AN INTROSPECTIVE STUDY OF L2 READING ANXIETY

This study sought to explore the possible relationship between reading anxiety and reading proficiency and also between reading anxiety and language learners’ use of reading strategies. The majority of studies on language anxiety have been quantitative to date. This study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was quantitative, and the second consisted of a series of case studies using introspection and think-aloud protocols. The statistical phase aimed to study the relationship between reading anxiety and reading proficiency. The FLRAS questionnaire was administered to two groups of pre-intermediate and upper-intermediate Iranian EFL learners, studying in a private language school, in order to measure their foreign language reading anxiety and correlate it with their reading proficiency. In the qualitative part of the study, the think-aloud procedure was employed to examine the possible link between reading anxiety and reading strategy use. The verbal reports of four informants, selected from the population of participants in the first phase, were analyzed using a defined classificatory scheme of processing strategies. The results of the analyses suggest that 1) there is no significant relationship between reading anxiety and ability in the reading skill, and 2) reading anxiety seems to affect learners’ reading style and preference for certain types of strategies.