ASIAN EFL LEARNERS' FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM ANXIETY AND WILLINGNESS TO
4. Results and discussion
Following the process of data collection and in order to achieve the main purpose of the study the collected data were submitted to the SPSS version 21. Subsequently, the Spearman's rank order rho
correlation and the Mann-Whitney U test were run to compute, analyze, and interpret the raw data.
4.1 Foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate
Due to the fact that the collected data by means of the two Likert-Scales were ordinal, the nonparametric equivalent of the Pearson formula, that is, the Spearman's rho was utilised to portray the possible relationships between foreign language classroom anxiety, willingness to communicate, and the correspondent subcategories. The results are indicated in Tables below.
Table 1. Correlations between foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate
FLCA Communication
apprehension Fear of negative evaluation Test anxiety English class anxiety
Spearman's rho WTC
-.356** -.313** -.275** -.308** -.387**
.000 .000 .001 .000 .000
155 155 155 155 155
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
The results, as shown in Table 1, revealed that the Spearman's rank order correlation is as weak as -.356 but significant at the <.01 level for a two tailed prediction. It is noteworthy to mention that all the subcategories of FLCA negatively correlate with WTC. The spearman's rho correlation test statistics for the participants' WTC and their communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, test anxiety, and anxiety of English class are -.313, -.275, -.308, and -.387, respectively. Such results indicate that individuals' subcategories of FLCA correlate negatively with their level of WTC. However, in all cases the amounts of correlations are considered to be low.
As the researchers intended to provide more details to the associations between FLCA and WTC across different speaking and writing tasks, Tables 2 and 3 were employed.
Table 2. Correlations between foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate across speaking tasks and situations
FLCA Communication
apprehension Fear negative of evaluation
Test
anxiety English class anxiety Spearman's rho WTC Speaking
-.223** -.187* -.168* -.158 -.270**
.005 .020 .036 .050 .001
155 155 155 155 155
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
As the result of Spearman's rho indices, presented in Table 2 indicated, the participants' WTC within speaking tasks does significantly, but negatively (rs = -.223) correlate with their FLCA. This amount of
correlation is significant but low since the level of significance is .005 which is less that the P-value <.05. Considering the FLCA subcategories, it is observed that apart from individuals' test anxiety, all the other subcategories of FLCA negatively correlate with their WTC across speaking tasks. In this respect, the correlation coefficients between individuals' WTC and their communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and anxiety of English class at P-value <.01 and <.05 levels for a two-tailed
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods ISSN:2251-6204
prediction are -.187, -.168, and -.270, correspondingly. As it can be seen the correlations between individuals' FLCA subcategories and their willingness to speak, though low in strength, are significant. Table 3. Correlations between foreign language classroom anxiety and willingness to communicate across writing tasks and situations
FLCA Communication
apprehension Fear of negative. evaluation Test. Anxiety English class anxiety Spearman's rho WTC
Writing
-.362** -.321** -.285** -.333** -.383**
.000 .000 .000 .000 .000
155 155 155 155 155
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Based on the outcome of the statistical analysis presented in Table 3, one could infer that learners' FLCA negatively correlates with their WTC with respect to writing tasks. The presented results show that the correlation coefficient between the two constructs is -.362 which is low but significant at the P-value <.01. In addition, Table 3 reveals that all the subcategories of FLCA negatively correlate with individuals' WTC concerning writing tasks and in all cases the amounts of correlations are low.
Considering the results of the statistical analyses presented in Table 2 and 3, it is observed that FLCA correlates negatively with WTC both in speaking and writing tasks. Meanwhile, the amount of correlation is stronger in writing tasks and students suffer from higher levels of FLCA and have lower levels of WTC. Taking the subcategories of FLCA into account, it is worth mentioning that except for the relationship between willingness to speak and test anxiety, all the other subcategories of FLCA correlate negatively with individuals' willingness to speak and write. In addition, individuals' English class anxiety shows the greatest amount of correlation with their WTC in both task types.
4.2 Willingness to communicate in participants with high and low levels of foreign language classroom anxiety
The Mann-Whitney U test was the next statistical test which was run to find more details about the subjects. Tables 4 and 5 show the results on different levels of WTC and FLCA. Having the data collected through filling out the related questionnaire, the researchers divided the participants into two groups with high and low levels of foreign language classroom anxiety.
Table 4. Ranks of WTC in speaking and writing tasks, and WTC total in students' with low and high levels of FLCA
LowFLCA.HighFLCA N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks
WT Speaking LowFLCA 78 88.22 688.00 HighFLCA 77 67.65 520.00 Total 155 WTC Writing LowFLCA 78 91.56 714.00 HighFLCA 77 64.26 494.00 Total 155 WTC Total LowFLCA 78 92.35 720.50 HighFLCA 77 63.46 488.50 Total 155
Table 4 illustrates the mean ranks of WTC in students' with low and high levels of FLCA. As it can be seen, the mean ranks for the participants' WTC total, WTC in speaking tasks, and WTC in writing tasks in students with high levels of FLCA are 63.46, 67.65, and 64.26 correspondingly, while in students with low levels of FLCA they are 92.35, 88.22, and 91.56, respectively. As such findings cannot contribute to the existence of a significant meaningful difference between these two groups, Table 5 is utilised.