Understanding English Language Anxiety among Undergraduate Saudi EFL Learners: The Case of Business College, PSAU

Abstract

This study aims to investigate English language anxiety among Saudi EFL learners, understand their experience with the causes and sources of their anxiety, and examine if they witness differences in their anxiety based on the differences in their demographic profile. As the study seeks to understand how certain independent variables (gender, employment profile of learners’ parents, and their educational level) shape and affect the dependent variable (English language anxiety), the quantitative approach (descriptive quantitative design) was selected, and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz et al. (1986) was utilized to collect the data from the participants. A simple random sampling method was employed to select 205 respondents from the total population of students studying at different levels of the undergraduate program at the College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia.  The results of the study found that the participants experienced moderate levels of anxiety and that there were several sources of anxiety among Saudi EFL learners. Test and communicative anxieties were found to be the major sources of English language anxiety followed by classroom and negative evaluation anxieties respectively. One-way ANOVA analysis revealed no difference of any significance for English language anxiety among Saudi English students due to variance in their demographic profile. The study findings hold implications as they would be of immense use in addressing the issue of anxiety, understanding the possible sources, and finding ways to overcome issues of anxiety and help students move away from anxiety towards acquiring effective and excellent English language skills and proficiency.      

Received: 20 September 2023 / Accepted: 19 February 2024 / Published: 5 March 2024