This paper presents an empirical study of Foreign Language Anxiety in Chinese university students learning English as a foreign language.
The subjects of the present study were 344 college students from Mainland China. They responded to a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire adapted from Horwitz’s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS).
Their responses to the questionnaire were submitted to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (with the help of statistical package of SPSS and AMOS) for identifying anxiety dimensions.
The results show that four dimensions of anxiety exist among the subjects and the two dimensions of the FLCAS were closely examined to find the extent to which that the four-factor model adequately fit the data. The fit indices suggested that the instrument measuring the dimensions of anxiety specific to college students in China was valid construct-wise and reliable for future use.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1 Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
2.2 Factor analysis of FLCAS
3. Method
3.1 Participants
3.2 Instruments
3.3 Data collection and analysis
4. Results
4.1 The reliability and normality of FLCAS
4.2 Principal component analysis of the FLCAS
4.3 Confirmatory factor analysis of FLCAS
5. Discussion
Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary objective of this study is to identify the latent constructs of anxiety dimensions among college students in the Mainland China context using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). By employing both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the study seeks to validate the instrument for this specific population and compare the identified anxiety dimensions with those found in other cultural and linguistic contexts.
- Validation of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) in China
- Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to define anxiety dimensions
- Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to verify model fit
- Comparative analysis of anxiety constructs across different cultural backgrounds
- Assessment of internal consistency and construct validity
Excerpt from the Book
2.2 Factor analysis of FLCAS
The exploratory factor analysis is an interdependence technique whose primary purpose is to define the underlying structure among variables and is commonly used in data reduction to identify a small number of factors that explain most of the variance observed in a much bigger number of variables (Joseph F. Hair Jr. 2014). Since Aidas (1994) starting factor analysis, some researchers have been keen on identifying the underlying components of FLCAS with the application of exploratory factor analysis.
When Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope developed the FLCAS(1986), they thought foreign language anxiety was composed of three distinct performance anxiety entities: Communication Apprehension, Test Anxiety and Fear of Negative Evaluation. Horwitz’s analysis of anxiety entities of FLCAS yieldded a 0.93 Cronbach’ alpha coefficient and a high reliability (r=.83, p<0.1). Aida(1994) examined anxiety dimemsions among 96 university students to see whether the structure identified in her research coincides with the three-factor structure reported in Horwitz and Cope (1986). Aida used the principal component analysis with varimax rotation to extract four significant latent factor . The four factors extracted from her approach were Speech Anxiety, Fear of Failing the Class, Comfortableness with the Foreign Language and Negative Attitudes, among which Speech Anxiety and Fear of Failing the Class appeared as the most important components, accounting for 37.9% and 6.3% of the total variance respectively, which partially support Hortwiz’s construct.
Pascual F. et al. (2001) replicated Aida’s study of anxiety dimensions with 198 post-beginner students of English at an Italian official language school. This study had a cronbach’s alpha 0.89 and a high rest-retest reliability (r=.9041 p<.000). In the research, Principal component analysis with varimax rotation produced four significant latent factors. However, the four factors found in their research was somewhat different from the four factors extracted by Aida, in that some of their items loaded on different factors identified by Aida.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the importance of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) in language learning and identifies the gap in research concerning its latent constructs in the Mainland China context.
2. Literature Review: This section covers the theoretical background of the FLCAS, including previous factor analysis studies conducted in various international contexts.
3. Method: This chapter outlines the research design, detailing the participant demographics (343 students), the instruments used, and the procedures for data collection and statistical analysis.
4. Results: This chapter presents the statistical findings, including the reliability, normality, and the results of both the principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis of the FLCAS data.
5. Discussion: This section interprets the study's findings in light of existing literature, discussing the identified four-factor model and its implications for the Chinese educational context.
Conclusion: This chapter summarizes the findings, acknowledges the limitations of the study, and provides recommendations for future research on FLCAS in diverse learner populations.
Keywords
Principal component analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis, FLCAS, Foreign Language Anxiety, Chinese Mainland Context, Anxiety Dimensions, Construct Validity, Language Learning, Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Evaluation, Statistical Analysis, SPSS, AMOS, Reliability, Affective Variables.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this study?
The study focuses on identifying and validating the latent components of anxiety dimensions in Chinese university students using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS).
What are the central thematic fields addressed?
The central themes include foreign language anxiety, psychometrics in language education, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and cross-cultural comparisons of anxiety constructs.
What is the main research goal?
The goal is to determine whether the four-factor model of the FLCAS is construct-wise valid and reliable when applied to English learners in Mainland China.
Which scientific methods are utilized?
The research employs quantitative statistical methods, specifically Cronbach’s alpha for reliability, and both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using SPSS and AMOS.
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers a comprehensive literature review, the methodological framework, the detailed statistical results of factor extractions, and a critical discussion of the resulting four-factor model.
Which keywords best characterize this research?
Key terms include Principal component analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis, FLCAS, Foreign Language Anxiety, and the Chinese Mainland context.
How does the four-factor model found in this study compare to previous research?
The study found that while the four-factor structure is largely consistent with Aida’s model in the American context, the item loadings differ, which the author attributes to unique cultural and educational settings.
Why were some items removed from the original FLCAS?
Certain items were deleted because they did not load significantly on any factor and demonstrated low communalities, thereby affecting the convergent validity of the model.
What is the significance of using confirmatory factor analysis?
Confirmatory factor analysis allows the researcher to formally test how well the proposed theoretical four-factor model fits the actual observed data from the Chinese student sample.
- Quote paper
- Yin Xiaoteng (Author), 2016, Foreign Language Anxiety. A Case Study of Chinese University Students Learning English as a Foreign Language, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/343282
