English Language Learning Anxiety among Iranian EFL Freshman University Learners

摘要

The purpose of this study was to identify university freshmen?s anxiety in foreign language classrooms and offer some strategies to decrease their anxiety. It explored how students felt towards learning how to listen, speak, read and write in English. Another aim was to find out whether there was a significant difference between males and females? level of anxiety. A group of 26 males and 37 female Iranian freshmen were randomly selected from which 2 males and 2 females were then selected for the open-ended structured questions. The data were collected through a Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) and open-ended structured questionnaires. The descriptive analysis indicated that these freshmen experienced the anxiety of being evaluated negatively in English classrooms. The findings also demonstrated that there was no statistically significant difference between the mean scores of male and female learners? foreign language learning anxiety. The open-ended structured questionnaire findings demonstrated that the participants felt anxious and nervous while learning the language skills of English. This study implies a non-threatening environment significant to enhance language learning.