EWC661: PROPOSAL SAMPLE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ANXIETY AMONG DIPLOMA STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITI

TEKNOLOGI MARA (UiTM) SELANGOR

1. INTRODUCTION

English language learning is mostly taught formally in the classroom, based on the
Malaysian education system. According to Jeon-Ellis, Debski and Wigglesworth (2005), the
L2 classroom can be referred to as a social context to which learners bring themselves and
their past experiences in which they establish certain relationships and attempt to participate
and engage in tasks in ways that best fit their social needs. The minimum formal learning of
the English language for Malaysian learners is eleven years, excluding the preschool level,
and they continue learning English until the tertiary level.

The use of English has become more significant and demanding in higher learning
institutions. The English language is used as the principal language in education. Most
public and private universities are using English whether in the curriculum or as the medium
of instruction. However, some universities are still standing up for bilingualism whereas most
of renowned institutions decide on using English as the medium of instruction. As a result,
academicians, administrators and students are required to master a certain degree of
English proficiency. However, for many Malaysian students especially the Malays and
Bumiputeras, English is not the first language for them. This situation occurs because most
students do not use English in their daily communication among family and friends.
Therefore, despite realising the importance of learning English, most Malaysian students find
learning English in the classroom has not always been an anxiety-free experience (Zhang,
2001). In view of this, researchers, foreign language teachers and even foreign language
learners themselves have attempted to understand this phenomenon termed as foreign
language anxiety or second language anxiety.

Numerous past research has shown that anxious students are less willing to participate in
learning activities and have lower performance than non-anxious ones (Horwitz, 2001).
Despite having studied English for 6 years in primary school and 5 years in secondary
school, most university students are still anxious in English language classes as the demand
to use the language at the university level is far greater compared to the time when they

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were studying at the primary and secondary level. The demand here refers to the usage of
spoken English such as in presentations or when students are being asked for their opinion
during discussions, when they believed that their proficiency level, either self-perceived or
actual, is not good enough to be displayed in front of their classmates or language lecturers.

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT

To cope with their academic life, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) students must be
proficient in the English language. The fact that English has become the medium of
instruction at UiTM has made student academic life even more challenging. The issue of the
weak academic performance of Malay and Bumiputera students in English courses has been
a great concern among both academics and administrators of the university. Most English
educators are not fully aware of the fact that their students are not able to fully exhibit their
potential because of the stressful situation they are in, or even if they know the students’
anxiety, they pay little, if any, attention to it. Although some educators acknowledge the need
to make the learning process as enjoyable and anxiety-free as possible, they are reluctant to
find ways to achieve such a goal, hence, being unable to respond to the learning needs of
individual students. Moreover, learning anxiety can be a debilitating factor that prevents
learners from showing their full potential. As a result, they may not be very successful in their
language learning (Riasati, 2011). The following research questions have prompted the
researchers to conduct the study on students’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) (Toth, 2010):

 Why is it that some learners are anxious while others are not in the same language
classroom?
 What is it that makes them anxious about communicating in English?
 Is it a serious problem if learners are anxious in their language classes or is it merely a
minor inconvenience?

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ anxiety in relation to English language
learning among Diploma students of different courses in UiTM Selangor. This study
suggests several research objectives to be attained as follows:

(a) to investigate the level of language anxiety among Diploma students

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(b) to determine the source of language anxiety and,

(c) to identify how students cope with language anxiety.

4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of the study will benefit language educators of higher learning institutions in
general in several ways. Firstly, they will get valuable information about students’ anxiety
level in learning English as a second language which will assist them to construct effective
teaching methods to lessen language anxiety and to create a reduced amount of stressful
learning atmosphere. The findings will also provide educators with relevant information in
terms of students’ coping strategies to overcome their anxiety problems. Therefore,
language educators could act accordingly once they have identified the source of language
anxiety.

5. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

There are several potential limitations in this study. According to Chang (2011), the results
from the questionnaire of the students' level of language anxiety might be different if the
students were taught by different language lecturers. The personality and teaching style of
the lecturer during the study period may also influence the students’ responses. Lastly, the
sample size is too small and thus, the results cannot be generalized to all UiTM students.

