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The goal of this research is to increase understanding of the experience of foreign language anxiety (FLA) of Saudi Arabian students who are studying English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States. Anxiety has been shown to significantly influence foreign language learning. Researchers have reported a negative correlation

The goal of this research is to increase understanding of the experience of foreign language anxiety (FLA) of Saudi Arabian students who are studying English as a Second Language (ESL) in the United States. Anxiety has been shown to significantly influence foreign language learning. Researchers have reported a negative correlation between academic achievement and anxiety. A growing body of research has provided greater insight into anxiety associated with learning foreign languages. In the 1980s, researchers began to focus on the connection between anxiety with foreign language learning, sometimes referred to as foreign language anxiety (FLA). Many studies aimed to identify the underlying factors associated with FLA. However, researchers studying FLA have argued a need for more research. Due to the significant number of Saudi students studying English in the United States at the time of this study, more research is needed to better understand these students’ experiences and the influences of FLA among this population. Therefore, the research question addressed in this study is: What are the factors that influence FLA among Saudi learners who are studying English in ESL classrooms in the United States? The study was conducted as a qualitative research design involving semi-structured interviews with 30 Saudi ESL students in the United States. My findings showed that these themes feeling unfamiliar with classroom activity, feeling unprepared for classroom activity, having unsuccessful attempts at communication, being judged negatively by others and having a negative perception of one’s own language reflect the general view of FLA as consisting of these three components (e.g., communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation). However, my findings also include some themes that do not fit neatly into the three-part model of FLA. The themes that emerged are: having a perception that English language is important, interacting with other sex from the same culture, encountering unfamiliar cultures, having teachers who behave in a negative way, and having teachers with negative characteristics. The findings of the current study suggests that the three component view of FLA might be insufficient for understanding FLA among Saudi Arabian ESL learners. So, I proposed three additional categories. The first category is teachers’ role that contains two themes: having teachers who behave in a negative way and having teachers with negative characteristics. The second category is cultural influence that contains two factors interacting with the opposite gender from the same culture and encountering unfamiliar culture. The third category is learners belief about language learning which has the factor having a perception that English language is important

ContributorsAlmotiary, Haifa (Author) / James, Mark MJ (Thesis advisor) / Matsuda, Aya AM (Committee member) / Van Geldern, Elly EVG (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022