Can ambiguity tolerance, success in reading, and gender predict the foreign language reading anxiety?

Gülten Genç

Abstract


Abstract

The present study focuses on the relationship between reading anxiety and ambiguity tolerance of 295 Turkish EFL learners of English (180 females, 115 males). Data were collected using the Turkish version of FLRAS and SLTAS in 2015-2016 academic year. The overall design of the study was based on the quantitative research method. Data were collected through Second Language Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (SLTAS) and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS). Independent t Tests, Pearson Correlation and multiple regression tests were employed to analyze the data. The results indicated that participants in this research generally have low level of second language ambiguity tolerance and their reading anxiety levels are mostly raised by nature of the text and personal factors. In addition, the research revealed that second language ambiguity tolerance, gender and success in reading in a foreign language are significant and strong predictors of foreign language reading anxiety. Some recommendations were made based on the results of the study. Some recommendations were made in accordance with the findings of the research.


Full Text:

PDF

References


References

Abbas, S. H. (2016). The Correlation of Iraqi EFL students’ attitude toward EL learning and ambiguity tolerance with their classroom anxiety. Education College Journal, EDJU, Special Issue of 9 th International Science Conference. Wasit, Iraq.

Abu-Rabia, S. (2004). Teacher's role, learner's gender differences, and FL anxiety among seven-grade students studying English as a FL. Educational Psychology, 24(5), 711–721.

Awan, R., Azher, M., Anwar, N., and Naz, A. (2010). An investigation of foreign language classroom anxiety and its relationship with students' achievement. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 7, (11), 33- 40.

Aydın, S. (2007). How can teachers reduce test anxiety of L2 learners? Humanising Language Teaching 9(4).

Aydın, S. (2008). An investigation on the language anxiety and fear of negative evaluation among Turkish EFL Learners. Asian EFL Journal, Teaching Articles, 30(1), 421—444.

Barlow, D., H. (2002). Anxiety and its Disorders: The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press. Retrieved in March 2016 from:

http://www.imd.inder.cu/adjuntos/article/354/Anxiety%20and%20Its%20Disorders.pd

Başöz, T. (2015). Exploring the relationship between tolerance of ambiguity of EFL learners and their vocabulary knowledge. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 11(2), 53-66.

Bracken, B. A., & Crain, R. M. (1994). Children’s and adolescents’ interpersonal relations: Do age, race, and gender define normalcy? Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 12 (1), 14–32

Brantmeier, C. (2005). Anxiety about L2 reading or L2 reading tasks? A study with advanced language learners. The Reading Matrix, 5(2), 67–85

Brown, H. D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language teaching and learning. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Budner, S. (1962). Intolerance of ambiguity as a personality variable. Journal of Personality, 30, 29-50

Cabello, Ruben (2011). Tolerance of Ambiguity and its Implications for Reading. Humanizing Language Teaching, 5, 52-60.

Chapelle, C. (1983). The relationship between ambiguity tolerance and success in acquiring English as a second language in adult learners. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois.

Chapelle, C., Roberts, C. (1986). Ambiguity tolerance and field independence as predictors in English as a second language. Language Learning, 36 (1), 27-45.

Cheng, Y. S., Horwitz, E. K., Schallert, D. L. (1999). Language anxiety: differentiating writing and speaking components. Language Learning, 49, 417-446.

Coulombe, D. (2000). Anxiety and beliefs of French-as-a-second-language learners at the university level. Doctoral Dissertation. University of Laval. Quebec. Canada.

Curran, C.A. (1982). Community language learning. In R. Blair (Ed.), Innovative approaches to language teaching (pp. 118-133). Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.

Dewaele, J. M. (2013). The link between foreign language classroom anxiety and psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism among adult bi- and multilinguals. The Modern Language Journal 97 (3), 670-684

Ehrman, M. Leaver, B., Oxford, R., (2003). A brief overview of individual differences in second language learning. System, 31(3), 313-330.

Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ely, C.M. (1995). Tolerance of ambiguity and the teaching of ESL. In Reid, J. M. (ed.). Learning styles in the ESL/EFL classroom. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

El-Koumy, A. S., (2003) Differences in FL reading comprehension among high-, middle-, and low-ambiguity tolerance students. Education Resources Information Center. (ERIC): http://ssrn.com/abstract=2365143 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2365143

Erten,I.H., Topkaya, E.Z. (2009) Understanding tolerance of ambiguity of EFL learners in reading classes at tertiary level. Novitas-Royal 3 (1), 29-44

Grabe, W. & F. L. Stoller (2001). Reading for Academic Purposes: Guidelines for the ESL/EFL Teacher. In M. Celce-Murcia (ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd edition), 187-203. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Griffin, E. (2011). A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Griffiths, C. (2004). Language learning strategies: Theory and research. Occasional Paper, No.1, February. Auckland, New Zealand: School of Foundation Studies AIS St. Helens.

Gudykunst, W. An Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) Theory of Effective Communication: Making the Mesh of the Net Finer, in Theorizing About Intercultural communication, William B. Gudykunst (ed.), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2005, pp. 281-332.

Hadley, A.O. (2003). Teaching language in context (3rd ed.). Boston, Massachusettes: Heinle & Heinle Publishers.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., Cope, J. (1986). Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132

Horwitz, E., (2008). Becoming a Language Teacher: A Practical Guide to Second Language Learning and Teaching. Allyn and Bacon: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hsu, Y.C. (2004). A study on junior college students’ reading anxiety in English as a foreign language. Unpublished master’s thesis. National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.

Huang, H. Y. (2001). Chinese university foreign language students’ anxiety about reading in English. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Washington State University, Pullman, WA.

