A Study on Relationship between Language Anxiety and Proficiency: In a Case of Japanese Learners of English

Yusuke Kondo Waseda University Abstract Language anxiety is one of the negative factors in second language acquisition. However, several studies produced inconsistent results and have not concurred in the subcategorization of language anxiety. These inconsistent results seem likely to be caused by socio-cultural differences. This present study investigated the applicability of language anxiety scale developed by previous studies to the context of Japan and relationship between language anxiety and proficiency in a speaking test. The participants of this study were sixty-four university students in Japan. The study collected the data on language anxiety through questionnaires and the data on English proficiency through a speaking test. The study found that language anxiety in the speaking test was only a poor predictor of English proficiency.