Gender differences in foreign language classroom anxiety

Piniel, Katalin and Zólyomi, Anna (2022) Gender differences in foreign language classroom anxiety. STUDIES IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING, 12 (2). pp. 173-203. ISSN 2083-5205

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Abstract

Exploring language learners’ anxiety is not a neglected area of inquiry in applied lin-guistics research, which can primarily be attributed to the publication of theForeignLanguage Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), an influential instrument developed byHorwitz et al. (1986) to measure language anxiety. An ever-growing array of studieshas employed the FLCAS and analyzed the underlying relationship between the fo-cal construct and foreign language achievement, various individual difference varia-bles and a variety of demographic variables, such as learning experiences, age, andgender. Despite the considerable number of publications, studies focusing on bio-graphical variables and language anxiety have not been conclusive. The aim of thepresent meta-analysis is to analyze 48 studies that employed the FLCAS to look atthe potential gender differences with respect to language anxiety. Although there isgreat variation in the methodological and reporting practices in the studies included,and findings show a tendency for females to experience higher foreign languageanxiety, gender-related differences are not statistically significant. The results ofmoderator analyses showed that neither age nor target language, regional context,or, in the case of university students, their majors, influence this relationship.

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