Listening comprehension and anxiety in the Arabic language classroom

Abstract

Anxiety plays an important role in foreign language (FL) students' classroom performance. This study presents the results of the first empirical examination of the effect of general FL learning anxiety on students' achievement in an Arabic course and of listening anxiety on students' listening comprehension. The data came from 2 measures of anxiety and a background questionnaire administered to 233 postsecondary students of Arabic as a FL. Anxiety scores were correlated with final grades and listening comprehension scores. The results indicated that FL learning anxiety and listening anxiety are separate but related phenomena that both correlate negatively with achievement. The study also revealed significant negative correlations among FL learning anxiety, listening anxiety, and selected demographic variables. These results suggest that reducing student anxiety and providing a less stressful classroom environment might enable teachers and Arabic programs to help students improve both their listening comprehension proficiency as well as their overall course performance. 2005 The Modern Language Journal.