Understanding Foreign Language Anxiety and Achievement in Chinese Secondary EFL Learners: The Role of Behavioural Engagement
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v10i2p208Keywords:
Academic Anxiety, Behavioural Engagement, English Achievement, Mediation Mechanism, Chinese Secondary EFL StudentsAbstract
Drawing up the control-value theory, the present study attempted to understand the relationships among Chinese secondary school students’ English learning anxiety, behavioural engagement, and English performance. A total of 230 (113 males, 117 females) English as a foreign language (EFL) learners from one Chinese secondary school completed the academic anxiety scale and behavioural engagement scale. Participants final examination scores measured their English achievement. Structural equation model (SEM) analyses demonstrated that EFL-related anxiety could directly affect EFL achievement and indirectly via the mediator of behavioural engagement. EFL-related anxiety was able to explain 44.9% of the variance in behavioural engagement and 22.6% of the variance in English achievement. Implications for English education and limitations and directions for future studies are discussed.
References
Assor, A., Kaplan, H., Kanat-Maymon, Y., & Roth, G. (2005). Directly controlling teacher behaviours as predictors of poor motivation and engagement in girls and boys: The role of anger and anxiety. Learning and Instruction, 15, 397–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2005.07.008
Awan, R.-N., Azher, M., Anwar, M. N., & Naz, A. (2010). An investigation of foreign language classroom anxiety and its relationship with students’ achievement. Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 7(11), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v7i11.249
Bråten, I., Latini, N., & Haverkamp, Y. E. (2022). Predictors and outcomes of behavioural engagement in the context of text comprehension: When quantity means quality. Reading and Writing, 35(3), 687–711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10205-x
Brumariu, L. E., Waslin, S. M., Gastelle, M., Kochendorfer, L. B., & Kerns, K. A. (2022). Anxiety, academic achievement, and academic self-concept: Meta-analytic syntheses of their relations across developmental periods. Development and Psychopathology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000323
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. New York: Routledge.
Cakici, D. (2016). The correlation among EFL learners’ test anxiety, foreign language anxiety and language achievement. English Language Teaching, 9(8), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n8p190
Chen, F. F. (2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14(3), 464–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701301834
Cheng, L. (2008). The key to success: English language testing in China. Language Testing, 25(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265532207083743
Chin, E. C. H., Williams, M. W., Taylor, J. E., & Harvey, S. T. (2017). The influence of negative affect on test anxiety and academic performance: An examination of the tripartite model of emotions. Learning and Individual Differences, 54, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.01.002
Gkonou, C. (2012). Facilitating anxiety in the EFL classroom: The other side of the coin. In J. Angouri, M. Daller, & J. Treffers-Daller (Eds.), The impact of applied linguistics (pp. 73–76). London: Scitsiugnil Press.
Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Pekrun, R., & Hall, N. C. (2006). The domain specificity of academic emotional experiences. Journal of Experimental Education, 75(1), 5–29. https://doi.org/10.3200/JEXE.75.1.5-29
Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Pekrun, R., Hall, N. C., & Lüdtke, O. (2007). Between and within-domain relations of students’ academic emotions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(4), 715–733. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.4.715
Hu, L.-T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling:A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.
Huang, S., Eslami, Z., & Hu, R.-J. S. (2010). The relationship between teacher and peer support and English-language learners’ anxiety. English Language Teaching, 3(1), 32–40. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v3n1p32
Kang, X., & Wu, Y. (2022). Academic enjoyment , behavioural engagement, self-concept, organizational strategy and achievement in EFL setting: A multiple mediation analysis. PLoS ONE, 17(4), e0267405. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0267405
Kell, H. J., Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2013). Who rises to the top? Early indicators. Psychological Science, 24(5), 648–659. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612457784
Lam, U. F., Chen, W. W., Zhang, J., & Liang, T. (2015). It feels good to learn where I belong: School belonging, academic emotions, and academic achievement in adolescents. School Psychology International, 36(4), 393–409. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143034315589649
Lei, H., & Cui, Y. (2016). Effects of academic emotions on achievement among Mainland Chinese students: A meta-analysis. Social Behaviour and Personality, 44(9), 1541–1553. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2016.44.9.1541
Li, C., & Dewaele, J.-M. (2021). How classroom environment and general grit predict foreign language classroom anxiety of Chinese EFL students. Journal for the Psychology of Language Learning, 3(2), 86–98. https://doi.org/10.52598/jpll/3/2/6
Li, L., Wu, Y., & Kang, X. (2022). Foreign language learning boredom, academic engagement, and achievement: A mediation model. Asian Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 5(3), 22–31. https://doi.org/10.54392/ajir2233
Li, Y., & Lerner, R. M. (2013). Interrelations of behavioural, emotional, and cognitive school engagement in high school students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(1), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9857-5
Liu, M. (2006). Anxiety in Chinese EFL students at different proficiency levels. System, 34(3), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2006.04.004
Lomas, T. (2016). The positive power of negative emotions. London: Piatkus.
MacIntyre, P. D., & Gardner, R. C. (1994). The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive processing in the second language. Language Learning, 44(2), 283–305. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01103.x
Martin, A. J., Ginns, P., & Papworth, B. (2017). Motivation and engagement: Same or different? Does it matter? Learning and Individual Differences, 55, 150–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.03.013
McCallumore, K. M., & Sparapani, E. F. (2010). The importance of the ninth grade on high school graduation rates and student success. Education, 130(3), 447–456.
