The Differences in EFL Students’ Reading Anxiety in Academic Reading

Abstract

There are numerous challenges to master reading skills, particularly reading English texts. Reading for academic purposes gives a more significant challenge for students in higher education. Male and female students may experience reading anxiety when learning a foreign language. Thus, this study aims to determine the anxiety level and investigate the differences between female and male reading anxiety in the academic reading of EFL students, especially reading English in TOEFL material. In this research, the researcher used a mixed-method design. The subject in this research is students who took an Interpretative Reading course in the third-semester academic year 2022/2023. The data were collected through a questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire was used to determine the level of reading anxiety. The interview was used after the researcher knew the result from the questionnaire and to know the differences between female and male reading anxiety in academic reading. The findings showed that most students identified anxiety at a medium level. Moreover, the researcher found that female students were nervous, anxious, and panicked when they encountered unfamiliar vocabulary, unfamiliar topics, and unfamiliar grammar in TOEFL reading. Male students did not feel anxious even though they had difficulty encountering unfamiliar vocabulary, unfamiliar topics, and long texts. The factors that cause reading anxiety experienced by students are lack of vocabulary, afraid of making errors, disturbed focus due to noise around them, long texts, lack of grammar, lack of reading, and lack of preparation and practice. The strategies to alleviate reading anxiety are rereading vocabulary or sentences to improve understanding and guessing unfamiliar vocabulary, marking unfamiliar vocabulary or sentences, and translating word by word into Indonesian. As a result of the study, the researcher concluded that students in the third semester of the Interpretative Reading course fall into the medium category in reading anxiety. Moreover, female students have slightly higher anxiety levels than male students. The reason is that although female and male students have the same difficulties in TOEFL reading, male students do not feel anxiety in reading. Unlike female students who feel anxious, nervous, and panicked in TOEFL reading. Keywords: Reading Anxiety, EFL, Academic Reading