Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies
It is believed that high anxiety in foreign language learning can negatively affect learners' language learning processes and hinder the development of their language skills. Focusing specifically on the context of higher education, this study aims to examine in depth the perspectives of both f...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000919 |
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| author | Osman Özdemir Hümset Seçkin |
| author_facet | Osman Özdemir Hümset Seçkin |
| author_sort | Osman Özdemir |
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| description | It is believed that high anxiety in foreign language learning can negatively affect learners' language learning processes and hinder the development of their language skills. Focusing specifically on the context of higher education, this study aims to examine in depth the perspectives of both first-year students and instructors on anxiety related to the productive skills of speaking and writing in English. Although previous studies have addressed language anxiety comprehensively, it is observed that there is very limited research that examines students' and instructors' perspectives on writing and speaking skills anxiety together. In this qualitative study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students and instructors in the Department of English Translation and Interpreting at Selcuk University. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed in detail and meticulously through thematic analysis. The theoretical framework of the study consists of the literature on the origins, symptoms and consequences of language anxiety and the cumulative process of students' language learning experiences and instructors' language teaching experiences and observations. The findings show that the most common factors that increase students' speaking anxiety are fear of making pronunciation mistakes, speaking in front of others, lack of vocabulary knowledge, unwillingness to speak and lack of exposure to English. On the other hand, difficulty in organizing ideas, lack of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, lack of specialized terminology knowledge and insufficient language proficiency increase writing anxiety the most. To cope with speaking anxiety, students suggested improving listening skills, improving grammatical knowledge and enough pronunciation practice, while instructors suggested giving positive feedback, praising accomplishments and pair work/groupwork activities. In order to cope with writing anxiety, students mostly suggested developing academic strategies, while instructors suggested developing language enhancement strategies. This study sheds light on the complex dimensions of English speaking and writing anxiety and offers practical suggestions for both language teachers and language learners to address this problem. The findings are considered to be instructive not only for language teaching practice but also for educational policy makers, practitioners and researchers. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0d44832bbf5442a0a7ba0b4268bc8ce6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2590-2911 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences and Humanities Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-0d44832bbf5442a0a7ba0b4268bc8ce62025-08-20T03:30:45ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011110136410.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101364Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategiesOsman Özdemir0Hümset Seçkin1Akdeniz University, Foreign Language Education, School of Foreign Languages, Antalya, Turkiye; Corresponding author.Selcuk University, Foreign Language Education, School of Foreign Languages, Konya, TurkiyeIt is believed that high anxiety in foreign language learning can negatively affect learners' language learning processes and hinder the development of their language skills. Focusing specifically on the context of higher education, this study aims to examine in depth the perspectives of both first-year students and instructors on anxiety related to the productive skills of speaking and writing in English. Although previous studies have addressed language anxiety comprehensively, it is observed that there is very limited research that examines students' and instructors' perspectives on writing and speaking skills anxiety together. In this qualitative study, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with students and instructors in the Department of English Translation and Interpreting at Selcuk University. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed in detail and meticulously through thematic analysis. The theoretical framework of the study consists of the literature on the origins, symptoms and consequences of language anxiety and the cumulative process of students' language learning experiences and instructors' language teaching experiences and observations. The findings show that the most common factors that increase students' speaking anxiety are fear of making pronunciation mistakes, speaking in front of others, lack of vocabulary knowledge, unwillingness to speak and lack of exposure to English. On the other hand, difficulty in organizing ideas, lack of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, lack of specialized terminology knowledge and insufficient language proficiency increase writing anxiety the most. To cope with speaking anxiety, students suggested improving listening skills, improving grammatical knowledge and enough pronunciation practice, while instructors suggested giving positive feedback, praising accomplishments and pair work/groupwork activities. In order to cope with writing anxiety, students mostly suggested developing academic strategies, while instructors suggested developing language enhancement strategies. This study sheds light on the complex dimensions of English speaking and writing anxiety and offers practical suggestions for both language teachers and language learners to address this problem. The findings are considered to be instructive not only for language teaching practice but also for educational policy makers, practitioners and researchers.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000919Foreign language anxietySpeaking anxietyWriting anxietyAnxiety coping strategiesLanguage learning barriersHigher education |
| spellingShingle | Osman Özdemir Hümset Seçkin Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies Social Sciences and Humanities Open Foreign language anxiety Speaking anxiety Writing anxiety Anxiety coping strategies Language learning barriers Higher education |
| title | Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies |
| title_full | Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies |
| title_fullStr | Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies |
| title_short | Exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education: Multifaceted insights into causes, impacts, and coping strategies |
| title_sort | exploring foreign language anxiety in higher education multifaceted insights into causes impacts and coping strategies |
| topic | Foreign language anxiety Speaking anxiety Writing anxiety Anxiety coping strategies Language learning barriers Higher education |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125000919 |
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