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ELTALL (English language teaching, applied linguistics 

and Literature) 

Vol. 4 No. 02, 2023  
Available online at https://jurnal.iainponorogo.ac.id/index.php/eltall 

 

 

 

 
Language Learning Anxiety in Online Learning: Malaysian ESL 

Undergraduates’ Perspectives 
 

Nazirah Mahmud  

Doctoral School of Education, University of Szeged, Hungary  

nazirah.binti.mahmud@edu.u-szeged.hu 

 

Nur Syasya Qistina Mazeree 

Doctoral School of Linguistics, University of Szeged, Hungary 

sysyaqstna.work@gmail.com 

 

Najihah Mahmud  

Department of General Studies, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia 

najihah.m@umk.edu.my 

 

Abstract  

The pandemic has changed the dynamics of the educational system, which has 

drastically turned toward remote learning. This sudden shift from conventional 

classroom instruction to online learning has affected the students' performance 

as second language learners. This study focuses on how undergraduate students 

perceive language learning anxiety when widespread online learning is 

implemented. This study used a quantitative approach through an adapted 

questionnaire to gather perspectives from 168 undergraduate students enrolled 

in online English language courses at a public institution in Malaysia. An analysis 

of the items was carried out using SPSS software. The findings showed that 

communication apprehension and fear of negative evaluation are the most 

prominent factors contributing to students’ language learning anxiety. Test 

anxiety, on the other hand, was reported to be the least important element. This 

study suggested that the implementation of online learning may influence the 

students’ language learning anxiety, and this was further examined along with 

recommendations for future research. 

Keywords: language learning anxiety; English as a second language; online learning 

INTRODUCTION  
 

mailto:nazirah.binti.mahmud@edu.u-szeged.hu
mailto:sysyaqstna.work@gmail.com
mailto:najihah.m@umk.edu.my


 
 

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Issues pertaining to language anxiety are long debated since the early 

1980s (Horwitz et al., 1986). In fact, it has been discovered through decades of 
study that language anxiety impedes learning, which lowers student 
performance and accomplishment (Horwitz, 2001; Azher et al., 2010; Luo, 2014).  

Daly (1991) stated that anxiety may had rooted from students’ inferiority 
inside the classroom, unprepared, lack a sense of belonging and scared to 
communicate. However, in a more recent discovery, Khusnia (2017) stated that 
students often misinterpret their fears as the cause of a certain situation. She 
highlighted that student tends to imagine danger in which sometimes does not 
necessarily exist and continue to have such thought without having an effective 
strategy to cope with it. The development of language anxiety will be triggered 
if they perceive their learning experience as a "threat" for them. This might lead 
to a pattern in which they constantly feel anxious and hence perform poorly in 
class.  

The most recent worldwide pandemic, Covid-19, forced humankind to 
adopt a confined way of living. The education industry has had to undergo 
considerable adjustments as a result. Physical gatherings were strictly prohibited; 
thus, technology was used as the primary tool for instruction. A virtual classroom 
was opted as the best approach to handle the problem at that time since the spike 
in cases required the instructors to discover the most practical manner to 
continue the lesson. Technology changed the classroom setting drastically 
whereby teaching and learning sessions did not require the learners to interact 
face-to-face, even to the extent of having eye contact with the instructors. Having 
their own space and not being monitored closely by the instructors and their 
peers provided a space for them to take a breather before they speak. Rodrigues 
and Vethamani (2015) stated that with the setting of virtual learning, learners 
have time to think, to build and process the information for the task prior to their 
attempt in answering the task. They also found that online learning gives a 
positive impact to the students’ oral skill development. The setting does not 
coerce the students to face the crowd physically in which reduces the pressure 
and anxiousness like the usual physical class does (Linardopoulous, 2010). 
Furthermore, recent studies on the benefits of online learning during the Covid-
19 outbreak also revealed similar findings, reporting that students perceived 
online learning as being less time consuming, allowing them to ask questions 
freely, having easy accessed to the information related to the course and enabling 
them to learn independently (Agung & Surtikanti, 2020; Xhaferi & Xhaferi, 2020; 
Laksana, 2020) 

