Article published in:
Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報)
Vol. 52:2 (2017) ► pp. 127–147

Chinese language learners’ anxiety toward chat partners in computer-mediated communication

| Texas Tech University
| Western Michigan University
| Texas Tech University
Studies have shown foreign language anxiety (FLA) can negatively impact learners’ performance in the classroom, but learners experience less FLA during computer-mediated communication (CMC) activities. Although it has been documented that communicating with native speakers (NSs) can make foreign language learners more anxious, very few empirical studies have compared learners’ anxiety levels toward different online chat partners. The current study investigated intermediate Chinese language learners’ FLA in online text CMC activities chatting with NSs and non-native speakers (NNSs). The quantitative data analyses showed that there was a significant difference in the anxiety level between chatting with NSs and NNSs in text-based CMC: chatting with NSs made Chinese learners more anxious than chatting with NNSs. Language confidence and partner familiarity were the two main factors mediating the anxiety. Practical pedagogical implications and future research directions were discussed.
Keywords: foreign language anxiety, computer-mediated communication (CMC), chat partner, Chinese language learning
Keywords: 外语焦虑, 电脑辅助交流, 聊天对象, 汉语学习
Published online: 10 November 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.52.2.02wan
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