An Investigation of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Its Relationship with Students' Achievement

The present study examines anxiety in English undergraduate classes with regard to the type of situations that provoke anxiety during different stages of the learning process and the relationship of anxiety with learners' achievement. Participants of the study include 149 undergraduates enrolled in second and sixth semester of different departments of University of Sargodha who are learning English as a foreign language. The questionnaire used in this study is the abbreviated form of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). An inventory is also used to determine different situations that provoke anxiety. Finally, students' GPA in English classes is taken to find its relationship with language anxiety. The results show that language anxiety and achievement are negatively related to each other. It is also found that female students are less anxious in learning English as a foreign language than male students. "Speaking in front of others" is rated as the biggest cause of anxiety followed by "worries about grammatical mistakes", "pronunciation" and "being unable to talk spontaneously". It is suggested that the classroom environment should be encouraging and motivating. Moreover, teachers need to deal with anxiety-provoking situations carefully. (Contains 5 tables.)