Even while it first appeared that the halted teaching and learning sessions 
had been resolved, there is no doubt that this significant step of adjustment may 
have had a different effect on students. Students who used online learning to 



 
 

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ELTALL (English language teaching, applied linguistics 

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continue their studies while surviving the pandemic, experienced psychological 
side effects such as stress, anxiety, and symptoms of mild to severe depression 
(Irawan, Dwisona & Lestari, 2020). According to a recent study by Kaisar and 
Chowdhury (2020), the majority of participants felt that online learning had 
increased their anxiety because they were worried about getting a poor grade, 
which made them more concerned about the teaching and learning process. They 
stated factors including the instructor dominating the lecture, the absence of 
students, the lack of interaction that made the class dull and unwelcoming and 
considering the lessons as unhelpful that triggered their negative views and fear 
of their language skills would deteriorate.  

It thus appears that despite the positive impact of online learning towards 
students’ mastery of English language in general, there are valid concerns with 
regards to its side effects on students’ psychological well-being such as anxiety. 
Hence, it is necessary to explore to what extent the online setting could trigger 
their language learning anxiety. As the main construct investigated in this study, 
exploring what triggers language learning anxiety is vital in all modes of learning 
including online learning. Therefore, this study aimed to explore Malaysian 
undergraduate students’ perceptions on their language learning anxiety in 
learning English language through the lens of virtual classroom setting. 

 

LITERATURE REVIEW 
 
Language anxiety  
 

MacIntyre and Gregersen (2012) define language anxiety as “feelings of 
worry and negative, fear-related emotions associated with learning or using a 
language that is not an individuals’ mother tongue” (p.103). The fear can hamper 
the learning process hence directly impacted the success in the language learning. 
Oteir and Al-Otaibi (2019) highlights the importance of exploring the problem 
and encourage the instructors to consider the effects it may bring to the learners’ 
performance.  

Moreover, this particular issue was highlighted by Horwitz et al. (1986) 
back in 1980s where they posited that the relationship between language anxiety 
in second language or foreign language learning is prone to cause a decline in 
language performance. A few decades have passed and studies on language 
anxiety are still reporting consistent findings that anxiety brings detrimental 
effects on the acquisition of the second language (Elkhafaifi, 2005; Liu & Jackson, 
2008; Humphries, 2011; Shao et al., 2013; Tugan, 2015; Syamsuri & Bancong, 
2022).   



 
 

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Therefore, instructors need to be alert of the presence of language anxiety 

amongst the learners as it contributes to the learners’ incapability to use and 
express themselves in their target language which directly impacted their 
language performance (Kruk, 2018; Polat, 2022; Kusuma et.al, 2022). 

Online classroom setting on learning English 
 

Due to the huge outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019, immediate conversion of 
existing face-to-face classes into online classes was carried out across the globe as 
a response to curb the spread of the deadly virus by minimising physical contact. 
Classes were being conducted virtually across all levels of education which 
includes the tertiary education. Even though the world is currently approaching 
the endemic era, some of the universities are still utilising the online classes to 
carry out their semesters as a preventive measure against triggering a new 
outbreak. In addition, Yu and Jee (2020) claimed that the demand of this 
conversion may not be a temporary one in the educational field due to the 
increased acceptance and interest of it amongst both the learners and instructors.  

 Studies revealed that the lack of interaction in online classes as opposed to 
physical classes impacted students’ engagement negatively (Mayer Peyton, 2000; 
Purcell-Robertson & Purcell, 2000). This includes the English language teaching 
and learning where a two-way interaction between instructors and learners is 
important to channel the knowledge and skills properly and effectively. 
According to Tuyen and Lian (2021), learners are put under more pressure when 
they have to participate in learning the English language online as they claimed 
that they have to cope with numerous barriers of the online learning 
environment.  

