The Stability of General Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety across English and French

The present study examined the stability of the general foreign language classroom anxiety construct across English and French. Preservice teachers from two western universities in Venezuela, who were majoring simultaneously in these two foreign languages, participated in the study. The students represented a variety of levels within each language. They completed two Spanish versions (one for each language) of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz, & Cope, 1986). Separate analyses were performed on the full sample and on a restricted sample that included only those students who were at the same level in both languages. The results supported the indirect findings reported by Saito, Horwitz, and Garza (1999) while providing direct evidence suggesting the stability of the construct across English and French. Evidence obtained for overall, within-institution, and within-level comparisons. Furthermore, analysis of psychometric technical aspects of the FLCAS indicated that the scale exhibited high reliability but moderate construct validity.