EFFECTS OF GENDER AND INTERACTION OF GENDER AND PERSONALITY TRAITS ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY

Authors

  • Prof. Jelisaveta Å afranj The University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21000 Novi Sad

Keywords:

gender, personality traits, interaction, language anxiety, foreign language learning,

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine the effects of gender and personality traits on foreign language anxiety, and the effects of gender-personality traits interaction on the foreign language anxiety. The research conceived in this way has the potential to further clarify the existing inconsistent results of the studies when it comes to investigating gender differences in foreign language anxiety. The study was conducted on the sample of 296 engineering students who attended the English language course. The data were collected using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz et al. 1986) and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP). The results show that females experience higher level of foreign language anxiety than males. Emotional Stability and Intellect as personality traits are predictors of foreign language anxiety, and the effect of Emotional stability on language anxiety is more evident in men in comparison with women, while the effect of Intellect is more evident in women in comparison with men. Accordingly, it can be said that, Emotional stability has a stronger effect on language anxiety for men, while Intellect displays a stronger effect on language anxiety for women. Pedagogical implications of the research indicate that teaching strategies and curriculum can correct certain psychological effects in foreign language learning.

References

Abu-Rabia, S. (2004). Teacher’s role, learners’ gender differences, and FL anxiety among seventh-grade students studying English as FL. Educational Psychology, 24, 711-721. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144341042000263006

Arnaiz, P. & Guillen, F. (2012). Foreign language anxiety in a Spanish university setting: inter personal differences. Revista de Psicodidäctica 17(l), 5-26. www.ehu.es/revista-psicodidactica

Brown, J. D., Robson,G., & Rosenkjar,P.R. (2001). Personality, motivation, anxiety, strategies, and language proficiency of Japanese students. In Motivation and second language acquisition. ed. Zoltän Dornyei. Richard W. Schmidt. 361-398. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.

Campbell, C. M., & Shaw,V.M. (1994). Language anxiety and gender differences in adult second language learners: exploring the relationship. In Faces in a crowd: the individual learner in multi-section courses. ed. Carol A. Klee, 47-80. Boston: Heinle and Heinle.

Cohen, J., Cohen,P., West, S.G., & Aiken,L.S. (2003). Applied multiple regression/ correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences, 3rd edn., Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Research in Educational Psychology, 10(3), 1343- 1382. Retrieved from: http://www.investigacion-psicopedagogica.org/revista/new/english/ContadorArticulo.php?768

Feingold, A. (1994). Gender differences in personality: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 116(3), 429-456. https://doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.3.429

Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (4th edition). London, UK: SAGE.

Furnham, A., & Haeven,P. (1999). Personality and social behavior. London, UK: Arnold.

Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling [White paper]. Retrieved from http://www.afhayes.com/ public/process2012.pdf

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M.B., & Cope,J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal 70,125-132. https://doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Horwitz, Elaine K., & Young, Dolly J. (1991). Afterword. In: E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young (Eds.), Language anxiety. From theory and research to classroom implications (pp. 177-178). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kitano, K. (2001). Anxiety in the college Japanese language classroom. Modern Language Journal, 85(4), 549-566. https://doi: 10.1111/0026-7902.00125

Lee, K. & Ashton,M.C. (2005). Psychopathy, machiavellianism, and narcissism in the fivefactor model and the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Individual Differences 58, 1571-1582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.09.016

Lynn, R. & Martin,T. (1997). Gender differences in extraversion. neuroticism, and psychoticism in 37 nations. Journal of Social Psychology 137(3), 369-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224549709595447

Maclntyre, P. D., Baker,S.C., Clement,R. & Donovan,L.A. (2002). Sex and age effects on willingness to communicate, anxiety, perceived competence. and L2 motivation among junior high school French immersion students. Language Learning 52(3), 537-564. https://doi:10.1111/1467-9922.00194

Maclntyre, P. D., & Charos,C. (1996). Personality, attitudes and affect as predictors of second language communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 15, 3-26.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X960151001

Maclntyre, P. D., & Gardner,R.C. (1991). Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: a review of the literature. Language Learning 41, 85-l 17.

https:// doi: 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1991.tb00677.x

Maclntyre, P.D. (1995). How does anxiety affect second language learning? A reply to Sparks and Ganschow. Modern Language Journal 79, 90-99. https://doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1995.tb05418.x

Maclntyre, P. D. (2007). Willingness to communicate in the second language: understanding the decision to speak as a volitional process. Modern Language Journal 9(4), 564-576.

https://doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00623.x

Machida, S. (2001). Anxiety in Japanese-language class oral examinations. Sekai no Nihongo Kyoiku 11, 115-138.

McLean, C. P., Asnaani, A., Litz, B. T., & Hofmann, S. G. (2011). Gender differences in anxiety disorders: Prevalence, course of illness, comorbidity and burden of illness. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 45(8), 1027–1035. https://doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.03.006

Matsuda, S., & Gobel,P. (2004). Anxiety and predictors of performance in the foreign language classroom, System, 32, 21-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2003.08.002

Međedović, J. (2013). Analysis of the interaction of predictors in the linear regression models: an example of party evaluation. Primenjena psihologija, 6(3), 267-286. https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.2013.3.267-286

Müller, J. & Schwieren,C. (2012). Can personality explain what is underlying women's unwillingness to compete? Journal of Economic Psychology 33(3), 448-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2011.12.005

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Bailey,P. & Daley,C.E. (1999). Factors associated with foreign language anxiety. Applied Psycholinguistics 20, 217-239. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/applied-psycholinguistics/article/factors-associated-with-foreign-language-anxiety/8ED4BE504EE17B87E5C7A375249B0477

Piechurska-Kuciel, E. (2008). Language anxiety in secondary grammar students. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.

Schmitt, D. P., Realo,A., Voracek,M. & Allik,J. (2008). Why can't a man be more like a woman? Sex differences in big five personality traits across 55 cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 94(1), 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.1.168

Smederevac, S., & Mitrović, D. (2009). LiÄnost – metodi i modeli. Beograd: Centar za primenjenu psihologiju.

Weisberg, Y. J., DeYoung, C. G., & Hirsh, J. B. (2011). Gender Differences in Personality across the Ten Aspects of the Big Five. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. https://doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.0017

Downloads

Published

2018-11-05