 However, the online setting may also have positive impact on students’ 
language proficiency. Study by Gebhard and Nagamine (2005) revealed that 
online language learning helped to enhance learners’ self-confidence hence 
improved their linguistic proficiency. This was supported by a study by 
Rodrigues and Vethamani (2015) who reported that learners that underwent 
online speaking program showed better performance than learners who did not. 
With both negative and positive impact of online learning with regard to 
language learning being reported, there are many aspects that need to be taken 
into consideration in order to better understand the circumstances and one of the 
areas that is rarely tapped into is language learning anxiety.  

 Therefore, it is deemed necessary to conduct a study on determining 
whether the online setting may have or may have not triggered students’ anxiety 
in speaking English and if it has, what kind of factors that trigger them to be 
anxious during the online learning. 



 
 

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Horwitz’s Conceptual Framework of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety 
(FLCAS) 

 Horwitz and his colleagues created a conceptual framework identified as 
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety in 1986, serving as the basis for this study. 
According to Horwitz et al. (1986), the foundation of foreign language anxiety is 
the feeling of difficulties in a person's self-perception, beliefs, attitudes, and 
behaviours due to the contexts and situations present during the learning 
process. The framework is made up of the following three components:  

a. Communication apprehension is defined as “a type of shyness 
characterized by fear or anxiety about communicating with people” 
(Horwitz et al., 1986; 128). It is a type of anxiety that was built from the 
worry while speaking to others for example, struggle to communicate 
in public or to listen to or to pick up spoken words (Lim & Budin, 2014). 
Due to their perceived lack of knowledge and ability to speak well, it 
will lead them to have difficulty in understanding others and to ensure 
they understand the content of the spoken words.  

b. Test anxiety is defined as “the type of performance anxiety resulting 
from fear of failure in academic evaluation setting” (Horwitz et al., 1986; 
127). It is a type of anxiety which occurred due to the unrealistic goals 
set up by the learners both in formal evaluation like examination and 
other types of tests. Putting themselves in that kind of situation by 
believing that any grade below excellent, even if it is sufficient for others 
is considered unacceptable for the anxious learners (Namsang, 2011).  

c. Fear of negative evaluation is defined as “apprehension about others’ 
evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations” (Horwitz et al, 1986; 
128). This type of anxiety does not trigger from the instructors’ 
evaluations only but rather also peers’ reactions towards the learners’ 
performance. Learners tend to worry about presenting the inadequacy 
of themselves in front of the society, especially if they are aware that 
they lack the linguistic skills required to generate the language (Aydin, 
2008).   

 
 Drawing from the above framework, the situation in a language classroom 
is pretty much driven by students’ beliefs about their language ability and a 
certain goal they expect to achieve which contribute to their language anxiety. 
Not being able to achieve their goals or to communicate effectively during the 
lessons amplify their fear of being judged by their peers and vice versa. In the 
present study, these constructs are evaluated in the context of online learning to 
see if they are also the case that contribute to language learning anxiety in the 
digital age.  
 



 
 

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Previous Related Study 
 
 Language learning anxiety during class amongst English as a Second 
Language (ESL) learners are constantly debated by the researchers all over the 
globe including Malaysia. A study by Dellah et al. (2020) who evaluated 
Malaysian undergraduates’ language learning anxiety specifically addressing 
speaking anxiety during English oral presentations reported that majority of the 
participants experienced moderate level of anxiety during their oral 
presentations and was dominantly affected by fear of negative evaluation. Afraid 
of being negatively evaluated by their peers caused them to feel anxious in 
expressing and voicing their views and thoughts in English (Cagatay, 2015) hence 
impede their learning process in general.  
 
 In a much recent study by Ramarow and Hassan (2021) on the level of 
English language learning anxiety and motivation in speaking English among 
Malaysian pre-university students, they found that the level of anxiety amongst 
the participant was low. The researchers stated that the different mind-set in 
overcoming the difficulties reduces their language anxiety even though they 
were not high proficiency speakers. The researchers then reported that 
motivation may had affected their level of language anxiety as it was reported 
that there was a positive correlation between language anxiety and motivation in 
speaking English language. This study however was inconsistent with the other 
earlier studies by Liu and Chen (2015) and Djafri and Supra (2018) who found no 
significant correlation between language anxiety and motivation.  
 
