Changes in and Effects of Anxiety on English Test Performance in Chinese Postgraduate EFL Classrooms

Abstract

As an important affective factor in language learning, foreign language anxiety (FLA) has been extensively researched. Nevertheless, not many studies have targeted postgraduate students or been longitudinal to reveal the dynamic nature of FLA. Hence, the present quantitative study examined changes in and effects of FLA on postgraduate students’ performance over a 10-week period. A total of 324 postgraduate students from a prestigious university took a pretest and posttest, answered a set of questionnaires before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) the 10-week period, respectively. Analyses of the data revealed three major findings: (1) Toward the end of the period, the respondents became significantly less apprehensive of speech communication in English and less worried about the English class, English classroom performance, and other students’ performance. Their overall English language classroom anxiety was significantly lower as well, though they became significantly more worried about tests. (2) In both phases, anxiety was largely highly related to students’ performance in English speaking, listening, reading, and writing tests as well as the overall test performance, especially speaking test performance. Nevertheless, this correlation became weaker in phase 2. (3) In both phases, foreign language classroom anxiety and achievement anxiety powerfully predicted students’ English test performance, especially speaking test performance. These results show that FLA is an important issue even for postgraduate students, affecting their test performance to varying degrees over time. Based on these findings, implications and suggestions are discussed.