Lower Anxiety in Class Could Be Expected to Have Improved English Proficiency.

Objective: The purpose of this research is to investigate the factor(s) of improving the English proficiency of university students in student-centered communicative English lessons in Japan. Design: Eighty-eight Japanese college freshmen completed the questionnaire at the seventh lesson out of 14 lessons of a semester. Students took tests (TOEIC IP) before and after the semester to check their progress on English proficiency. Methods: A logistic regression analysis was applied to detect potential factor(s) involved in the change of their TOEIC scores, based on the following six independent variables: affective components (enjoyment and anxiety), language components (study abroad experience, speaking time, and study time), and a demographic component (gender). Result: The factor that led to the improvement of English proficiency after the course was that students were less anxious at the middle of the semester. Conclusion: The present study suggests that the levels of anxiety could affect the improvement of students' English proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]