Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Listening Performance

Ever since the presence of language anxiety was recognized, a growing body of researchers and theorists has been working on the impact of anxiety on language learning process in the FL learning context (Bailey et al, 2000;MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994b). According to Tobias (1977), anxiety can lead to interference at one or more stages of language learning process (i.e., input, processing, and output). At the input stage, anxiety may hinder the amount and quality of intake due to the attention deficits. Anxiety experienced at this stage may reduce the effectiveness of input presented by the instructor, which can in turn decrease the amount of registered input internally. Anxiety at the processing stage impairs students’ efficiency of message processing. At this stage, the more difficult the task is, the more anxious students will become. The rising anxiety can thus abate their ability to process information.

Likewise, anxiety, at the output stage, may impede the retrieval of existent

information. Anxious learners may fail to demonstrate what they have learned when required. Anxiety, as illustrated above, can play a key role of students’ process of language acquisition, retention, and production.

In the past few years, the potentially detrimental influence of language anxiety on FL learners’ language performance has drawn researchers’ attention (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Maclntyre & Gardner, 1991). As MacIntyre (1994b) and Cheng et al. (1999) emphasize the importance to understand the profound effect of

anxiety on foreign learners’ language performance, much of the research has been conducted to examine language anxiety across four language skills, including speaking (Phillips, 1992; Aida, 1994; Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002; Cheng, 2005;

Woodrow, 2006; Liu, 2007; Subasi, 2010; Hewitt & Stephenson, 2012; Ekström, 2013; Ö ztürk & Gürbüz, 2014), listening (Elkhafaifi, 2005; Cheng, 2007; Golchi, 2012; Tsai, 2010; Chen, 2011; Yang, 2012, Zhang, 2013; Chou, 2017), reading (Saito et al, 1999; Brantmeir, 2005; Tsai & Li, 2012; Yao & Jingna, 2011; Cabansag, 2013) as well as writing (Cheng, 2004; Lin & Ho, 2009).

Although the majority of research mentioned above has focused on anxiety associated with L2 oral production, the discussion of listening anxiety is

indispensable. Krashen (interviewed by in Young 1992) acknowledged that listening was “highly anxiety-provoking if it [the discourse] is incomprehensible” (p.168). As a listener in L2, it is crucial to understand what the interlocutor says in the target

language to conduct successful communication. When listening to spoken language, a listener has to segment and analyze speech accurately and automatically into

appropriate morpheme and syntactic units (Samuels, 1984). To appropriately and effectively process the input, the listener needs to invest additional effort and attention to recall and decode the message. Due to the fact that information processing with auditory stimuli at any moment is usually too limited for learners to consciously control what they access to (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968), FL learners may be overloaded with unprocessed aural FL message, which can provoke frustration or anxious reactions. For example, FL learners may worry about misunderstanding and embarrassing outcomes when listening in the target language (MacIntyre and Gardner, 1994a). The type of anxiety arising during the listening process is termed as a

negative “listening concept,” (Joiner, 1986), that is, learners’ low level of self-confidence regarding their ability in listening.

Recently, researchers have been interested in the anxiety associated with listening in FL learning context. Vogely (1999) highlights that listening anxiety, or listening comprehension anxiety, is a potentially debilitating type of anxiety accompanying listening comprehension. Learners who are anxious about listening may try to avoid engaging in the listening tasks that can lead to listening anxiety. On the basis of the foreign language reading anxiety scale (FFRAS) that Saito et al (1999) develop, Elkhafaifi (2005) pioneers and constructs the foreign language listening anxiety scale (FLLAS) to assess 233 postsecondary students learning Arabic as a FL in American universities. The FLLAS, consisted of 20-items, has an estimated

internal reliability of .96 (Crobach’s alpha). Elkhafaifi aims at finding out whether FL listening anxiety affects FL learners’ listening performance. The result shows that FL listening anxiety has an adverse effect on listening achievement, indicating that learners with higher FL listening anxiety perform more poorly than those with lower FL listening anxiety. Zhang’s (2013) study also focuses on FL listening anxiety level of 300 first year English majors in a university in China. All the participants filled in the modified version of FLLAS and took the IELTS listening test twice. The result shows a negative correlation between the participants’ FL listening anxiety level and their’ listening achievement. Specifically, his finding further demonstrates a causal relationship between FL listening anxiety and listening performance, showing that L2 listening comprehension was affected by FL listening anxiety but not vice versa.

Likewise, research in Taiwan’s context also demonstrates a similar result that FL listening anxiety was in a negative relationship with listening achievement. Tsai (2010), in order to examine how FL listening anxiety are related to English listening comprehension performance, administers the listening test and FLLAS to a total of 292 non-English major college students from two universities in northern Taiwan.

The results show that listening performance is significantly negatively correlated with

FL listening anxiety. Similarly, Yang (2012) conducts a study to investigate the relationship among FL listening anxiety, listening strategy employment, and listening performance of adolescent EFL learners in junior high schools in the Taipei area. The researcher recruits a total of 211 students and implements the FLLAS, a listening strategy questionnaire, and a listening comprehension test. The results show not only the existence of FL listening anxiety in the Taipei area but also a negative correlation between FL listening anxiety and listening performance. Therefore, based on these above findings, listening anxiety could thus be regarded as a predictor for his/her listening performance.

As indicated above, previous studies show that FL listening anxiety has a negative influence on FL learners’ listening comprehension. Another implication is that the learners would learn better in a low-anxiety classroom environment. As a result, ways of lowering learners’ affective filter and counteracting effects of listening anxiety are needed (Young, 1998). One possible solution suggested by Vogly’s (1998) study is to bring native speakers of the target language into the classroom. To identify learners’ listening anxiety source and explore the measures against their listening anxiety, Vogly (1998) administers a questionnaire to 140 American university students who took Spanish as their FL. According to the participants’ self-report, “having opportunities to listen to native speakers” (p.73) is a way to ease their FL listening anxiety. Nevertheless, the role of a native speaker in the FL learning classroom can make FL learners stressful and anxious in learning process. Rardin (interviewed by Young in 1992) mentions that “the teacher, a native-speaker of a second language as an extremely bright light” (p.162) leads to a boost of FL learners’ tenseness state. The learners might lack self-confidence and be overwhelmed by the holistic and perfect target language knowledge the native-speaking teacher possesses. The concern about native speakers in language teaching indicates that they will have either a positive or a

negative impact on the SL/FL learners’ listening anxiety.