The Predicitive Validation of an Instrument Designed to Measure Student Anxiety in Learning a Foreign Language

Abstract

The two-fold purpose of this investigation was (a) to adapt a classroom anxiety scale for use with Spanish students who learn a foreign language, and (b) to examine the predictive ability of students' anxiety upon measures of English achievement. Results of a stepwise multiple regression analysis in which English achievement scores served as the criterion and anxiety scores, cognitive variables (general intelligence and verbal aptitude), and noncognitive variables (self-esteem, attitudes, and motivation) were employed as predictors indicated that the anxiety variable was the first to enter the equation accounting for approximately 38% of the variance. Based upon a series of comparisons among students with high, moderate, or low levels of anxiety in which English achievement scores served as the dependent variables, students with low levels of anxiety performed consistently higher on measures of English achievement.