
relates with other apprehension but not to communication or fear of negative evaluation.
Students with general feeling of anxiety would still get anxious even though they have
made preparations for the language class. They would go for positive response to
question like “even if I am well prepared for the class, I feel anxious about it” and settle
for negative response to question like “it wouldn’t bother me at all to take more foreign
language.”
There has been an increase in the awareness of the problems in foreign language
learning regarding the feeling of anxiety. Hence, there is need to further investigate on to
what extend anxiety can affect the foreign language learning as well as the differences
between the anxiety level depending on gender, race and purpose of learning it.
1.2 Statement of the problem
Many universities students especially in UTM are facing similar problems in the
foreign language classroom. The most significant problem raised is the foreign language
anxiety where it caused interference in the process of foreign language learning itself.
According to Price (1991), students in foreign language classroom tend to be more
stiffed, scared and embarrassed during the learning period. These feelings are the
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starting points of becoming inferior in learning. Thus, the feeling of anxiety will not
only affect the students’ perceptions on the academic subjects but also in life. As stated
by Krashen (1982), anxiety inhibits the learner’s ability to process incoming language as
well as short-circuits in the process of acquisition. Students who feel anxious may learn
less and not be able to demonstrate what they have learned.
The expectation of getting good grades is also one of the factors on feeling
anxious in learning (Daley et al., 1999). As for the TESL group, they were required to
pass both Japanese I (SHL 1322) and Japanese II (SHL 1342) classes to be able to
graduate since the foreign language subject has become the university course
requirement. They have to obtain at least grade C+ to be able to pass the foreign
language subjects. Hence, while learning the Japanese language, the students tend to be
very anxious when it comes to the matters of marks and grade. This might be a problem
for some students who failed to score in the Japanese language classes. These students
will have to repeat the subjects in order to graduate. In other words, they will feel the
tense to learn the foreign language and this will restrain them from enjoying the learning
process. Besides that, it is also crucial to for the students to maintain the grade since the
foreign language subjects will be counted in their CGPA. Therefore, they might
experience high level of anxiety while learning the foreign language.
As for the students in the Elective (With Credit) group who enrolled in the
Japanese class based on personal interest, they too were required to sit for examination
and their grades were counted. Even tough the students were willing to enroll in the
class based on personal interest, they might also experience the feeling of anxiety in the
foreign language class. This is due to the factor of feeling the tense to score in the final
exam. Moving to the Elective (Without Credit) group, the students who enrolled in the
Japanese class might experience a low anxiety level. This is due to the fact that they
were learning it based on personal interest. However, there are also possibilities for these
students to experience high anxiety level regardless their purpose of learning the
Japanese language. In addition, anxiety causes a major problem for the students in all the
three groups who were taking the Japanese language classes in UTM especially for the
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TESL students who learned it for the purpose of fulfilling the university course
requirement.
The purpose of learning the foreign language is different for the three groups.
Therefore, the level of anxiety in the foreign language learning may also vary according
to the purposes of learning it. To learn the foreign language based on the university
course requirement is similar to be having forced to. It is assumed that the TESL group
will have higher level of anxiety compared to those who were learning the foreign
language based on personal interest. When the level of anxiety is high, it will hamper the
process of acquiring and learning the language (Krashen, 1982).
As for the factor of different gender, many studies and researches indicate that
there are differences in anxiety level between female and male students. Wicks-Nelson
& Israel (2006) for instance claim that researchers have found that naturally, female do
feel more anxious than male. This is due to many factors such as confident, security, and
superiority. Therefore, most of the female students suffer from the feeling of anxiety in
class without any solution to prevent it from happening. Most of the techniques and
methods used especially in a foreign language class still fail to overcome these
problems. Hence, the effects of feeling anxious and worry can be seen from the signs of
anxiety showed by the female students.
According to Bailey and Daley (1997) and Berger and Shechter (1996), female
tend to be more anxious than male in certain situation as for many reason, female and
male students can react differently to a similar setting. In the simplest term, some
sources of pressure and discomfort situation for female students may not be as nerve-
wracking for male students. As anxiety could effect the academic achievement in a
foreign language class, some female students might find it difficult to score in the
subject and thus resulting in more detrimental feeling of anxiety that might influence
other subjects as well.
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A study by Wan Zarina et al. (2007) agrees that race does influence the anxiety
level of students in foreign language class. As learning a foreign language is considered
as learning a new language, it is assumed that learning a different culture might cause a
detrimental feeling of anxiety for some races. It is well known that not all races are
‘ready’ to open themselves in learning and accepting a new language and culture. There
are many factors that contribute to these problems. One of the significant problems relies
in the factor of different phonological factors. This is proven by the theory of
phonological differences between society and culture by Fromkin et al. (2003) that
might create different level of anxiety among races. Thus, some races might find it
difficult to learn a new foreign language as well as to accept the new culture embedded
in the language.
