Higher education in Israel is offered almost entirely in Hebrew as the medium of instruction. Consequently, Palestinian students in Israeli universities confront complex challenges that involve language and cultural gaps. This study focused on this group, using mixed methods, examining language anxiety, willingness to communicate (WTC) in Hebrew, and the relationship between these variables and achievements. The quantitative part included 155 participants who filled out a detailed questionnaire. The qualitative part included semistructured interviews with eight students and four lecturers. Results indicated high anxiety levels, medium levels of WTC in Hebrew, and a significant negative correlation between language anxiety, WTC, and academic achievements. Students reported high stress levels, avoidance, and embarrassment to talk, which clearly affected their academic performance. We argue that universities must acknowledge the emotional complexity of learning in such circumstances and develop practices to moderate students’ anxiety levels in order to reduce inequality within Israeli society.
Abu-RabiaS.PelegY.ShakkourW. (2014). The relation between linguistic skills, personality traits, and language anxiety. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics, 4, 118–141. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2014.41011
AmaraM.Donitsa-SchmidtS.Mar’iA. (2016). Arabic in the Israeli academy historical absence; current challenges, and future possibilities. Van Leer Institute Press. (Hebrew).
4.
ArarK.Masry-HarzallaA.Haj-YehiaK. (2013). Higher education for Palestinian Muslim female students in Israel and Jordan: Migration and identity formation. Cambridge Journal of Education, 43(1), 51–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764X.2012.749391
5.
ArarK.MustafaM. (2011). Access to higher education for Palestinians in Israel. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 4(3), 207–228. https://doi.org/10.1108/17537981111159975
6.
AzherM.AnwarM. N.NazA. (2010). An investigation of foreign language classroom anxiety and its relationship with students’ achievement. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 7(11), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v7i11.249
BernhoferJ.ToninM. (2022). The effect of the language of instruction on academic performance. Labour Economics, 78, Article 102218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2022.102218
9.
BotesE.DewaeleJ. M.GreiffS. (2020). The foreign language classroom anxiety scale and academic achievement: An overview of the prevailing literature and a meta-analysis. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 2(1), 26–56. https://doi.org/10.52598/jpll/2/1/3
BuchweitzN.Mar'iA. A. R. (2023). Language and conflict in East Jerusalem: Arab teachers’ perspectives on learning Hebrew. IAFOR Journal of Education, 11(1), 49–63. https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.11.1.03
12.
ÇağatayS. (2015). Examining EFL students’ foreign language speaking anxiety: The case at a Turkish state university. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 199, 648–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.594
13.
ChouM. H. (2018). Speaking anxiety and strategy use for learning English as a foreign language in full and partial English-medium instruction contexts. TESOL Quarterly, 52(3), 611–633. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.455
CreswellJ.ClarkV. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Sage.
16.
DaudA.RasF.NovitriN.AudiaC. P. (2019). Factors contributing to speaking anxiety: A case study of pre-service English teachers. Journal of Educational Sciences, 3(3), 412–422. https://doi.org/10.31258/jes.3.3.p.412-422
17.
DewaeleJ.-M. (2009). Individual differences in second language acquisition. In RitchieW. C.BhatiaT. K. (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition, 2 (pp. 623–646). Brill.
18.
DewaeleJ.-M. (2019). The effect of classroom emotions, attitudes toward English, and teacher behavior on willingness to communicate among English foreign language learners. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38(4), 523–535. https://doi.org/0.1177/0261927X19864996
19.
DewaeleJ.-M.MacIntyreP. D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4(2), 237–274. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2014.4.2.5
20.
DörnyeiZ. (2003). Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning: Advances in theory, research, and applications. Language Learning, 53(S1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9922.53222
21.
DörnyeiZ. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410613349
22.
Elahi ShirvanM.KhajavyG. H.MacIntyreP. D.TaherianT. (2019). A meta-analysis of L2 willingness to communicate and its three high-evidence correlates. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 48(6), 1241–1267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-019-09656-9
23.
FujiiS. (2021). Relationships between foreign language anxiety and willingness to communicate among Japanese EFL learners. Journal of Management and Training for Industries, 8(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.12792/JMTI.8.1.1
24.
GillE.GutermanO.NeumanA. (2024). Different motivation, different achievements: The relationship of motivation and dedication to academic pursuits with final grades among Jewish and Arab undergraduates studying together. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03548-7
25.
GregersenT.HorwitzE. K. (2002). Language learning and perfectionism: Anxious and non-anxious language learners’ reactions to their own oral performance. The Modern Language Journal, 86(4), 562–570. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4781.00161
26.
HalabiR. (2022). Palestinian students in an Israeli-Hebrew university: Obstacles and challenges. Higher Education, 86(3), 661–673. https://doi.org/0.1007/s10734-022-00920-x
27.
HorwitzE. K.HorwitzM. B.CopeJ. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.2307/327317
28.
