The underlying structure of foreign language anxiety in integrated speaking assessment: A mixed methods study

Abstract

The aim of this mixed methods study is to identify the underlying structure of the construct of Foreign Language Anxiety in integrated listening-to-speak tasks. First, the analysis of the qualitative interviews with six postsecondary ESL learners reveals that anxiety for integrated speaking stems from four different factors: listening, source integration, topic familiarity, and time pressure. These findings informed the next study phase, the development of an initial inventory of 26 items. The questionnaire was checked for content validity and then administered to 190 respondents. Next, based on the quantitative data, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out in order to identify the model that best fits the data. Model comparisons corroborate the qualitative finding that suggests FLA of integrated speaking comprises four correlated latent variables, with all model fit indices falling within an acceptable range. Overall, this study provides evidence for construct validity of FLA in integrated speaking contexts as a multifaceted structure. Findings are discussed in relation to the factors that we identified.