MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ------------ HO THI NHU AN INVESTIGATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEST ANXIETY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY ------------ HO THI NHU AN INVESTIGATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEST ANXIETY OF NON-ENGLISH MAJORED STUDENTS AT HUE UNIVERSITY MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 8140111 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN HO HOANG THUY, Ph.D HUE, 2019 BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ -------- HỒ THỊ NHƯ KHẢO SÁT VỀ SỰ LO LẮNG ĐỐI VỚI BÀI THI CỦA SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN NGỮ TIẾNG ANH Ở ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 8140111 HUẾ, 2019 An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University”. The thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference or citation is made in the thesis itself. Hue, December, 10th, 2019 Signature i An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University ABSTRACT Foreign language test anxiety, as a type of situation-specific anxiety, is one of the main factors believed to affect learners‟ performance. Previous studies in many parts of the world indicated that foreign language test anxiety (FLTA) has effects on students not only during the testing time but also before and after the test.
Sources of foreign language test anxiety are various in different contexts. Nevertheless, FLTA seems to be ignored in foreign language classes and related studies are still limited in Vietnam. Many learners are struggling with test anxiety and EFL university students are not an exception. Therefore, the principal objective of the current research is to identify how the students express their foreign language test anxiety.
The study also aims to investigate the sources and effects of their foreign language test anxiety. Finally, the study endeavours to present suggestions to minimize the foreign language test anxiety to help students improve their performance in language exams. Participants of the research included 189 non-English majored students at Hue University. Data was collected by means of questionnaires, interviews and journals and then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.
The findings indicated that most of the students experienced a high level of foreign language test anxiety. The findings also showed that foreign language test anxiety does more harm than good to students‟ performance. Certain sources of foreign language test anxiety including the pressure from their universities, students‟ low level of language proficiency, time constraints, students‟ insufficient preparation for the test, their fear for making mistakes, failing the test and so on were found. Suggestions for teaching and learning practice were also offered to help allay students‟ foreign language test anxiety.
ii An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Apart from my efforts, the success of this study depends largely on the encouragement and guidelines from many others. In the process of choosing and writing this study, I was fortunate to receive valuable assistance and support. In light of this opportunity, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to those who have been so important in the completion of this research paper. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my enormous debt to my supervisor, Doctor Nguyen Ho Hoang Thuy for her precious guidance, constructive and insightful criticism, helpful suggestions and constant encouragement during the implementation of this thesis.
Without her whole- hearted assistance, this work could not have been completed. Secondly, I would like to convey my sincere thankfulness to lecturers at English Department, Hue University of Foreign Languages for their generous assistance and useful advice, which have enlightened my research work. Thirdly, I am indebted to the non-English majored students of Hue University for their enthusiastic participation in completing the questionnaires, journals and interviews. Thanks to their cooperation and contribution, I have collected the necessary and valuable data to serve the purposes of my research.
Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my beloved family members and friends who created favorable conditions and supported me both spiritually and materially to accomplish this graduation thesis. iii An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University TABLES OF CONTENTS Statement of authorship. iii List of tables. vii List of figures.
viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Significance of the study. Organization of the study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. The concept of anxiety.
Definition of anxiety. Types of anxiety. Foreign language anxiety. Definition of foreign language anxiety.
Types of foreign language anxiety. Sources of foreign language anxiety. Foreign language test anxiety. Definition of foreign language test anxiety.
Sources of foreign language test anxiety. Effects of foreign language test anxiety on students' language learning. The level 3 English proficiency test currently used at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University. Review of related studies.
17 iv An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University 2. Research on the global scale. Research in Vietnam. Participants of the study.
Rationale for the selection of data collection instruments. Design of data collection instruments. The procedure of data collection. 35 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Students‟ foreign language test anxiety. Effects of foreign language test anxiety. Sources of foreign language test anxiety. Ways to allay foreign language test anxiety.
What students should do. What teachers should do. 49 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS. Summary of the research findings.
51 v An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University 5. Implications for student learning. Implications for teaching practice. Limitations of the study.