 Even though studies were carried out amongst both pre-university and 
university students in Malaysia regarding their level of language learning 
anxiety, however most of them did not addressed the current setting of online 
learning. Therefore, this study aims to explore students’ perceptions on their 
English language learning anxiety based on their learning experiences during 
online classes. This is important to find out whether the classroom setting impact 
the students’ perceptions on their language learning anxiety to use English. 
 
METHODS 
 
 The purpose of this study is to investigate how Malaysian undergraduate 
students perceive their language learning anxiety when learning English in the 
context of a virtual classroom. This study focused on determining factors of 
language learning anxiety in the virtual classroom in order to explore to what 
extent it triggers speaking anxiety among the learners.  
 



 
 

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 This study used a quantitative design, utilizing a questionnaire to elicit 
data. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) framework by 
Horwitz and Cope (1986) was modified to be used in the context of online 
learning for English as a second language. The adapted questionnaire comprised 
of 28 items, of which 8 items were used to explore communication apprehension 
factor, 13 items addressed on the test anxiety factor and the remaining 7 items 
were formulated to investigate the fear of negative evaluation factor. The 
questionnaire used a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 denoting "Strongly Disagree," 2 
"Disagree," 3 "Neutral," 4 "Agree," and 5 "Strongly Agree,". The Cronbach’s alpha 
of the questionnaire was also determined, and it was stated that it was reliable at 
0.887.  
 

 This study used convenience sampling and a total of 168 undergraduates 
who took English courses as their compulsory university course at one of the 
public universities in Malaysia participated in this study. Majority of the 
participants (96.4%) were in their year 1, with ages ranging from 20 to 21 years 
old. All participants were degree students from various programmes. 117 
students (69.6%) are female, and the remaining 51 students (30.4%) are male.  
 

 The data collection started after the participants completed their whole 
semester of a 14-weeks-long virtual English language classes. Due to the 
university’s policies and norms that still forbid physical gatherings, participants 
were not physically present on the campus, which resulted in data collection 
commencing virtually. Hence, all the questions were converted to an online 
platform using Google Form to ease the data collection process. A total of 168 
responses were recorded, and the results were analysed using SPSS version 27. 
Descriptive statistic was used to analyse the findings of the study. Frequencies 
and percentages of the items were tabulated and reported in the finding section.  
 
 
FINDINGS  
 

Frequencies and percentages that displayed and described how the 
students perceived the items are shown in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3 below. In 
order to depict the students' overall view of each statement, the percentages, and 
frequencies of "strongly disagree" and "disagree" were combined. Meanwhile, 
"agree" and "strongly agree" were added correspondingly. The findings are 
discussed according to the three constructs of The Foreign Language Classroom 
Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) framework by Horwitz and Cope (1986) as follows. 

 
Communication Apprehension  
 



 
 

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8 out of 28 items of the questionnaire investigated on the communication 

apprehension factors in students’ willingness to communicate during the online 
class. The results are tabulated and presented in Table 1.   
 

Table 1. Item Analysis (Communication Apprehension) 

Item Item Description Frequency (N) Percentage (%) 
  Disagree Neutral Agree 
  N % N % N % 

1 I never feel quite sure 
of myself when I 
speak English during 
my online class 

75 44.7 71 42.3 22 13.1 

4 It frightens me when 
I do not understand 
what the lecturer is 
saying in English 
language 

49 29.1 40 23.8 79 47.0 

8 I start to panic when 
I have to speak 
without preparation 
in English language 
online class 

27 59.3 47 28.0 94 55.9 

12 I get upset when I do 
not understand what 
the lecturer is 
correcting. 

27 16.0 41 24.4 100 59.5 

15 I feel confident when 
I speak in English 
language online class 

32 19.1 78 46.4 58 34.5 

21 I feel very self-
conscious about 
speaking the English 
language in front of 
other students 

29 17.2 53 31.5 86 51.2 

25 I get nervous when I 
do not understand 
every word the 
English language 
lecturer says. 

41 24.4 52 31.0 75 44.7 



 
 

