Investigating the Correlation between EFL Students' Mindset Types and their Foreign Language Anxiety:

Abstract

In the field of learning English as a foreign language, anxiety is one of the psychological phenomena that arises frequently in students. Furthermore, many researchers sought to enrich the fields of psychology and educational psychology with other interesting psychological and internal factors that made a huge concern in the academic contexts. Initially, the present study aims at investigating the correlation between EFL learners’ Mindset types and their foreign language learning anxiety. It relies on a quantitative method. A correlational study was conducted and Second year LMD students at the University of 08 Mai 1945- Guelma were selected as the target population, where two questionnaires were administered to the participants. The first questionnaire was an 8-Items version of mindset scale, which is used to determine what type of mindset (Fixed or Growth) the participants have, which is mainly developed by the Psychologist Carol Dweck (2006). The second questionnaire was the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLACS) developed by Horwitz et al (1986), It was used to predict the learners’ foreign language anxiety profile. The quantitative analysis of the collected data demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of the second year LMD students at the department of English are endorsed in a Fixed Mindset. Furthermore, the most significant result confirmed a weak negative relationship between students' Mindset types, and their foreign language anxiety. As a result of these findings, teachers and course designers are advised to consider the promotion’s fixed mindset and equip them appropriately to raise students' interest in learning English as a foreign language.