The Age Factor and Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety: A Comparative Study of Speaking Anxiety Levels Among EFL Secondary School Students

Abstract

In an attempt to understand the reason why some language learners have more difficulties in learning a foreign or a second language, there has been a great interest into the relationship between language learning experience and affective factors. In particular, foreign language anxiety, or the moment of anxiety experienced by learners while attaining a foreign language, has been considered one of these affective variables. The purpose of this study is to ascertain how the age factor can have an impact on language speaking anxiety felt by a group of 113 Italian students aged between thirteen to nineteen attending secondary school. The learners are specialising in Sciences and studying English as a foreign language. The analysed data have been collected from 113 questionnaires by using a survey made up of thirty questions. Conclusions suggest that, having a great number of data about anxiety factors is a good indicator for teachers in order to have a broad idea of how language anxiety and age may influence the learners’ achievement expectations. Therefore, teachers can better understand how their students feel during the process of learning a foreign language, eventually helping them learn effectively.