Extensive reading in the beginning and intermediate Arabic FL classroom – effects on reading anxiety and attitudes towards reading

Foreign language reading anxiety or FLRA (Saito, Garza & Horwitz, 1999) is a situational anxiety that afflicts language learners at the lower levels of proficiency and has been argued to hinder their progress and increase attrition (Horwitz, 2001; Matsuda & Gobel, 2004). Extensive Reading (ER) programs, in which learners read large amounts of material at or close to their linguistic level (Grabe & Stoller, 2002), have been suggested to foster a positive attitude toward the target language and reduce learner anxiety about reading (e.g., Salameh, 2017). Positive attitudes to reading and reduced anxiety may be particularly important for the English-speaking learners of Arabic, for whom reading requires an extensive cognitive shift and skill re-learning (e.g., Brustad, 2006; Grabe, 2009) - potential factors in reading anxiety increase (Saito et al., 1999). For this reason, it is particularly important to explore empirically the affective potential of ER programs for facilitating reading development in the Arabic language classroom. 

In this study, college learners of Arabic as a foreign language at two proficiency levels, beginners (n=11) and intermediate (n=12), participated in a semester-long ER program, read a book of their choice every week for a 10-week period, and gave an oral or written book report to their peers. Participant and control-group FLRA levels were tested pre- and post-program using a modified FLRAS scale (Saito et al, 1999). Additionally, qualitative data were collected from the participants through a post-program survey, to capture dynamic changes in anxiety and attitudes. The results suggest that participation in an extensive reading program has a positive effect on reading anxiety, but this effect is moderated by proficiency level and is better captured using dynamic rather than static measures such as FLRAS. This study has implications both for the teaching of reading in the Arabic classroom and for anxiety testing methodology in dynamic environments.