Language anxiety and willingness to communicate in young EFL learners

Siročić, Julija. (2014). Language anxiety and willingness to communicate in young EFL learners. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Mihaljević Djigunović, Jelena].

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Abstract

The study described in this thesis attempted to research foreign language anxiety and willingness to communicate (WTC) in young EFL learners in Croatia. Language anxiety and WTC are very important factors in second language acquisition, as they influence strongly both the process of language learning and its results . Language anxiety and WTC belong to a widely researched area, yet very few studies have dealt with these phenomena among young language learners. As English is nowadays considered a lingua franca, children begin with their learning of English earlier than ever before, so it is important to study language anxiety and WTC in young learners of English. The purpose of this study was to find how language anxiety and WTC influence second language acquisition of young learners of English. The study was conducted with two groups of learners, aged approximately 12 and 14. The results showed that young learners of English in Croatia experience language anxiety of low intensity, as well as that they possess relatively strong WTC, which is supported by previous studies in the area.

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