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26 I feel overwhelmed 

by the number of 
rules you have to 
learn to speak 
English language 

74 44.0 70 41.7 24 14.3 

 

As presented in Table 1, the results showed that more than 80% of the 

students agreed with the statements in items 8, 12, and 21. In item 8, it was said 

that 94 students (55.9%) experience anxiety when required to speak in front of 

the class when it is being conducted online. Following that, 100 pupils (59.5%) 

unquestionably become irritated when they cannot understand the corrections 

being made by the lecturer. 86 students (51.2%) agreed with the statement in item 

21 regarding students feeling self-conscious about speaking English in front of 

other students, speaking their mind about the situation. 

 Item 1 revealed that 22 students (13.1% of the class) said that speaking 

English in an online setting never made them feel entirely confident in who they 

were, whereas 75 students disagreed, indicating that they felt the opposite. Most 

students (44%) who responded to Item 26 indicated that they felt overburdened 

by the sheer volume of grammar rules they need to understand in order to 

communicate in English. Students who disagreed with the statement and those 

who were neutral about it differed by just 2.3%. 

Test Anxiety     

 The second factor that was investigated in this study was test anxiety. 13 

out of 28 items were adapted according to the online learning context and the 

results are presented below in Table 2. 

Table 2. Item Analysis (Test Anxiety) 

Item Item Description Frequency (N) Percentage (%) 
  Disagree Neutral Agree 
  N % N % N % 

3 I tremble whenever I 
am called during 
English language 
online class 

48 28.5 43 25.6 77 45.9 



 
 

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5 During English 

language online 
class, I find myself 
thinking about things 
that have nothing to 
do with the course 

112 66.6 40 23.8 16 9.5 

7 I am usually at ease 
during tests in my 
English language 
online class 

22 13.1 51 30.4 95 56.6 

9 I worry about the 
consequences of 
failing my English 
language class 

15 9.0 21 12.5 132 78.6 

10 In English language 
online class I can get 
so nervous I forget 
things I know 

58 34.5 56 33.3 54 32.2 

13 Even if I am well 
prepared for English 
language online 
class, I feel anxious 
about it. 

50 29.7 47 28.0 71 42.3 

14 I often feel like not 
going to my English 
language online class 

141 83.9 22 13.1 5 3.0 

17 I can feel my heart 
pounding when I am 
going to be called on 
during my English 
language online class 

38 22.6 44 26.2 86 51.2 

18 The more I study for 
the English language 
test, the more 
confused I get 

108 64.3 39 23.2 21 12.5 

19 I do not feel pressure 
to prepare very well 
for English language 
online class 

19 11.3 47 28.0 102 60.7 
 

22 English language 
class moves so 

72 42.9 60 35.7 36 21.4 



 
 

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quickly I worry about 
getting left behind 

23 I feel more tense and 
nervous in my 
English language 
online class than in 
my other online 
classes 

88 52.4 52 31.0 28 16.7 

24 When I am preparing 
to attend the online 
English language 
class, I feel very sure 
and relaxed. 

14 8.3 63 37.5 91 54.2 

 

According to Table 2, items 5, 14, 18, and 23 all had more than 50% of 

students responding unfavourably to the statement. Item 5 claimed that 

throughout the online class, some students found themselves thinking about 

matters unrelated to the course; 16 of the 112 respondents (9.5%) agreed with this 

assertion. 141 students (83.9%) disagreed with the assertion that they frequently 

feel like skipping English online lessons, 22 students said they feel indifferent 

about it, and just 5 students said they agreed and most likely felt like skipping 

the online class in response to item 14. According to the results for item 18, 108 

students (64.3%) disagreed that they will become more confused as they study 

for the English language test. In addition, 88 students (52.4%) disagreed that they 

would feel more uncomfortable and anxious in their English online class than in 

the online classrooms for the other courses. 

