Learners' language anxiety and English language learning motivation: an exploratory analysis / Nurshahirah Azman ... [et al.]

Language anxiety is an ongoing concern for ESL instructors and educators, impacting students' performance in English language classrooms. Despite years of discussion, learners still grapple with language anxiety. Simultaneously, motivation has emerged as a pivotal factor in English language learning success. This research examines how diverse types of learning anxiety, such as fear of negative evaluation, apprehension of speech and fear of assessments have a bearing on learners’ motivation. Employing a quantitative approach, this exploratory study gathered data through questionnaires distributed to 74 undergraduate students, chosen purposively. A 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was used, incorporating demographic details, the English Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, and the English Language Motivation Scale. The results spotlight a significant correlation between learners' anxiety levels and their language learning motivation, with fear of negative evaluation as the main predictor impacting motivation. Motivation and language learning anxiety level were also found to be moderately low among the respondents, with the relationship being weak, positive in nature. These findings illuminate how motivation could potentially alleviate anxiety's impact, thus enhancing language learning effectiveness.