Foreign Language Anxiety and Perceived Classroom Environment of Middle School Students

중학생의 외국어 불안과 지각된 교실학습환경 : 성별 및 학년 차와 관계를 중심으로

The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(Horwitz et al., 1986) and the Classroom Environment Scale(Moos & Tricket, 1974) were administered to 434 middle school students in Daegu. Data were analyzed by Cronbach's $\alpha$, t-test, and Pearson's correlation using the SPSS program. Results on anxiety showed no gender differences between male and female students but $9^{th}$ graders reported more anxiety than $7^{th}$ graders. Two of the nine classroom environment subscales showed differences between perceptions of male and female students, and there were significant differences between $7^{th}$ and $9^{th}$ graders. Foreign language anxiety was correlated with perceived classroom environment. This finding suggests the importance of the psychological environment between the English teacher and students for successful language education.