Over 50% of students agreed on the statements, as shown by items 9, 17, 

19, and 24. Item 9 showed that 132 students in total (78.6%) agreed that they were 

concerned about the repercussions of failing their English language course, while 

just 15 students (9%) disagreed. Regarding the response for item 17, 86 students 

(51.2%) said that they can hear their hearts beating loudly when they are about 

to be called upon in the English online class. A total of 102 students (60.7%) 

agreed with the statement that they did not feel pressure to prepare well for their 

English online class, while 19 students (11.3%) disagreed. 

Fear of Negative Evaluation 



 
 

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 The third factor was the fear of negative evaluation. 7 out of 28 items were 

adapted and the results of the analysis are presented in Table 3 below. 

Table 3. Item Analysis (Fear of Negative Evaluation) 

Item Item Description Frequency (N) Percentage (%) 
  Disagree Neutral Agree 
  N % N % N % 

2 I do not worry about 
making mistakes in 
my English language 
online class 

50 29.8 55 32.7 63 37.5 

6 I keep thinking that 
the other students are 
better in English than 
I am 

26 15.4 24 14.3 118 70.7 

11 It embarrasses me to 
volunteer answers in 
my English language 
online class 

63 37.5 61 36.3 44 26.2 

16 I am afraid that my 
English language 
lecturer is ready to 
correct every mistake 
I make 

110 65.5 41 24.4 17 10.1 

20 I always feel that the 
other students speak 
the English language 
better than I do 

20 11.9 31 18.5 117 69.6 

27 I am afraid that the 
other students will 
laugh at me when I 
speak English 

47 28.0 45 26.8 76 45.3 

28 I get nervous when 
the English language 
lecturer asks 
questions which I 
have not prepared in 
advance. 

31 18.5 47 28.0 90 53.6 

 



 
 

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Based on Table 3, 110 students (65.5%) disagreed with the statement that 

they feel afraid that their English language lecturer is ready to correct every 

mistake that they made, and only 17 students (10.1%) agreed with it, representing 

their views on the statement. In addition, over 50% of students expressed that 

they agreed to items 6 and 20. About 70.7% of students (118) agreed that they 

keep thinking the other students are more proficient in English than they are 

while the other 26 students (15.4%) disagreed with it. Item 20 stated that students 

always feel like their peers speak the English language more fluently than they 

do, and 117 students (69.6%) agreed of having felt this way while 20 others 

(11.9%) disagreed with it. 

DISCUSSSION  

In general, the findings revealed that students may have experienced 
moderate level of language learning anxiety as mixed findings were reported. It 
appeared that students were quick to feel anxious whenever they have to speak 
or answer without any preparation during their online class. However, majority 
of them stated that they do not feel tense when they attended their English online 
class. Hence, it can be concluded that language learning anxiety was present 
amongst the students in the context of online learning, but the level of the anxiety 
may differ according to the situations that arise during the lesson. To compare, a 
study by Miskam & Saidalvi (2019) who investigate the language learning 
anxiety in conventional classroom setting also reported that majority of the 
undergraduates have moderate level of language learning anxiety. They cited 
communication apprehension as the dominant factor that provoke their anxiety. 
Both findings demonstrated that setting is not a significant factor that affect 
students’ anxiety, however, other variables that may arise during their lessons 
could triggered them to feel anxious during the lesson.  

According to the study's findings, it was reported that instructors play a 
significant role in provoking language learners’ anxiety during an online class. 
Unable to comprehend what the lecturer is saying or correcting during online 
classes makes them nervous and upset as they feel incapable of following the 
lesson. These issues fall under the communication apprehension factor, which 
corroborates a study by Alrabai (2014), who reported that instructors can 
sometimes be threatening and may cause the learners to become uneasy 
throughout the lesson.  

Next, as stated briefly above, it was discovered that being called upon to 
speak during online classes without prior notice caused students to worry, which 
might make them remain silent and even refuse to talk. This study indicates that, 
even though the virtual experience may permit people to go at their own pace 



 
 

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and in their own space, they nevertheless feel anxious and nervous when asked 
to talk without having prepared beforehand. Learners with language anxiety 
who lack preparation prior to the lesson fall under communication apprehension, 
and this supported the result of a study by Al- Saraj (2014), who reported that 
learners could feel as though speaking in their class is a major risk since they 
might provide a wrong answer, mispronounce words, or just unable to 
communicate successfully using the target language. This was later supported by 
Achanan, Ramuloo and Mohamad (2021), who found that learners who lack 
competence avoid taking risks by remaining passive as they are afraid of making 
mistakes. 

