Abstract
Students with a mother tongue other than English often struggle with the demands of an academic programme at tertiary institutions where the medium of instruction is English. If their English language proficiency is inadequate, it may hamper their academic progress. Students feel that their command of English is unsatisfactory, and this causes tension and anxiety. This influences their motivation, self-confidence, self-image, and self-efficacy and serves as an affective filter which prevents comprehensible input necessary for successful learning. Therefore, a study amongst first-year university students was carried out to establish the relationship between language learning strategies, affective factors, and language proficiency. The aim was to find a connection between these three elements and to see whether they have an impact on each other. A combination of Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis and the Comprehensible Input Hypothesis was used as the theoretical framework for this study. The data were collected using a quantitative and qualitative method, a language proficiency test and a questionnaire based on language learning strategies and affective factors. The results show a positive correlation between compensation and affective strategies and language proficiency, which are directly linked to affective factors. It is essential for teachers to be aware of these factors, because they have a huge bearing on second language learning, academic development, and success. The conclusion is that affective factors can either enhance or hinder language proficiency, and that the use of language learning strategies have an influence on the outcome. This study contributes to the field of second language acquisition by creating an awareness of these factors in language education.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of the Free State, South Africa, for processing the statistics for this article, using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics 23©) software programme. The author also wants to thank all the students who participated in the study, as well as the anonymous proof-readers and experts who helped with the revising and editing of the article.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Research on sustainable development literacy and affective learning and teaching actions
- Articles
- The implementation of plurilingual language policies in Higher Education – the perspective of language learning students
- The relationship between language learning strategies, affective factors and language proficiency
- Exploring the relationship between foreign language anxiety and students’ online engagement at UK universities during the Covid-19 pandemic
- University student perceptions of English language study changes: reactions to remote emergency teaching during the COVID-19 emergency
- Clausal complexity of expert and student writing: a corpus-based analysis of papers in social sciences
- Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of expectations and needs of engineering students and graduates: a case study at the University of West Bohemia
- The native speaker teacher. Theoretical considerations and practical implications
- Special Section: Sustainable development literacy in Language Learning and Teaching; Guest Editors: Odette Gabaudan and Pilar Molina
- Bibliographical review on sustainable literacy in language learning and teaching
- On a journey towards Education for Sustainable Development in the foreign language curriculum
- Ethics, Dialogue and English as a Lingua Franca for ESD in Higher Education
- Data-driven and research-based learning approaches to environmental education in university contexts: two case studies in Italy and Germany
- Cultural literacy and sustainable development through English: a look from CLIL in pharmacy
- Reports
- Embed sustainability in the curriculum: transform the world
- Raising concepts and awareness of sustainability and the environment in higher education through French foreign language teaching: a multidisciplinary didactic proposal
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Research on sustainable development literacy and affective learning and teaching actions
- Articles
- The implementation of plurilingual language policies in Higher Education – the perspective of language learning students
- The relationship between language learning strategies, affective factors and language proficiency
- Exploring the relationship between foreign language anxiety and students’ online engagement at UK universities during the Covid-19 pandemic
- University student perceptions of English language study changes: reactions to remote emergency teaching during the COVID-19 emergency
- Clausal complexity of expert and student writing: a corpus-based analysis of papers in social sciences
- Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of expectations and needs of engineering students and graduates: a case study at the University of West Bohemia
- The native speaker teacher. Theoretical considerations and practical implications
- Special Section: Sustainable development literacy in Language Learning and Teaching; Guest Editors: Odette Gabaudan and Pilar Molina
- Bibliographical review on sustainable literacy in language learning and teaching
- On a journey towards Education for Sustainable Development in the foreign language curriculum
- Ethics, Dialogue and English as a Lingua Franca for ESD in Higher Education
- Data-driven and research-based learning approaches to environmental education in university contexts: two case studies in Italy and Germany
- Cultural literacy and sustainable development through English: a look from CLIL in pharmacy
- Reports
- Embed sustainability in the curriculum: transform the world
- Raising concepts and awareness of sustainability and the environment in higher education through French foreign language teaching: a multidisciplinary didactic proposal