Language Anxiety at the Transition to University: A Theory-Informed Reanalysis of Freshmen English Learning Across Four Skills

Language anxiety can shape participation, perceived competence, and engagement during educational transitions, yet early evidence is often reported as a local classroom problem rather than as a learning-and-development process. This article presents a theory-informed reanalysis of an archived 2024-2025 cross-sectional study involving 50 randomly selected first-year College of Education students from a population of 500 at Central Luzon State University, Philippines. The archived study combined a questionnaire checklist, four-point response scales, and performance-oriented tasks across reading, writing, listening, and speaking; the available aggregate data were re-examined using descriptive frequencies, percentages, and transparent derived summaries. Anxiety-related responses were most pronounced for fear of speaking ungrammatically (54%), tension when preparing for an English test (46%), and nervousness using English outside school (40%). Lack of time for practice (38%) and insufficient exposure to English (30%) were the leading reported contributors. Thirty percent reported difficulty using English spontaneously in formal or informal conversation. Task evidence showed 60.0% correct responses across reading items, 93.5% across listening items, a mean writing score of 6.68/10, and a mean speaking score of 6.65/10 among 46 scorable responses. Interpreted through situated expectancy-value and contemporary language-anxiety scholarship, the pattern suggests that anxiety is skill-sensitive and linked to exposure, perceived competence, and control. Because the dataset is archival and the original instrument lacks reported psychometric validation, the findings are best treated as a developmental historical baseline rather than a current prevalence estimate.

IMPACT STATEMENT

The findings position English anxiety as more than a language-classroom inconvenience: it can constrain students’ agency to ask questions, speak spontaneously, and participate during the transition into university. The strongest practical signal is that limited practice and exposure coincide with anxiety in evaluative and communicative situations. Institutions can respond by designing repeated low-stakes language use, psychologically safer feedback, reflective writing, and staged speaking opportunities that strengthen perceived competence and control. The study also shows why educators should combine self-report with task evidence rather than relying on a single anxiety score.