Hungarian University EFL Learners’ Foreign Language Anxiety in an Online Learning Environment
Abstract
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face education has been suddenly replaced by the online
learning environment: the virus forced schools to move online, and this crisis hit universities
and schools unprepared for the sudden shift. Apart from the technical difficulties, Covid-19 has
severe effects on mental health as well: the increase in anxiety and the reduced level of
motivation to learn are all the consequences of the online learning system. This pilot study seeks
to find answers to how foreign language anxiety is present among Hungarian university EFL
learners in an online learning environment, as well as to explore the level of motivation when
it comes to learning English online. For this reason, a quantitative research was carried out and
a questionnaire was created containing 15 scales, completed by 90 students. The results show
that although foreign language anxiety is not present at a high level, there are some activities
related to speaking in English and oral communication which result in stronger symptoms of
anxiety in several students. Contrarily, the level of students’ motivation is high, which indicates
that the online learning environment has not discouraged them from learning English. In order
to explore foreign language anxiety and motivation more deeply in an online learning
environment, extensive research is needed to be carried out.
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