Bridging foreign language classroom anxiety to Thai students' Chinese language success

Abstract

Horwitz's Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) is the most frequently used scale for investigating learners' anxiety in the foreign language classroom. Variations in cultural contexts and divergent analytical methods have resulted in notable differences in the FLCAS constructs and corresponding items across numerous studies. This study primarily sought to re-examine the constructs of the FLCAS in Thai high school Chinese classrooms and, in turn, to develop a model for measuring Thai high school students' Chinese classroom anxiety based on the FLCAS. First, 810 students from six schools around Bangkok were divided into two samples for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). After that, the researchers re-combined the two samples to analyze how the sub-constructs and HSK scores vary by gender and Chinese learning experience, as well as how each construct correlates with the other sub-constructs and the students' HSK scores. A four-factor model was obtained, retaining only nineteen question items. The results showed that FLCAS sub-constructs did not differ significantly between genders but did differ significantly with Chinese learning experience. HSK scores, however, differed significantly by both gender and Chinese learning experience. Lastly, the four sub-constructs of FLCAS are positively correlated with each other but negatively correlated with HSK scores.