Foreign language anxiety is a complex phenomenon that has been found to be a predictor of foreign language achievement. This study of 210 university students examined factors that predict1 foreign language anxiety. A setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that seven variables (i.e., age, academic achievement, prior history of visiting foreign countries, prior high school experience with foreign languages, expected overall average for current language course, perceived scholastic competence, and perceived self-worth) contributed significantly to the prediction of foreign language anxiety. An analysis of variance, which included trend analysis, revealed that freshmen and sophomores reported the lowest levels of foreign language anxiety, and that anxiety levels increased linearly as a function of year of study. The educational implications of these findings for understanding foreign language anxiety and for increasing foreign language learning are discussed, as are suggestions for future research.

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Research suggests that how students perceive themselves as language learners can affect both their level of anxiety in foreign language courses and their achievement. However, to date, the potential link between learning style and foreign language anxiety has not been empirically tested. Thus, this study of 146 university students attempted to identify a combination of learning modalities that might be correlated with foreign language anxiety. A setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that, of twenty learning modality variables, only responsibility and peer‐orientation appeared to be related to foreign language anxiety. Specifically, students who are not responsible in attempting assignments and who preferred not to learn in cooperative groups tended to have higher levels of foreign language anxiety. These learning style variables explained only six percent of the variance; however, in the context of foreign language anxiety research, this minimal finding has important implications. This paper discusses these findings, suggests possible questions for future research, and makes recommendations for understanding foreign language anxiety and increasing foreign language learning.

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