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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
Article outline
  • Literature review
    • Affective filter hypothesis and foreign language anxiety
    • Chat partners in computer-mediated communication and foreign language anxiety
    • Computer-mediated communication, foreign language anxiety, and Chinese language learning
  • Methodology
    • Participants
    • Research design
    • Experimental materials
      • Text chat interface
      • Chat topics
      • Questionnaire
    • Procedure
    • Data analysis
      • Quantitative analysis
      • Qualitative analysis
  • Results
    • Quantitative results
    • Qualitative results
  • Discussion
  • Recommendations
  • Limitations and future research
  • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 10 November 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/csl.52.2.02wan
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