Interestingly, the difficulty of the lesson does not appear to be one of the 
causes for language learning anxiety. Participants reported that they did not feel 
overwhelmed with all the language rules that they have to learn despite the 
lessons being carried out online. It appears that the technicalities involved in 
learning a language was not a significant contributing factor to the learners’ 
language learning anxiety, but it was the psychological aspect of it such as fear 
of being judged and perceived lack of skills as outlined in the FLCAS (Horwitz 
et al., 1986). However, this finding was inconsistent with Kayaoğlu and 
Sağlamel’s (2013) study where they reported that linguistic difficulties do have a 
significant role in the causes of language learning anxiety, listing vocabulary, 
grammar and pronunciation as the linguistic components that pose a challenge 
for the learners to speak.  

It was also found that test anxiety was not a significant factor in language 
learning anxiety as the learners claimed that they were at ease during their online 
test. This can be attributed to the fact that the test was carried out online, a totally 
different platform and atmosphere for the students hence alleviate their anxiety 
to a certain extent compared to the conventional test in the classroom. 
Nevertheless, they do agree that the possibility of failing the test could still trigger 
their anxiety to speak in their online classes. It was also reported that learners did 
not feel pressure to prepare well for their online classes and the online tests as 
they claimed to feel very sure and relaxed when they are preparing for them. This 
showed that test anxiety does not appear to be one of the main factors for their 
language learning anxiety and attempting the test in an online setting was not an 
issue for them. This finding did not corroborate with Aydin’s et al. (2020) study 
on the conventional test where learners are reported to be suffering from test 
anxiety that causes them to lose their concentration on test, lose their motivation 
and self-confidence and unable to excel in their test. The finding of this study 
showed that online test may have bring a positive impact in reducing the test 
anxiety as the pressure and distractions may have been lesser as compared to the 
physical test. However, issues pertaining to test reliability and validity need to 



 
 

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be taken into careful consideration when it comes to online test. This finding was 
in parallel with the idea highlighted back in 1970s by Bushnell (1978) who stated 
that environmental variables can provoke the learners’ anxiety towards the test.    

The results also showed that feeling inferior to their own peers was also 
one of the main factors that causes them to be reluctant to speak. Learners with 
high level of language anxiety have a tendency to become anxious especially if 
they have to speak in the target language in front of their peers as they are afraid 
of the judgment that they may receive from their friends. This situation may 
trigger what Dayhoff (2000) labelled as “anxiety feedback loop” (p.27) whereby 
anxiety is generated by fear of being negatively evaluated either by their 
instructors or peers when they are being assessed. This situation falls under the 
category of fear of negative evaluation under the FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986) 
and the finding was in parallel with Dellah’s et al. (2020) study that reported fear 
of being negatively judged to be the major factor in impeding students’ speaking 
ability hence affected the learning process as a whole. This finding also shows 
that online setting does not make any difference to students’ state of anxiety as 
the fear of being evaluated is still present even though they are not physically 
monitored by their instructors and peers. 

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION  
 

This study revealed that in general, communication apprehension and fear 

of negative evaluation appeared to be the major causes that could trigger 

students' language learning anxiety in an online classroom setting in the context 

of a public university in Malaysia. They described that the primary causes of their 

anxiety to speak in the online classroom is the difficulties in understanding the 

instructors and the lessons, as well as being called upon to speak up without 

notice. It is not plausible for the instructors to personalize the lesson according to 

the learners’ individual needs and condition especially in the setting of online 

learning. Now that everything is online, students are expected to be more 

proactive in the class in order to catch up with the lesson, not the other way 

around. To alleviate this problem, it is proposed that the instructors provide the 

task before the class begins, so students will know what to expect and will have 

ample time to prepare, practice and rehearse if they deemed necessary. Preparing 

beforehand will help to reduce their anxiousness thus help them to participate 

and communicate better in class. Instructors can also ask the students to discuss 

with their peers to familiarize themselves with their classmates. Familiarity with 

their peers may help to reduce their fear of negative evaluation since they are 

more comfortable with each other. Essentially, one of the leading causes of their 



 
 

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language learning anxiety was their fear of being criticized by their instructors 

and classmates. Learning from each other will hopefully turn their fear into fun.   

