Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context

Anxiety is understood as being worried, an emotional reaction that accompanies one’s learning. In the foreign language context, it may hinder the language learning experience and lead to communication apprehension. This study investigates the role of anxiety in the willingness to communicate across...

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Main Authors: Al-Saidat, Emad, Dipima Buragohain, Amer, Faten
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/1/TD%2010.pdf
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author Al-Saidat, Emad
Dipima Buragohain,
Amer, Faten
author_facet Al-Saidat, Emad
Dipima Buragohain,
Amer, Faten
author_sort Al-Saidat, Emad
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Anxiety is understood as being worried, an emotional reaction that accompanies one’s learning. In the foreign language context, it may hinder the language learning experience and lead to communication apprehension. This study investigates the role of anxiety in the willingness to communicate across Jordanian EFL eighth-grade students at a private school in Amman. Direct observations and interviews were conducted across twenty students and two teachers. The analysis of data obtained from observations showed that the majority of students were reluctant to participate in English classrooms, as only an average of 10% showed their desire to participate in all the observational categories. Firstly, the interview data showed that anxiety affected students’ willingness to communicate inside classrooms. Secondly, students’ level of anxiety was found to be increased by several factors such as fear of making mistakes, fear of being criticised by other people inside the classroom, including the teacher, and fear of negative teacher evaluation. Thirdly, the results also showed that some of the reasons that led to anxiety stemmed from cultural beliefs deeply rooted in the students concerning being active participants or speaking in front of other people. Finally, the study provides some recommendations for teachers in order to create an anxiety-free learning atmosphere in classrooms to reduce students’ speaking anxiety.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:223172023-10-11T01:07:07Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/ Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context Al-Saidat, Emad Dipima Buragohain, Amer, Faten Anxiety is understood as being worried, an emotional reaction that accompanies one’s learning. In the foreign language context, it may hinder the language learning experience and lead to communication apprehension. This study investigates the role of anxiety in the willingness to communicate across Jordanian EFL eighth-grade students at a private school in Amman. Direct observations and interviews were conducted across twenty students and two teachers. The analysis of data obtained from observations showed that the majority of students were reluctant to participate in English classrooms, as only an average of 10% showed their desire to participate in all the observational categories. Firstly, the interview data showed that anxiety affected students’ willingness to communicate inside classrooms. Secondly, students’ level of anxiety was found to be increased by several factors such as fear of making mistakes, fear of being criticised by other people inside the classroom, including the teacher, and fear of negative teacher evaluation. Thirdly, the results also showed that some of the reasons that led to anxiety stemmed from cultural beliefs deeply rooted in the students concerning being active participants or speaking in front of other people. Finally, the study provides some recommendations for teachers in order to create an anxiety-free learning atmosphere in classrooms to reduce students’ speaking anxiety. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2023-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/1/TD%2010.pdf Al-Saidat, Emad and Dipima Buragohain, and Amer, Faten (2023) Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 29 (2). pp. 133-145. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournal.ukm.my/3l/index
spellingShingle Al-Saidat, Emad
Dipima Buragohain,
Amer, Faten
Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title_full Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title_fullStr Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title_full_unstemmed Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title_short Role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the Jordanian EFL context
title_sort role of anxiety in willingness to communicate in the jordanian efl context
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/22317/1/TD%2010.pdf