Coping strategies of Taiwanese university students as predictors of English language learning anxiety

In this study we examined which coping strategies could predict anxiety about learning English as a foreign language. Our participants were 120 Taiwanese university students who completed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) and the modified version (Marwan, 2007) of the Foreign Language Anxiety Coping Scale (Kondo & Yang, 2004). The results showed that positive thinking was the coping strategy that the participants used most often when they were experiencing foreign language learning anxiety. Use of the coping strategy of positive thinking was also the strongest predictor of all coping variables of a lower level of foreign language learning anxiety. The results also revealed that resignation contributed to higher levels of foreign language learning anxiety than did use of other coping strategies. Results in the current study have implications for both teachers and students to become more aware of the relative efficacy of different coping strategies.