THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE ORAL PROFICIENCY RATINGS (INTERVIEW, SECOND LANGUAGE, TESTING)

This dissertation study represents an attempt to investigate the relationship between anxiety and oral performance in a foreign language. The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has developed an oral proficiency test, the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), which may become the official test of oral performance for prospective foreign language teachers. ACTFL is as interested in the effect of anxiety on Oral Proficiency Interview ratings as are professionals in foreign language education. The purpose of this study was to provide an assessment of how anxiety may influence scores on the OPI.; An examination of the relationship between anxiety and foreign language oral performance must take ability (foreign language proficiency) into account. In this study, subjects' foreign language proficiency was assessed through a Self-Appraisal of Language Proficiency questionnaire and a dictation test. Subjects' anxiety was assessed on the basis of four anxiety measures: the State Anxiety Inventory, the Cognitive Interference Questionnaire, a Self-Report of Anxiety and a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale of Reaction.; A total of sixty subjects took the Oral Proficiency Interview in May of 1984 at The University of Texas. These subjects were either majors in French, German or Spanish or prospective French, German or Spanish teachers at The Univesity of Texas. The Self-Appraisal and State Anxiety Inventory were administered before the oral interview, the other anxiety instruments were administered immediately after the Oral Proficiency Interview. Within two months, thirty-two of the sixty subjects took a dictation test along with the same anxiety measures given under the OPI.; Although subjects reported being more anxious taking the Oral Proficiency Interview than the dictation test, they were in absolute terms not very anxious for either proficiency tests. There were significant negative correlations between anxiety and Oral Proficiency Interview ratings, but once the effects of ability were accounted for, the correlations were no longer significant. Furthermore, when Multiple Regression and Discriminant Analysis were performed on these data, results indicated that anxiety did not bear as much weight as ability on oral proficiency scores in the Oral Proficiency Interview. An important qualification that must be noted is that subjects were aware that the Oral Proficiency Interview in this study represented an unofficial administration of the test. It is quite possible that anxiety levels may be higher when the Oral Proficiency Interview is administered as an official test and may then interfere with oral performance. Further research in this area is, therefore, encouraged.