서강대학교

초록/요약

This study investigates the foreign language anxiety of high school 1st graders and 3rd graders in Korea. The main purpose of the study is to measure the degree of students’ foreign language anxiety of English and find out the sources of their anxiety, and to compare the degree and sources of anxiety of the two grades. With Korean education primarily focused on the college entrance examination, it was presupposed that high school third graders anxiety would derive from the fear toward the college entrance exam. It was also assumed that first graders’ foreign language anxiety would result from a new environment and more difficult learning contents than middle school. Survey research was conducted and total 217 students participated in the survey. The survey questionnaire includes one multiple-choice question, two open questions, and the FLCAS (five-point Likert scale of 33 statements) designed by Horwitz et al. (1986). The results showed no significant difference in the degree of foreign language anxiety between the two groups. However, in sources of anxiety, similarities and differences in the foreign language anxiety between the two groups were found. The top three major sources of foreign language anxiety that both grades shared were ‘fear toward getting poor grades’, ‘fear toward the college entrance exam’, and ‘fear toward making mistakes’. There were also sources of anxiety that each grade presented separately. While first graders were more anxious about others’ expectations toward them and high standard set by themselves, third graders were more worried about the college entrance exam and actual classroom class activities. Also, in the answers to the open questions, first graders expressed anxiety about frequent vocabulary tests, while third graders pointed out teacher’s negative feedback being one of the sources of their anxiety in learning English.