The Relationship Between Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Background Variables in a Multilingual Context

Abstract

This paper sets out to investigate the potential correlation between foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and four background variables (gender, self-efficacy, self-perceived proficiency, and experience abroad) among multilingual EFL college-level students in Saudi Arabia. A group of 191 participants (80 females, 111 males) took part in the study by answering an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS; Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) as well as the Foreign Language Self-Efficacy Scale (Torres & Turner, 2016). The statistical analyses revealed that participants experienced low to moderate rates of FLCA with females exhibiting higher levels of FLCAS than males. Statistical analyses showed that gender, self- efficacy and English self-perceived proficiency were significant predictors of FLCA in a multilingual context. In addition, experience abroad was not correlated with FLCA.