Helping teachers become better English students: Causes, effects, and coping strategies for foreign language listening anxiety

Foreign language anxiety is a psychological factor that may crucially affect student performance. Although many researchers have investigated the effect of anxiety, few have studied listening comprehension. In particular, listening anxiety among language teachers has yet to be examined. This article reports the results of a study on foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) among language teacher candidates (TCs). The research data was collected with the use of quantitative and qualitative methods, including two questionnaires, open-ended interviews and listening tests. The findings revealed that TCs had high FLLA levels. The respondents’ answers to the open-ended questions revealed that one source of their anxiety was the low priority placed on listening in their previous foreign language education. Another source of anxiety was their failure to recognize the spoken form of a known word, segments of sentences or weak forms of words. The main effects of FLLA were found to be avoidance and physical symptoms.