Abstract

This paper investigates the level of anxiety due to learning English as a foreign language. It tries to answer these questions: 1-Is anxiety a factor in hindering English proficiency? 2-Does anxiety lead to fear of communication? 3- Which type of anxiety is high among tertiary level female Saudi students? The Foreign Language Anxiety Classroom Scale (FLACS) used as an instrument. The data was collected and statistically analysed through SPSS. This paper revealed that anxiety was one of the major factors that impeded English proficiency. Besides, anxiety also caused fear of communication among the students. Furthermore, it was found that the learners had got a high level of communication apprehension that hindered their contact with their teachers and others. This was followed by test anxiety in which the students expected to fail their test. Students showed great fear of test as they feared to be negatively assessed by teachers, this fact had created great anxiety that influenced their attitudes and behaviour as well.

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