The Relationship of Communication Anxiety, Avoidance and Competence of Non-Native English Speakers in the U.S.

Autor/inn/en	Allen, Jerry L.; und weitere
Titel	The Relationship of Communication Anxiety, Avoidance and Competence of Non-Native English Speakers in the U.S.
Quelle	(1985), (30 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Beigaben	Tabellen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Tagungsbericht; Bilingual Students; Bilingualism; Communication Apprehension; Communication Research; Communicative Competence (Languages); Comparative Analysis; English (Second Language); Foreign Students; Higher Education; Language Proficiency; Sex Differences; Student Attitudes + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bilingualismus; Kommunikationsforschung; Communicative competence; Languages; Kommunikative Kompetenz; Sprache; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Sex difference; Geschlechtsunterschied; Schülerverhalten
Abstract	A study was conducted to determine the levels of communication apprehension (CA) experienced by individuals living in the United States whose native language is not English and to measure the extent to which CA varies with the interaction contexts, number of years speaking English, time living in the United States, and the speaker's sex. Subjects were 242 international students from 45 countries who completed two versions of a communication apprehension instrument, one to assess feelings of apprehension associated with speaking in the subject's native language, the other for apprehension about speaking in English. Data were also collected on subjects' sex, number of years speaking English, number of years in the mainland United States, and place of ethnic origin. The results indicated that Middle Eastern and European subjects reported levels of apprehension well below norms previously established by U.S. subjects, while Asian and Latin American subjects reported levels just slightly below those norms when communicating in their native languages. All groups indicated that CA was more of a problem in English, with Asians and Latin Americans reporting the highest levels. Females were slightly more apprehensive overall when communicating in either language, but women in the Latin American sample reported less apprehension than males in every context except public speaking. Neither the subjects' number of years speaking English nor the length of time living in the United States correlated with CA, suggesting that neither competency nor skill in a second language is related to the amount of trait apprehension experienced by bilingual speakers in varying contexts. (HTH)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2004/1/01