The Impact Of Foreign Language Anxiety And Personality Traits On Test-takers’ Oral Performance

Many individual factors affect foreign language learning,such as cognitive factors,affective factors,and personality traits.Among these factors,foreign language anxiety and extraversion-introversion tendencies have received extensive attention.Foreign language anxiety refers to worried and nervous emotional performance in the process of learning foreign language.With full energy,extroverted learners tend to interact with others.While quiet and cautious introverts are not good at communicating.As an essential skill for learning and job-hunting,communication is a significant way for language and thought output.Therefore,some researchers have given priority to the impact of learners’ individual differences on speaking,but there are still some gaps.Firstly,foreign language anxiety has a negative impact on test takers’ oral performance,but the impact of extraversion-introversion tendencies is still obscure.Secondly,most research use scores as the descriptor,which generally and roughly defines oral performance,rather than investigating complexity,accuracy,and fluency through transcripts analysis.Oral scores alone are not adequate to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of different candidates in specific aspects.Last,there is rare research to explore the effects of foreign language anxiety and extraversion-introversion tendencies on oral performance simultaneously,as well as distinction in effects of the two factors on oral performance.In view of these gaps,this current study intends to adopt structural equation modeling to explore the impact of foreign language anxiety and extraversion-introversion tendencies on test-takers’ oral complexity,accuracy,and fluency,and in what ways their impacts differ.Participants of this study are composed of 155 non-English major sophomores from a university in Chongqing.Instruments include foreign language anxiety questionnaire,extraversion-introversion questionnaire and an oral test.One hundred fifty-five participants finish two questionnaires and have an oral test within two minutes.The process of speaking is recorded for transcribing and decoding.Five operational indices are applied to measure complexity,accuracy,and fluency.SPSS and Amos are used for data analysis by descriptive analysis,exploratory factor analysis,confirmatory factor analysis,and structural equation modeling.The results reveal that,firstly,foreign language anxiety mainly stems from foreign language classroom anxiety.The characteristics of extraversion and introversion are embodied in activities and communication.Secondly,there is a negative and significant relationship between foreign language anxiety and extraversion-introversion tendencies.Thirdly,classroom anxiety has an adverse effect on test-takers’ oral fluency but has an insignificant effect on oral complexity and accuracy.Fourthly,extraversion has a significant and positive impact on test-takers’ oral complexity but has no significant influence on accuracy and fluency.In light of these findings,this study provides some pedagogic suggestions for improving oral English teaching.Above all,teachers choose different authentic oral tasks and put emphasis on output practice.Next,teachers attach importance to create a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere in which timely feedback and positive evaluation are requisite.Meanwhile,teachers should pay more heed to learners’ emotional development with different personality traits and guide learners to evaluate themselves and others.Teachers can then group students with different personality traits together in oral practice,leading introverted learners to actively express themselves.Finally,students should have growing consciousness of self-practice or cooperation with partners to improve oral skills comprehensively.