THE ROLE OF ANXIETY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES: A FOCUS ON GENDER

The aim of this study is to investigate the role of anxiety in foreign language classes. It specifically focuses on students’ gender in order to see if there is a significant difference between male and females in terms of foreign language classroom anxiety. Speaking skill is also under investigation as a source of foreign language classroom anxiety. The participants are 4th grade primary school students who have just been exposed to English for the first time. To collect the data, a questionnaire has been used in order to see if there is a difference between females and males regarding their anxiety levels in the class; an interview has also been conducted with highly anxious students and students with lowest anxiety level. Results show that there is not much difference between female and male students in terms of foreign language anxiety; however, males are found to be slightly more anxious than females. Communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation are found to be the main reasons of foreign language classroom anxiety. In addition, speaking is found to be an anxiety provoking situation in foreign language classrooms.