Suggestions for further studies. 62 vi An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University LIST OF TABLES Table 2. 1: Formats of the B1-CEFR Preliminary Test and the Level 3 Proficiency English Test Currently Used at Hue University, University of Foreign Languages. 1: Background Information of the Participants.
2: Students‟ FLA Ranges. 1: Students‟ Expression of Foreign Language Test Anxiety .2: Students‟ FLTA Ranges .3: Average FLTA Scores among Different Groups .4: Results Obtained from the AAT- Subscale. 5: Results Obtained from the AAT+ Subscale. 6: Sources of FLTA.
44 vii An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University LIST OF FIGURES Chart 4. Students‟ FLTA ranges. 37 viii An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CEFR: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages EFL: English as a Foreign Language FLA: Foreign Language Anxiety FLCAS: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale FLTA: Foreign Language Test Anxiety PET: Preliminary English Test TAS: Test Anxiety Scale ix An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Global integration is becoming a main trend in the world.
In that context, foreign language learning plays a crucial role in helping learners prepare for better cooperation with international friends as well as for a brighter future in which they can successfully integrate into a variety of working environments. Nonetheless, incompetence in English is a major problem for many university students in Vietnam, with many of them being unable to graduate from their universities in spite of their good results in their majors. Most colleges and universities across Vietnam currently have some types of foreign language requirements that students have to fulfill before completing their tertiary education. Under the implementation of the National Foreign Language Project in 2008, many universities in Vietnam have required their non- language majored students to obtain a level-3 certificate of a foreign language (equivalent to B1 certificate – CEFR) as a requirement for their university graduation.
This has also been applied at Hue University since 2013. Accordingly, passing the B1 English proficiency test has become one of the major obstacles students have to overcome. For the majority of Hue University non-English majored students, when it comes to testing their English proficiency with a test which consists of all four skills in English namely listening, speaking, reading and writing; most of the students find it a real struggle. Students often feel anxious in English classes as well as in a test room.
EFL learners‟ anxiety in the English classroom is a problem commonly found in EFL contexts, so it‟s not an exception for English classes at Hue University as a lot of students have failed with poor performance. Foreign language test anxiety, which is one of the three types of foreign language classroom anxiety, is believed to have detrimental effects on learners‟ performance. However, so far there have been limited studies focusing on this issue of EFL learners in Vietnam. Le (2016) carried out a research on FLA, but concentrated mostly on the effects of FLA on learners‟ foreign language learning in general and the attitudes and reactions of teachers towards FLA.
FLTA was mentioned once, but its effect on learners‟ performance was not clearly confirmed. Tran, Moni, and Baldauf (2013) carried out a research on FLA at university level, but they only investigated 1 An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University learners and teachers‟ awareness and attitudes towards FLA. All in all, not much attention has been paid to FLTA. Therefore, factors such as FLTA‟s possible sources and effects need to be examined.
What is more, seeking solutions to these problems is crucial. In order to fulfill these aims, the researcher found it necessary and useful to investigate foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students. It is hoped that this study can help students reduce anxiety and successfully pass the B1 English proficiency test. Aims of the study The present study aims to shed light on foreign language test anxiety experienced by Hue university English learners who are supposed to take a B1 English proficiency test as a university graduation requirement.
Specifically, the study was conducted with the following aims: to analyze foreign language test anxiety expressed among non- English majored students at Hue University; to explore the effects and sources of foreign language test anxiety; and to suggest some solutions to minimize the detrimental effects of test anxiety. Research questions In order to investigate foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University, this study endeavors to deal with the following questions: 1. How is foreign language test anxiety expressed among non-English majored students at Hue University? 2. What are the effects of the students‟ foreign language test anxiety? 3.
What are the sources of the students‟ foreign language test anxiety? 4. What should be done to reduce the students‟ foreign language test anxiety? 1. Scope of the study The study focuses specifically on foreign language test anxiety of non- English majored students at Hue University. Therefore, the study limits itself to test anxiety.
The scope of this research is quite big in terms of population because it is an investigation into non-English majored students from eight different member universities and faculties in Hue University about their experience of foreign language test anxiety. 2 An Investigation into foreign language test anxiety of non-English majored students at Hue University 1.