Jafarigohar, M., Behrooznia,S., (2012). The effect of anxiety on reading comprehension among distance EFL learners. International Education Studies, 5 (2), 159-174

Joo, K.Y., Damron, J., (2015) Foreign language reading anxiety: Korean as a foreign language in the United States. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages. 17, 23-55.

Kamran, S.K., Maftoon, P. (2012). An analysis of the associations between ambiguity tolerance and EFL reading strategy awareness. English Language Teaching, 5,(3), 188-196.

Kazamina, V. (1999). How tolerant are Greek EFL learners of foreign language ambiguities. Leeds Working Papers in Linguistics, 7, 69-78.

Keshavarz, M. H., & Assar, M. (2009).Reading comprehension ability and metacognitive awareness of reading strategies among high, mid and low ambiguity tolerance EAP students. Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies, 1(2), 71-108.

Kim, J. H. (2000). Foreign language listening anxiety: A study of Korean students learning English. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas, Austin.

Kim, S., Y. (2009). Questioning the stability of foreign language classroom anxiety and motivation across different classroom contexts. Foreign Language Annals, 42(1), 138– 157.

Krashen, S(1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press,.

Krashen, S.D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications, New York: Longman

Kuru Gönen, S. I. (2007). L2 reading anxiety: Exploring the phenomenon. In K. Bradford-Watts (Ed.), JALT 2006 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT.

Levitt, E. E. (1980). The psychology of anxiety. Hillside: New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbum Associates.

Liu, F. Q., Sun, J. K. (2005). A Study on the influence of ambiguity tolerance on foreign language reading comprehension. Journal of Shandong University of Technology (Social Sciences), 21(6), 100-103.

Lynch, J. (2002). Parents’ self-efficacy beliefs, parents’ gender, children’s reader self-perceptions, reading achievement and gender. Journal of Research in Reading, 25(1), 54-67.

MacIntyre, P. D., Gardner, R. C. (1989), Anxiety and Second-Language Learning: Toward a Theoretical Clarification. Language Learning, 39, 251–275

MacIntyre, P. D. (1995). How does anxiety affect second language learning? A reply to Sparks and Ganschow. The Modern Language Journal, 79, 90-99.

MacIntyre, P. D., Doucette, J. (2010). Willingness to communicate and action control. System, 38, 161–171.

MacIntyre, P. D., Gardner, R. C. (1991). Investigating language class anxiety using the focused essay technique. Modern Language Journal, 75, 296-304.

Matsuura, H. (2007). Intelligibility and individual learner differences in the EIL context. System, 35, 293-304.

Mills, N., Pajares, F., & Herron, C. (2006). A reevaluation of the role of anxiety: Self-efficacy, anxiety and their relation to reading and listening proficiency. Foreign Language Annals, 39(2), 276-295.

Oxford, R. (1999). Anxiety and the language learner: new insights. In Arnold, J. (ed.) Affect in language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oxford, R. L. (2001). Language learning strategies. In R. Carter and D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages (pp. 120-125). Cambridge.

Pallant, J., (2005). SPSS survival manual: a step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for windows (Version 12). 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

Plancherel, B., Bolognini, N. (1995). Coping and mental health in early adolescence. Journal of Adololescence, 18 (4), 459–474.

Richards, J., Rodgers, T., (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd ed). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Saito, Y., Garza, T. J., Horwitz, E. K. (1999), Foreign Language Reading Anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 83, 202–218.

Saito, Y., & Samimy, K., (1996). Foreign Language Anxiety and Language Performance: A Study of Learner Anxiety in Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Level College Students of Japanese. Foreign Language Annals, 29(2), 239-249

Scales, A. M., Rhee, O. (2001). Adult reading habits and patterns. Reading Psychology, 22(3), 175–203.

Sellers, V. D. (2000), Anxiety and Reading Comprehension in Spanish as a Foreign Language. Foreign Language Annals, 33: 512–520.

Shi, Y. Z., & Liu, Z. Q. (2006). Foreign language reading anxiety and its relationship to English achievement and gender. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 29, 59–65.

Spielberger, C. D. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). PaloAlto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

Stern, H. H. (1983). Fundamental concepts of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Stevick, E. (1999) Affect in learning and memory: from alchemy to chemistry. In Arnold, J (ed). Affect in language learning. Cambridge, U.K.; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. 43- 57.

Stoycheva, Katya (2008). The new and the best: Ambiguity tolerance and creativity motivation. International Journal of Psychology 43 (3/4), 6

Şahin,N. (2011). A case study: Sources of English language reading anxiety and emotional coping strategies of the 6 th, 7th, and 8the grade primary school learners. Unpublished Master’s thesis. Gazi University, Institute of Social Sciences. Ankara.

Turula, A. (2002). Language anxiety and classroom Dynamics: A study of adult learners. Forum, 40 (2), 28-37.

Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC Journal, 37, 308 – 328.

Wu, H.-J. (2011) Anxiety and reading comprehension performance in English as a foreign language. Asian EFL Journal, 13 (2), 273–307

Yan, X., Horwitz, E. K. (2008). Learners’ perceptions of how anxiety interacts with personal and instructional factors to influence their achievement in English: A qualitative analysis of EFL learners in China. Language Learning, 58, 151–183.

Yang, X. J., & Wang, H. (2009). Correlation study on reading anxiety, tolerance of ambiguity and foreign language learning of non-English-major university students. Journal of Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, 2, 77-80.

Zhang, H. & Kim, Y. (2014) Foreign language reading anxiety: Chinese learners of Korean. Studies in Linguistics, 32, 21–45.

Zhao, A., Guo, Y., Dynia, J. (2013). Foreign language reading anxiety: Chinese as a foreign language in the United States. The Modern Language Journal, 97, 764–778.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies
ISSN 1305-578X (Online)
Copyright © 2005-2022 by Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies