The Effects of Virtual Education On Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety in Saudi Learners of Chinese

Abstract

This article discusses the effects of virtual education on foreign language classroom anxiety in university learners of Mandarin Chinese at the University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Studies of foreign language anxiety have been conducted broadly in the context of actual classrooms and have specifically focused on English, which is widely spoken worldwide. This study bridges the gap in this area as it deals with the context of virtual education, which was applied suddenly due to the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, and on a language that is rarely spoken in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study is to provide educators and practitioners in the field of foreign language teaching with insights into possible future applications of virtual educational tools. Quantitative and Qualitative methods were applied to collect data for this study of 28 sophomore students in the department of Chinese Language. A questionnaire was conducted, based on Al-Saraj's (2014) Arabic Foreign Language Anxiety Questionnaire (AFLAQ), a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Questionnaire (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz et al. (1986). Data from interviews with the participants and the instructor were used to validate the quantitative data and to understand in greater depth the participants' experiences with virtual education. According to the participants, virtual education greatly reduced feelings of anxiety due to the absence of anxiety-provoking factors in physical classrooms. Results indicated that foreign language classroom in this context is caused by technical issues and the uniqueness of the language. Blended learning was recommended by almost all the participants in this study to be applied in the future by incorporating technology in the education systems more effectively to maximize the benefit of both modes of communication.