In addition, the students’ anxiety levels also vary according to self-esteem and
self-confidence possess by the students in different race. In Malaysia, a study by Phillips
(1978) found that there are differences in the self-esteem levels among the races in
Malaysia. It should be noted that a student with high self-esteem might experience low
level of anxiety. Since the self-esteem level is different among races in Malaysia, the
anxiety level among them might also be different. As the sense of belonging and
solidarity among races is very much important in learning, therefore some race might
feel very confident in foreign language class and some might feel outcast. This is also
related to the numbers of students with same race that enrolled in the same foreign
language class. For the race that feel outcast, their anxiety level might be high. This is
due to the feeling of security while being surrounded by different race that lead to a high
level of anxiety.
A study by Phillips (1978) found that mostly the Indian students tend to
experience the high level of anxiety due to the low level of self-esteem and thus
resulting in low academic achievement. If this is neglected, some of them might be left
behind and this will cause problem for them especially if they are really interested in
learning a foreign language. This will not only upset them but also lead to low self-
confidence in learning especially if other races have better achievement in a foreign
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language class. Therefore, it leads to a more serious problem should the educational
institutions as well as the lecturers and instructors choose to neglect the fact that
different race possess different level of anxiety in language learning.
Many foreign language lecturers and instructors are still having problems in
overcoming the anxiety in foreign language classroom. This is referring to the traditional
methods and approaches being used by some lecturers and instructors. The obliviousness
concerning the students’ anxiety has lead to a more serious problem in learning. As a
result, most of the materials and methods used are not appropriate in catering the
learners’ needs especially for the beginners. Some of the methods used in teaching
foreign language are only suitable for the high proficiency students (Banks, 2008).
Hence, instead of becoming an enriching and rewarding experience, the foreign
language learning become more stressful and intimidating for the low proficiency
students.
Consequently, there is a need to identify which factor that contribute the most to
the feeling of anxiety so that the students as well as instructors and lecturers will become
more aware of the seriousness of the problems and thus be able to come out with the best
solutions. Therefore, it is important to identify the perceptions among UTM students
who learned the foreign language as well as to determine the differences of anxiety level
within the three groups.
1.3 Purpose of the study
The differences in anxiety level could be related to the factor of different gender,
race and group (different purpose of learning the foreign language). The races involved
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are the Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Others while the three groups are the TESL,
Elective (With Credit) and Elective (Without Credit). Referring the uprising awareness
of the problems faced by the students in learning a foreign language due to the existence
of anxiety, there is need to identify the level of anxiety of the students as well as to
determine of the anxiety level based on gender, race and group in the foreign language
class.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the severity of the level of anxiety for
different gender, race as well as the groups. The levels of anxiety of both groups of
students are measured using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)
designed by Horwitz (1983).
1.4 Objectives of the study
a) To identify the perceptions of the TESL group, Elective (With Credit) group and
Elective (Without Credit) group regarding the factors that contribute to the
feeling of anxiety.
b) To determine the differences of anxiety level for different gender, race and the
three groups which are the TESL group, Elective (With Credit) group and
Elective (Without Credit) group.
1.5 Research Questions
a) What are the perceptions of the TESL group, Elective (With Credit) group and
Elective (Without Credit) group regarding the factors that contribute to the
feeling of anxiety?
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b) What are the differences of anxiety level for different gender, race and the three
groups which are the TESL group, Elective (With Credit) group and Elective
(Without Credit) group?
1.6 Significance of the study
The students who enrolled in the foreign language class are believed to have
difficulties in learning the language which is related to the feeling of anxiety. There are
students who are unaware of the feeling of anxiety and yet feel the consequence of it.
Some are unsure about the feelings and convey it as uneasiness, nervousness and even
frustration. Since the feeling of anxiety can hinder the language acquisition, it is
necessary to increase the awareness of the students on their level of anxiety in learning a
foreign language. From the study, the students can also identify the factors that
contribute to the feeling of anxiety in the classroom and later on finding the solutions to
overcome the problems.
Besides that, the study is important for the lecturers and instructors to realize that
anxiety can negatively affect the language learning experiences in numerous ways. As
reducing the anxiety can increase the language acquisition, retention as well as learner
motivation (Krashen, 1982), it is important for the lecturers or instructors to know the
state of anxiety level of the students and strive to create a low stress, friendly and
supportive learning environment for the students. Besides that, it is crucial for the
lecturers and instructors to be sensitive to students’ fears and insecurities while learning
the foreign language. They may have to come out with the best teaching approach and
methods to cater the needs of the students in order to learn well especially in a non-
threatening environment that allows the process of learning and acquisition. This study
is also very beneficial for all parties involved in determining the successful of learning
the foreign language in order to improve the students’ grade and achievement in foreign
language classes.