 The issue of test anxiety is not something that can be easily addressed. It 

was reported that language learning anxiety was not primarily brought on by test 

anxiety. This result showed that providing students with an atmosphere other 

than the typical "stressful" test environment may influence on how anxious they 

would be in their online language classroom. It is safe to assume that in the 

context of this present study, the washback impact of online test does not appear 

to be affecting the students’ language learning anxiety in general as there are 

many factors pertaining to how the test is carried out in the online context that 

need to be considered. Hence, future studies could explore explicitly into the 

washback impact of online test on language learning anxiety in greater depth.  

 Although this study offers a fresh perspective on the scene, it also has 

several drawbacks that need to be addressed in further research. As this study 

primarily focused on students' perceptions of the context, future research may 

opt for an experimental design to examine how the online learning setting 

manages students’ language learning anxiety. Besides, it is also recommended 

for prospective researchers to conduct much more extensive research on various 

populations to ensure a generalization of the finding, as this study only covered 

a small sample of the population. Other than that, utilising a mixed-method 

approach research can bring more rigour analyses and discussions for future 

research as this study was only limited to quantitative data.  

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	Abstract
	INTRODUCTION
	Literature review
	Language anxiety
	Online classroom setting on learning English
	Horwitz and his colleagues created a conceptual framework identified as Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety in 1986, serving as the basis for this study. According to Horwitz et al. (1986), the foundation of foreign language anxiety is the feeling of ...
	a. Communication apprehension is defined as “a type of shyness characterized by fear or anxiety about communicating with people” (Horwitz et al., 1986; 128). It is a type of anxiety that was built from the worry while speaking to others for example, s...
	b. Test anxiety is defined as “the type of performance anxiety resulting from fear of failure in academic evaluation setting” (Horwitz et al., 1986; 127). It is a type of anxiety which occurred due to the unrealistic goals set up by the learners both ...
	c. Fear of negative evaluation is defined as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations” (Horwitz et al, 1986; 128). This type of anxiety does not trigger from the instructors’ evaluations only but rather also peers’ r...
	Drawing from the above framework, the situation in a language classroom is pretty much driven by students’ beliefs about their language ability and a certain goal they expect to achieve which contribute to their language anxiety. Not being able to ac...
	Previous Related Study
	Language learning anxiety during class amongst English as a Second Language (ESL) learners are constantly debated by the researchers all over the globe including Malaysia. A study by Dellah et al. (2020) who evaluated Malaysian undergraduates’ langua...
	In a much recent study by Ramarow and Hassan (2021) on the level of English language learning anxiety and motivation in speaking English among Malaysian pre-university students, they found that the level of anxiety amongst the participant was low. Th...
	Even though studies were carried out amongst both pre-university and university students in Malaysia regarding their level of language learning anxiety, however most of them did not addressed the current setting of online learning. Therefore, this st...
	METHODS
	The purpose of this study is to investigate how Malaysian undergraduate students perceive their language learning anxiety when learning English in the context of a virtual classroom. This study focused on determining factors of language learning anxi...
	This study used a quantitative design, utilizing a questionnaire to elicit data. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) framework by Horwitz and Cope (1986) was modified to be used in the context of online learning for English as a seco...
	This study used convenience sampling and a total of 168 undergraduates who took English courses as their compulsory university course at one of the public universities in Malaysia participated in this study. Majority of the participants (96.4%) were ...
	The data collection started after the participants completed their whole semester of a 14-weeks-long virtual English language classes. Due to the university’s policies and norms that still forbid physical gatherings, participants were not physically ...
	FINDINGS
	DISCUSSSION
	CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

