October 2008 home | PDF | SWF |

Title
The effect of anxiety on reading comprehension across genders: A case of Iranian EFL learners

Authors
Majid Hayati    (Ph.D in Linguistics)
Ehsan Ghassemi   (MA in TEFL)

Bio Data
Dr. Majid Hayati is a Ph.D. in Linguistics and teaches in Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran. He has published and presented in the area of English language

Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the relationship between anxiety and reading comprehension, on the one hand, and the role of gender in the amount of anxiety experienced when reading an English text, on the other. In doing so, sixty junior students (30 males and 30 females) served as subjects of the study. The statistical analysis of participants’ scores in reading comprehension tests and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) showed a rather significant negative correlation between anxiety and reading comprehension. When the participants were divided into male and female groups, the correlation between the two variables was significantly negative only for the latter group (i.e. females), however. The comparison of anxiety scores showed no significant difference between males and females. Nevertheless, the comparison of choice distribution using Mann-Whitney Test showed that females were significantly more anxious than males concerning item 6 of FLRAS that emphasizes unknown structures in a reading passage.

Key Words: anxiety, reading comprehension, gender, FLRAS, topic familiarity, language learning

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