Search

This thesis deals with foreign language (FL) anxiety as a complex phenomenon specific to the context of language learning and one of the most powerful emotions affecting the FL learning process. FL anxiety has been extensively researched among FL learners over the past 40 years; however, more often on a global scale than in Croatia. After a theoretical introduction that deals with definitions of anxiety and foreign language anxiety, the author described and discussed the findings of some of the FL anxiety research studies, with the emphasis on the research studies conducted in the Croatian context. Research studies described in this thesis showed thatFL anxiety was closely related to the learner’s self-perception as an EFL learner, classroom contextual factors, such as teacher’s perception, linguistic error treatment and assessment, and negative experiences with the use of FL. In the final part of the thesis, strategies for treating and overcoming FL anxiety are described. Overall, this thesis aimed to provide an overview ofthe most important studies of FL anxiety in the Croatian context while touching on the layers of this complex phenomenon based on the research findings, U ovom radu govorise o strahu od stranog jezika kao složenoj pojavi u kontekstu učenja jezika i kao jednoj od najvažnijih emocija koja utječe na proces učenja stranog jezika. Posljednjih 40 godina strah od stranog jezika predmet je mnogih istraživanja, uglavnom svjetskih, dok je mali broj istraživanja provedeno u Hrvatskoj. Nakon teorijskog uvoda koji predstavlja različite definicije anksioznosti i straha od stranog jezika, autorica opisuje rezultate različitih svjetskih i hrvatskih istraživanja, uglavnom provedenih među učenicima engleskog kao stranog jezika. Završni dio prikazuje preporučene korake ključne za umanjivanje straha od stranog jezika. Ukupno gledajući, glavni je cilj ovog rada bio dati pregled najvažnijih i najznačajnijih istraživanja straha od stranog jezika u hrvatskom kontekstu, dotičući se slojeva tog kompleksnog fenomena na temelju rezultata opisanih istraživanja.

Although a phenomenon of foreign language anxiety has been a subject of a large number of studies, most research focused on learners with extrinsic motivation in foreign language learning and not on intrinsically motivated ones, such as university students majoring in foreign languages. It seems that this population is assumed to be highly motivated and free from foreign language anxiety. Also, in the literature there is a lack of comparative studies in FL anxiety among learners studying simultaneously two or more languages in the same socio- educational context. Results of recent research (Puškar, 2010) conducted with Croatian university students majoring in English and German shows higher levels of anxiety when using German. The researcher’s conclusion is that students consider English as the language of global communication, whereas German is perceived as a ‘real’ foreign language and therefore anxiety appears. In order to examine this hypothesis further, we have conducted a study with 150 university students (both undergraduate and graduate) majoring in so called ‘minor languages’, Italian, French and Spanish, at the same faculty. For this purpose it was decided to replicate the previous study using the same questionnaire and procedures of data collection, and using both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. The aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between language anxiety and the language major, demographic characteristics of participants (age, gender, place of residence), length of learning a FL, language achievement, motivation, language exposure and classroom experience. The results indicate that FL anxiety is present even among intrinsically motivated students and that its levels depend on a number of above mentioned factors.

The paper discusses the results of a research study focusing on foreign language anxiety in different stages of the foreign language learning process and speaking in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was carried out on a sample of 71 monolingual and 57 bilingual Croatian learners of EFL. At the time of the study the participants were about 14 years old. The results point to significantly higher levels of language anxiety among monolingual than among bilingual learners in all three stages of the foreign language learning process, and significantly higher achievement in speaking skill of bilingual learners compared to monolingual learners. A significant negative relationship between language anxiety in all three stages of the foreign language learning process and achievement in speaking EFL was established in both of the studied groups.