Abstract:

The present study aims to examine individual and parental factors that affect young children's foreign language anxiety (FLA) in an EFL setting. Subjects included 453 mothers and 47 English teachers of children between the ages of three to five years old. Both individual (child�s gender, age, temperament) and parental (household income, parents� educational attainment, mothers� beliefs about early English education) factors were collected with the mothers� questionnaires. Children's FLA was measured with both their mothers� and teachers� assessments. Results show that maturity and a higher tendency for impulsiveness and harm avoidance correlate with a higher level of FLA in children. Furthermore, it shows that FLA in children is directly impacted by their parental figures; children whose mothers held stronger beliefs in the cognitive benefits of early English education were likely to show a higher level of FLA. Future directions and implications are also discussed.

Keywords: