The Construct Validity of Task Anxiety

Speaker: Dr Shaofeng Li (Florida State University, USA)

Anxiety is an important construct in task-based instruction. However, there has been no attempt to validate the construct of task anxiety. This study seeks to identify the nature of task anxiety by mapping its relationship with foreign language (FL) anxiety and trait anxiety and investigating its connections with task planning.

75 university ESL learners responded to the STAI and the FLCAS—measures of trait and FL anxiety, respectively. They were then divided into three groups and performed a narrative task under different conditions: pre-task planning, within-task planning, and no planning. After completing the task, the learners answered a questionnaire tapping various aspects of task anxiety.  The questions concern overall perceptions of the task and the three components of speech production—conceptualization, formulation, and articulation.

The results showed that task anxiety was distinct from FL and trait anxiety. Further analysis revealed that (1) the non-planners experienced more conceptualization anxiety while the within-task planners showed more formulation anxiety, (2) the three groups showed similar levels of FL anxiety and trait anxiety, and (3) formulation anxiety, but not trait or FL anxiety, was significantly correlated with planning length in pre-task planning. These results provide empirical evidence for the construct validity of task anxiety.

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