English Language Learners’ Self-efficacy, Foreign Language Anxiety, and Oral and Written Language Production: A Structural Equation Modeling

Educational psychologists and applied linguists have studied English language learners' self-efficacy, language anxiety, and language production separately. However, the structural relation of the English language learners' self-efficacy, foreign language anxiety, and oral/written language production has not been validated. A structural equation modeling consisting of learners’ self-efficacy as the independent variable, language anxiety as the mediator variable, and production tasks (oral and written) as dependent variables, was evaluated using Smart-PLS. The data were gathered through self-efficacy questionnaire, foreign language anxiety scale, oral production test, and written production tasks from 264 Iranian EFL learners who were selected through convenience sampling. Smart PLS software was used for analyzing the data. The hypothesized model was evaluated, and it was found that the model enjoyed an acceptable level of divergent and convergent validity and goodness of fit. The results also showed that language learners' self-efficacy reduces their foreign language anxiety. Moreover, learners' self-efficacy through reducing the learners' anxiety improves the language learners' performance on oral and written production tasks. The findings can be used by English language teachers and students to collaborate and apply coping strategies to reduce language anxiety. Furthermore, through reducing anxiety, the learners can develop foreign language skills, particularly oral and written productions.