Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety among Iraqi Students and its Relation With Gender and Achievement

Abstract

Language anxiety is always seen as debilitative factor that deters learners from successfully learning a foreign language. Although many studies have been reported on foreign language learners’ anxieties, little research, if any, has been undertaken on Iraqi postgraduate EFL learners. The objective of the present study is threefold: a) to investigate the factors contributing to foreign language classroom anxiety among Iraqi postgraduate EFL students, b) to investigate the difference between both genders in the level of anxiety and c) to investigate the relationship between the level of anxiety and the academic achievement of the students based on GPA. The study employed a mixed mode approach using survey questionnaire (AFLAQ)and semi-structured interview. The study reported that three factors such as communication apprehension, negative evaluation and test anxiety are anxiety-arousing factors with test anxiety has the greatest contribution. The study also reported that females show more anxiety compared to males. It was also shown that there is a negative correlation between language anxiety and academic achievement which means that students with high level of FL anxiety tend to yield lower grades and vice-versa. Keywords: Arabic Foreign Language Anxiety Questionnaire (AFLAQ), Anxiety factors, Gender differences, Academic achievement