This paper focuses on two basic issues: the anxiety-generating nature of the interpreting task and the relevance of interpreter trainees' academic self-concept. The first has already been acknowledged, although not extensively researched, in several papers, and the second has only been mentioned briefly in interpreting literature. This study seeks to examine the relationship between the anxiety and academic self-concept constructs among interpreter trainees. An adapted version of the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale , the Academic Autoconcept Scale (Schmidt, Messoulam & Molina, 2008) and a background information questionnaire were used to collect data.Students' t-Test analysis results indicated that female students reported experiencing significantly higher levels of anxiety than male students. No significant gender arnaiz-castro and perez-luzardo: anxiety and academic self-concept 58 difference in self-concept levels was found. Correlation analysis results suggested, on the one hand, that younger would-be interpreters suffered from higher anxiety levels and students with higher marks tended to have lower anxiety levels; and, on the other hand, that younger students had lower self-concept levels and higher-ability students held higher self-concept levels. In addition, the results revealed that students with higher anxiety levels tended to have lower self-concept levels. Based on these findings, recommendations for interpreting pedagogy are discussed.

Título: La ansiedad entre estudiantes españoles de inglés como LE de diferentes titulaciones universitarias. Resumen: Los efectos de la ansiedad en el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera se han estudiado desde los años setenta, y a pesar de significativos avances en los enfoques para la enseñanza de la lengua, la literatura continúa asegurando la existencia de aprensión lingüística en el aula y su efecto debilitador en el proceso de aprendizaje. Sin embargo, muy pocas investigaciones se han llevado en un contexto sociocultural comparable al nuestro, esto es, una universidad española donde se aprende inglés. Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar y comparar los sentimientos de ansiedad de universitarios de seis titulaciones diferentes. Un total de 200 estudiantes participaron en el estudio. Los datos fueron recogidos con la medida Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz y Cope, 1986). Los análisis revelan, en primer lugar, que todos los alumnos tienen niveles de ansiedad medios; en segundo lugar, que en sólo uno de los aspectos el nivel de ansiedad de los participantes que han escogido el inglés como especialidad es más bajo que el de los estudiantes que tienen el inglés como asignatura obligatoria en titulaciones dirigidas a la especialización en otros campos; y, en tercer lugar, que la relación entre la ansiedad y la nota de los alumnos es mayor en el caso de los que tienen inglés como asignatura obligatoria. Se comentan las implicaciones de estos resultados para una mejor comprensión de la ansiedad y del aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera. Palabras clave: Ansiedad ante el aprendizaje de una lengua extranjera; FLCAS; aprendices de español como lengua extranjera; titulación; nota. Abstract:Researchers have studied the effects of anxiety on foreign language learning since the 1970's, and despite significant advances in approaches to language teaching, the literature continues to report the existence of language apprehension in the classroom and its debilitating effect on the learning process. However, very few studies have been developed in a socio-cultural context comparable to ours, namely, a Spanish university in which English is learnt. This study set out to examine and compare the feelings of anxiety experienced by university students enrolled in six different degree programs. A total of 200 students participated in this study. The data were collected using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope, 1986). The analyses reveal, firstly, that all the students suffered from average anxiety levels; secondly, that only in one of the aspects is the anxiety level of participants with English as a main subject (i.e. chosen) lower than that of participants for whom English is a non-elective degree requirement; and in the third place, that the relationship between anxiety and the mark obtained by participants is stronger in the case of those who have English as a degree requirement. The implications of these results for a better understanding of anx...

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The 21st century has witnessed a substantial increase in research focused on the benefits of bilingualism for individuals. The aspects that have received the most attention have been executive functions. And communication skills. Less is known, however, about the noncognitive and nonlinguistic aspects of bilingualism. Personality psychologists claim that personality is the result of a combination of nature-related and nurture-related factors, but the latter have not been sufficiently addressed in studies on bilingualism. Thus, to bridge this gap, the present contribution pursues this line of inquiry by adopting a quantitative approach to the examination of the self-perceived mobility, employability, and intercultural competence of participants who studied in a bilingual education program. A total of 835 respondents living in Brazil completed an online questionnaire. Mann–Whitney U and Wilcoxon W tests showed higher scores for bilingual graduates than for their nonbilingual counterparts on the three subscales. Correlation analyses revealed moderate-to-high positive correlations between bilingual graduates’ perception of their way of being and their way of life on the one hand, and among their self-perceived mobility, employability, and intercultural competence on the other. Likewise, the analyses showed statistically significant positive correlations between being proficient in more than one foreign language and the dimension of mobility. Our findings illustrate the influence that bilingualism/multilingualism exerts on factors that determine everyday life and corroborate and expand the research conducted in this strand. Avenues for further related research are discussed.