AsiaTEFL Logo        The Journal of Asia TEFL
   
The Journal of Asia TEFL
Articles By Subject
Current Issue
Past Issues
Special Issue
Information of the Journal
Editorial Board
Submission Guidelines
Ethical Guidelines
Manuscript Submission
Journal Order
Search
Today 1,267
Total 3,775,029
Past Issues
Go List

Volume 9 Number 1, Spring 2012, Pages 1-197   


PDF Download
   

An Instrument for EFL Reading Anxiety: Inventory Construction and Preliminary Validation

    MasoudZoghi


This article is an account of the development of a new measure entitled English as a Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Inventory (EFLRAI) that indicates levels of EFL reading anxiety among non-English major students. It also discusses the concept of foreign language reading anxiety and defends the development of such a measure specifically related to tertiary-level settings where English is taught as a foreign language and, most importantly, where reading anxiety is believed to impact non-English majors' reading performance. First, two intact classes consisting of 61 students were recruited from Islamic Azad University - Ahar Branch located in the eastern Azerbaijan province of Iran. Based on the qualitative data analysis of questionnaire interviews, an initial pool of items was generated for the new instrument that comprised three anxiety-provoking factors. Then, the preliminary draft of the EFLRAI was pilot-tested on a group of 33 students. Finally, it was used in the major study that had been planned for further refinement and evaluation. A sample of 251 non-English major students enrolled in the same university participated in the major study. Given the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity indices obtained, it was found that the EFLRAI exhibits acceptable reliability and adequate validity.

Keywords: reading anxiety, scale development, validation.