A Study of Chinese University EFL Learners’ Online English Classroom Anxiety and Listening Anxiety

Abstract

The present study examined Chinese university EFL (English as a foreign language) undergraduates’ classroom anxiety and listening anxiety in online English language classrooms. 261 freshmen from a Chinese state-owned university answered a 56-item questionnaire on their English language classroom and listening anxiety. Findings from the survey data were as follows: (1) the participants were slightly higher than intermediate level in both overall English classroom anxiety and overall English listening anxiety; (2) gender does not play a significant role in differentiating undergraduates’ overall English classroom anxiety, overall English listening anxiety, and their subscales; (3) the ELCAS and its subscales were significantly positively intercorrelated and correlated with the ELLAS and its subscales; (4) students’ classroom anxiety and listening anxiety predicts each other. The results of the study add to the limited number of studies on foreign language anxiety in online learning environment and can offer teachers pedagogical suggestions inclusive of providing more opportunities for students to practice spoken English, relieving students’ fear of the new instruction technology by changing task assignment, and endeavoring to help students with technical problems.