L2 Anxiety: Training Effects and Anxiety Sources

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationships among anxiety, introversion and extroversion, and speaking proficiency, the effect of anxiety reduction training, and the sources of anxiety among Korean EFL university students. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Introversion and Extroversion questionnaire were administered to 21 university students who were interviewed by two native English speakers for the measurement of speaking proficiency. The results of a data analysis showed that the correlations among those variables ranged from low to moderate and that the effect of the ten-week intervention of anxiety reduction on speaking proficiency improvement and anxiety reduction was meager, depending on the introversion and extroversion personality traits. In addition, the participants reported that the potential sources of anxiety were lack of speaking proficiency, lack of listening comprehension proficiency, fear of course evaluation, lack of confidence in speaking and listening skills, and peer pressure. These findings were discussed in detail, followed by teaching implications and future study areas in an effort to shed further light on the influence of foreign language anxiety on L2 acquisition.