JelínkováJ. (2022). The predicators of students willingness to communicate in foreign languages. State-of-the-art review. EduPort, 6(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.21062/edp.2022.004
29.
KhajavyG. H.MacIntyreP. D.BarabadiE. (2018). Role of the emotions and classroom environment in willingness to communicate: Applying doubly latent multilevel analysis in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(3), 605–624. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000304
30.
KleynT.GarcíaO. (2019). Translanguaging as an act of transformation: Restructuring teaching and learning for emergent bilingual students. The Handbook of TESOL in K-12, (pp. 69–82). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119421702.ch6
31.
LevyD.EyalY.KonstantinovV.KagyaS. (2019). Arab students, three years into academic studies: Assistance from the national plan to expand access to higher education in Israel. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew).
32.
LiuM. (2018). Bilingual/multilingual learners’ willingness to communicate in and anxiety on speaking Chinese and their associations with self-rated proficiency in Chinese. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 21(1), 54–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2015.1127889
33.
LiuM.JacksonJ. (2008). An exploration of Chinese EFL learners’ unwillingness to communicate and foreign language anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 92(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2008.00687.x
34.
LoY. Y.LoE. S. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of English-medium education in Hong Kong. Review of Educational Research, 84(1), 47–73. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654313499
35.
MacIntyreP. D.BakerS. C.ClémentR.ConrodS. (2001). Willingness to communicate, social support, and language-learning orientations of immersion students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 23(3), 369–388. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263101003035
McCroskeyJ. C. (1992). Reliability and validity of the willingness to communicate scale. Communication Quarterly, 40(1), 16–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463379209369817
38.
McCroskeyJ. C.RichmondV. P. (1991). Willingness to communicate: A cognitive view. In Booth-ButterfieldM. (Ed.), Communication, cognition, and anxiety (pp. 19–37). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojml.2023.134030
39.
MendelY.YitzhakiD.PintoM. (2016). Official but not recognized: The precarious status of the Arabic language in Israel and the need to redress this. Gilui Daat, 10, 1–29. (Hebrew).https://ssrn.com/abstract=3197858
40.
MustafaM. (2015). Hebrew as an obstacle to the adjustment of Arab students to academic institutions in Israel. In ArarK.KeynanI. (Eds.), Identity, narrative and multi-cultural education (pp. 335–364). Pardes. (Hebrew).
41.
OrI. G.ShohamyE. (2016). Asymmetries and inequalities in the teaching of Arabic and Hebrew in the Israeli educational system. Journal of Language and Politics, 15(1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.15.1.02or
42.
ÖzerÖAkçayoğluDİ (2021). Examining the roles of self-efficacy beliefs, self-regulated learning and foreign language anxiety in the academic achievement of tertiary EFL learners. Participatory Educational Research, 8(2), 357–372. https://doi.org/10.17275/per.21.43.8.2
43.
RajithaK.AlameluC. (2020). A study of factors affecting and causing speaking anxiety. Procedia Computer Science, 172, 1053–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2020.05.154
44.
RoseH.CurleS.AizawaI.ThompsonG. (2020). What drives success in English medium taught courses? The interplay between language proficiency, academic skills, and motivation. Studies in Higher Education, 45(11), 2149–2161. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1590690
45.
SakM. (2020). The role of ideal L2 self in predicting L2 willingness to communicate inside and outside the classroom. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 189–203. https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.775798
46.
SantosA.GorterD.CenozJ. (2017). Communicative anxiety in the second and third language. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1258980
47.
ShohamyE. (2014). Language policy and social justice in Israel. In Donitsa-SchmidtS.Inbar-LourieO. (Eds.), Issues in language teaching in Israel (pp. 43–63). Mofet. (Hebrew).
48.
SpielbergerC. D. (2013). Anxiety: Current trends in theory and research. Elsevier.
49.
SzyszkaM.PeltonenP.LintunenP. (2024). Unravelling the relationship between language anxiety and foreign language speech fluency in a monologue production. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2387149
50.
TannenbaumM. (2010). Multiculturalism in Israel: A linguistic perspective. In NachtomyO.SagiA. (Eds.), The multicultural challenge in Israel (pp. 306–326). Academic Studies Press.
51.
TannenbaumM. (2014). With a tongue forked in two: Translingual Arab writers in Israel. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(2), 99–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006912458393
TannenbaumM.TaharL. (2008). Willingness to communicate in the language of the other: Jewish and Arab students in Israel. Learning and Instruction, 18(3), 283–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2007.06.002
54.
ZhangX. (2019). Foreign language anxiety and foreign language performance: A meta-analysis. The Modern Language Journal, 103(4), 763–781. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12590
55.
ZhipingD.ParamasivamS. (2013). Anxiety of speaking English in class among international students in a Malaysian university. International Journal of Education and Research, 1(11), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijl.v12i1.16053
56.
ZhouL.XiY.LochtmanK. (2023). The relationship between second language competence and willingness to communicate: The moderating effect of foreign language anxiety. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 44(2), 129–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2020.1801697
