LANGUAGE ANXIETY AMONG ESL COLLEGE STUDENTS IN INDIA

Abstract

This study on anxiety was undertaken among 203 students who were largely from a rural Tamil speaking setting in South India. Most of them were first generation college goers. The purpose was to investigate the anxiety experienced among the students learning all subjects in English for the first time in their lives. Horwitz’s FLCA (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety) Scale was adapted to assess the levels of four types of anxiety, namely, communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety of the classroom and test anxiety. The findings revealed that the participants had a high level of all the four types of anxiety, with a combined mean of 3.31. The research has significant implications for the teaching and learning of ESL in this part of the world.