6. PREVIOUS STUDIES

MacIntrye and Gardner (1994) defines language anxiety as the feeling of tension and
apprehension specifically in the second-language context, including speaking, listening,
reading, and writing in the FL classroom. However, Pappamihiel (2002) states that English
language anxiety can be described as a social anxiety dependent upon interactions with
others. With respect to anxiety level, Scovel (1991) identifies anxiety level as one of affective
variables apart from learner personality type and motivation. Wong (2012) mentions that
high anxiety often takes the form of distraction or self-related cognition, such as excessive
self-evaluation, worry over potential failure and concern over the opinion of others.

Several local studies investigating the issue of language anxiety revealed that language
anxiety is not foreign in the Malaysian second language learning scenario. Kamarulzaman,
Ibrahim, Md Yunus and Mohd Ishak (2013) surveyed language anxiety on 119 gifted

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students from PERMATA Pintar programme and found that gifted learners had certain level
of language anxiety in the English language setting and that female gifted learners indicated
having a higher language anxiety than males.

In a closer context, Abdullah and Abdul Rahman (2006) studied 60 Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) students’ perceptions towards the feeling of anxiety they experienced when
speaking in the second language. Results obtained using the adapted Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) as instrument showed that students experienced
moderate level of anxiety.

Wong in her three studies (2009; 2012; 2012) focusing on language anxiety and motivation
to learn English among pre-service teachers concluded that girls were significantly more
anxious than boys when it came to ‘volunteering answers’, ‘speaking in English’, and ‘afraid
of being laughed at.’ In addition, coping strategies such as more frequent use of English,
preparation, and seeking social assistance were more often mentioned compared to self-
encouragement, attention-diverting techniques positive self-talk, and relaxation techniques.

This study hopefully would be able to offer understandings into the students’ language
anxiety which can equip lecturers with better information about their students. Besides, this
study also attempts to find strategies that could be used by Malaysian students or in other
words second language learners on how to cope with language anxiety, which could give
other perspectives on what Wong (2012) had done in her study.

7. Methodology

This study will be conducted at UiTM Selangor. The subjects of this study will be 30 students
taking Diploma in Computer Science, Diploma in Applied Science and Diploma in Tourism
courses at the University. In this study, the students’ scores on Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s
(1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) will be used to measure their
level of anxiety. The FLCAS is a 33-item self-report instrument originally developed from
student self-reports, clinical experiences, and a review of related instruments (Horwitz,
1986). It uses 5-point Likert-type scales with choices ranging from “strongly agree” to
“strongly disagree.” This instrument was designed to measure the level of anxiety foreign
language learners experienced in the language classroom. To find out coping strategies
used by students, eleven coping strategies of language anxiety listed by Hauck and Hurd

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(2005) was included in the last part of the scale for the subjects to choose from. The
collected data from FLCAS will be analysed using the Statistics Package for Social Science
(SPSS) software to obtain descriptive statistics. This study will be conducted between
September 2017 and October 2017.

References

Abdullah, K. I. and Abdul Rahman, N. L. (2006). A study on second language speaking

anxiety
among UTM students. Theses and Dissertations, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., and Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety.
The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132. Blackwell Publishing and National
Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/327317

Jeon-Ellis, G., Debski, R. and Wigglesworth, G. (2005). Oral interaction around computers in
the Project-Oriented CALL Classroom. Language Learning & Technology, 9(3), 121-
145.
Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/vol9num3/jeon/

Kamarulzaman, M. H., Ibrahim, N., Md Yunus, M. and Mohd Ishak, N. (2013). Language
anxiety
among gifted learners in Malaysia. English Language Teaching, 6(3), 20-29.

MacIntyre, P.D. and Gardner, R.C., (1994). The subtle effects of language anxiety of
cognitive
processing in the second language. Language Learning, 44(2), 283-305.

Pappamihiel, N. E. (2002). English as a second language students and English language

anxiety: Issues in the mainstream classroom. Research in the Teaching of English, 36,
327-355.

Riasati, M. J. (2011). Language learning anxiety from EFL Learners’ perspective. Middle-
East
Journal of Scientific Research, 7(6), 907-914. IDOSI Publications.

Scovel, T. (1991). The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety
research. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young (Eds.) Language anxiety: From theory and
research to classroom implication (pp. 15-25). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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Wong, M. S. L. (2012). Language anxiety coping strategies of pre-service teachers.
Proceedings of the 7th Malaysia International Conference on Languages, Literatures,
and
Cultures (pp. 1-7). Retrieved (2 October 2013) from www.fbmk.upm.edu.my/micollac/
proceedings

Zhang, L. J. (2001). ESL Students' classroom anxiety. Teaching and Learning, 21(2), 51-62.
Singapore: Institute of Education.