A COMPARISON OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN TWO DIFFERENT SETTINGS: ONLINE VS CLASSROOM
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to examine and compare the foreign language anxiety (FLA) levels of English preparatory school students in two settings namely online and in person classroom lessons. An explanatory mixed-method research design was adopted to accomplish the aim. Two questionnaires were used in the first part to collect quantitative data, and the sample cohort consisted of 234 students from six Turkish state universities. The quantitative data were examined through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings showed that moderate levels of FLA were present in both online and in person classroom instruction among participants. It was discovered that the FLA levels in two settings differed in a statistically significant way. In consonance with quantitative results, semi-structured interviews with 10 volunteers were done to collect further data. Thematic analysis was used to resolve the qualitative data from the interviews, and as a result, four key themes – interaction, anxiety, problems, and language points – emerged. Students preferred classroom settings for interaction since they could interact in person classroom lessons. Additionally, it was shown that technical issues such as disconnections and speech interruptions caused distress in language learners.
Keywords
EFL, foreign language anxiety, hybrid learning, online language anxiety
References
- Aida, Y. (1994). Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. The modern language journal, 78(2), 155-168.
- Ahlin, E. M., (2019). Semi-structured interviews with expert practitioners: Their validity and significant contribution to translational research. In Sage Research Methods Cases Part 2. SAGE Publications, Ltd., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526466037
- Aydin, S., Harputlu, L., Guzel, S., & Genc, D. (2016). A Turkish version of foreign language anxiety scale: Reliability and validity. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 232, 250-256.
- Baez-Holley, M. (2013). Foreign language anxiety in the classroom and in an online environment (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana State University).
- Barkanyi, Z., & Melchor-Couto, S. (2017). Foreign language anxiety on a massive open online language course. CALL in a climate of change: adapting to turbulent global conditions, 24.
- Bollinger, A. (2017). Foreign language anxiety in traditional and distance learning foreign language classrooms. (Doctoral Dissertations and Projects). Liberty University, VA.