Foreign Language Anxiety and Foreign Language Performance: A Meta‐Analysis

2019/10/01 by Xian Zhang, XIAN ZHANG · 333 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Active listening #Affect (linguistics) #Anxiety #Artificial intelligence #Clinical psychology #Communication #Computer science #Correlation #Developmental psychology #EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning #Foreign language anxiety #Linguistics #Psychiatry #Psychology #Reading (process) #Second Language Acquisition and Learning #Second Language Learning and Teaching #Similarity (geometry)

paper · doi:10.1111/modl.12590

published in Modern Language Journal 103(4), 763-781 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2019/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Abstract This meta‐analysis investigated the relationship between foreign language (FL) anxiety and FL performance. Fifty‐five independent samples with more than 10,000 participants were surveyed. It was found that the overall correlation between FL anxiety and FL performance was −.34 ( p < .01). FL listening anxiety had the strongest correlation with FL listening performance. Both FL reading anxiety and test anxiety had a weaker correlation with FL performance as compared to other types of anxiety. The anxiety–performance correlation remained stable across groups with different FL proficiency levels, suggesting that the role of FL anxiety should not be ignored regardless of the FL learners’ proficiency level. As compared to language family, lexical similarity was found to have a more decisive modulating effect on the anxiety–performance correlation. However, language family and lexical similarity may interact to affect the anxiety–performance correlation. Finally, a metaregression analysis showed that age could affect the correlation between FL anxiety and performance.

Citations

• Age and Second Language Acquisition and Processing: A Selective Overview
• Language Anxiety: Its Relationship to Other Anxieties and to Processing in Native and Second Languages*
• Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
• Methods and Results in the Study of Anxiety and Language Learning: A Review of the Literature*
• Trim and Fill: A Simple Funnel‐Plot–Based Method of Testing and Adjusting for Publication Bias in Meta‐Analysis
• Language Anxiety: Differentiating Writing and Speaking Components
• Motivation, Self‐confidence, and Group Cohesion in the Foreign Language Classroom
• The Subtle Effects of Language Anxiety on Cognitive Processing in the Second Language
• Self‐efficacy of College Intermediate French Students: Relation to Achievement and Motivation

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