Moradi, B. (2022). Intervention in EFL learners’ reading comprehension, motivation, and anxiety: A team-based multi-strategy instruction. International Journal of Research in English Education, 7(3), 16–31. https://doi.org/10.52547/ijree.7.3.16
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. (2013). Mplus version 8.3: User’s guide. Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.
Olivier, E., Galand, B., Hospel, V., & Dellisse, S. (2020). Understanding behavioural engagement and achievement: The roles of teaching practices and student sense of competence and task value. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(4), 887–909. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12342
Oruç, E., & Demirci, C. (2020). Foreign Language Anxiety and English Language Achievement in Higher Education: The mediating role of student engagement. European Journal of Education Studies, 7(3), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3756910
Pekrun, R. (2006). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: Assumptions, corollaries, and implications for educational research and practice. Educational Psychology Review, 18(4), 315–341. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-006-9029-9
Pekrun, R., Frenzel, A. C., Goetz, T., & Perry, R. P. (2007). The control-value theory of achievement emotions: An integrative approach to emotions in education. In P. A. Schutz & R. Pekrun (Eds.), Emotion in education (pp. 13–36). San Diego: Academic Press.
Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Frenzel, A. C., Barchfeld, P., & Perry, R. P. (2011). Measuring emotions in students’ learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ). Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.10.002
Peleg, O., Deutch, C., & Dan, O. (2016). Test anxiety among female college students and its relation to perceived parental academic expectations and differentiation of self. Learning and Individual Differences, 49, 428–436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.06.010
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioural research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Putwain, D. (2007). Researching academic stress and anxiety in students: Some methodological considerations. British Educational Research Journal, 33(2), 207–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920701208258
Reeve, J. (2013). How students create motivationally supportive learning environments for themselves: The concept of agentic engagement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105(3), 579–595. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032690
Reeve, J., & Tseng, C. M. (2011). Agency as a fourth aspect of students’ engagement during learning activities. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 36(4), 257–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2011.05.002
Reschly, A. L., Huebner, E. S., Appleton, J. J., & Antaramian, S. (2008). Engagement as flourishing: The contribution of positive emotions and coping to adolescents’ engagement at school and with learning. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 419–431. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20306
Rivkin, S. G., & Schiman, J. C. (2015). Instruction time, classroom quality, and academic achievement. Economic Journal, 125(588), F425–F448. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12315
Scanlon, C. L., Del Toro, J., & Wang, M. Te. (2020). Socially anxious science achievers: The roles of peer social support and social engagement in the relation between adolescents’ social anxiety and science achievement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49(5), 1005–1016. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01224-y
Shao, K., Pekrun, R., Marsh, H. W., & Loderer, K. (2020). Control-value appraisals, achievement emotions, and foreign language performance: A latent interaction analysis. Learning and Instruction, 69, 101356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2020.101356
Skinner, E. A., Kindermann, T. A., Connell, J. P., & Wellborn, J. G. (2009). Engagement and disaffection as organizational constructs in the dynamics of motivational development. In K. R. Wentzel & A. Wigfield (Eds.), Handbook of motivation at school (pp. 223–245). London: Routledge.
Taboas, W. R., McKay, D., Whiteside, S. P. H., & Storch, E. A. (2015). Parental involvement in youth anxiety treatment: Conceptual bases, controversies, and recommendations for intervention. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 30, 16–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2014.12.005
Tang, M. (2022). Constructing and validating the teaching strategies for alleviating Chinese EFL graduate students’ foreign language anxiety. Language Teaching Research, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221115810
Weda, S., Elsa, A., & Sakti, F. (2018). The relationship between study anxiety and academic performance among English students. European Scientific Language Journal, 11(2), 718–727. https://doi.org/10.18355/XL.2018.11.02.56
Wei, C., & Kendall, P. C. (2014). Child perceived parenting behaviour: childhood anxiety and related symptoms. Child and Family Behaviour Therapy, 36(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/07317107.2014.878175
Wen, Q. (2012). Teaching English as an international language in Mainland China. In A. Kirkpatrick & R. Sussex (Eds.), English as an international language in Asia: Implications for language education (pp. 79–93). Dordrecht: Springer.
Yan, J. X., & Horwitz, E. K. (2008). Learners’ perceptions of how anxiety interacts with personal and instructional factors to influence their achievement in english: A qualitative analysis of EFL learners in China. Language Learning, 58(1), 151–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2007.00437.x
Yang, Y., Yuan, Y., Tan, H., Wang, Y., & Li, G. (2021). The linkages between Chinese children’s both cognitive engagement and emotional engagement and behavioural engagement: Mediating effect of perceptions of classroom interactions in math. Psychology in the Schools, 58(10), 2017–2030. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22571
Zhao, N. (2007). A study of high school students’ English learning anxiety. The Asian EFL Journal, 9(3), 22–34.
Zheng, Y., & Cheng, L. (2018). How does anxiety influence language performance? From the perspectives of foreign language classroom anxiety and cognitive test anxiety. Language Testing in Asia, 8(13), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40468-018-0065-4
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies
International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies applies the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic Licence (CC BY-NC 2.0)
