Hindawi

Education Research International

Volume 2021, Article ID 9953303, 7 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9953303

Research Article
Influence of Language Anxiety and Prior Knowledge on ESL
Students’ Achievement in Expository Essay in Ibadan North
LGA, Nigeria

Oladotun Opeoluwa Olagbaju

School of Arts and Sciences, University of the Gambia, Brikama, Gambia

Correspondence should be addressed to Oladotun Opeoluwa Olagbaju; [email protected]

Received 5 March 2021; Revised 3 June 2021; Accepted 9 June 2021; Published 16 June 2021

Academic Editor: Ehsan Namaziandost

Copyright © 2021 Oladotun Opeoluwa Olagbaju. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.

Recent research efforts in teacher education in Nigeria have largely focused on innovative instructional delivery with little
attention to learner-related variables such as language anxiety and prior knowledge that can influence learning outcomes in
English composition in ESL classrooms. Notwithstanding these interventions, the problems of mass failure and poor quality of
essays still persist in Nigerian schools. Studies have confirmed that language-related anxiety and prior knowledge in ESL
classroom can influence students’ achievement irrespective of the quality of instruction received by learners in a second/foreign
language classroom. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between language anxiety and prior knowledge on
achievement in expository essay. Three null hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance, and 350 participants were
randomly selected from four senior secondary schools. Data were collected using two research instruments and the results showed
that there was no significant relationship between the independent variables and students’ achievement in expository essay. Also,
there were no composite and relative contributions of language anxiety and prior knowledge on students’ achievement in
expository essay. The study was concluded by making recommendations to ESL teachers and students on how to improve
achievement in expository writing.

1. Introduction Nigeria. Paper 1 tests the writing skill in English language,

and Olagbaju and Jimoh [1] have argued that any student
The English language is unarguably the status language in who wishes to succeed in English must do well in the written
Nigeria because it is assigned important roles such as the aspect of the exam.
language of instruction in school, official language, and a Different writing tasks such as letter writing, speech and
core requirement for admission into higher institutions of article writing, and argumentative/debate, narrative, de-
learning in the country. The importance of English language scriptive, and expository essay types are taught and exam-
in the Nigerian educational system is underlined by the fact ined in ESL classrooms in Nigeria. However, expository
that the subject is taught and learned at all levels of education writing is the most demanding because it requires learners to
and evaluation of students’ learning in other subject areas is have a grasp of both the linguistic and technical knowledge
largely conducted in English. It is also not uncommon to of the essay. Reference [2] describes expository essay as a
assess one’s level of education to the quality of one’s writing form of writing that is intended to inform, enlighten, and
or speech in English language. Therefore, composition educate the readers. Expository writings require students to
writing is an integral aspect of English instruction in schools, transmit their ideas, opinions, and facts to the reader and
it is also examined in English Language Paper 1 in West they could be requested to produce an essay that is suitable
African Examination Council (WAEC), and National Ex- for publication in a national/local magazine. In spite of the
amination Council (NECO) conducted examinations in importance of English to students’ success in education and
2 Education Research International

academic advancement in Nigeria, many students still find In line with the aforementioned points, [12] posits that
the subject difficult to pass especially in the public second/foreign language learning experience can be de-
examinations. manding because of the feeling of anxiety that most ESL/EFL
The WAEC Chief Examiners [3, 4] highlight students’ learners experience. Often, the second or foreign language
poor understanding of the essay questions, errors in gram- learners encounter anxiety as a feeling of apprehension,
mar, spelling, and punctuation as some of the factors re- nervousness, and pressure associated with the learning of a
sponsible for poor performance in essay writing in particular new language in a second or foreign language atmosphere.
and English language in general. The report concluded that Reference [7] describes anxiety as one of the dominant
teachers need to help candidates by teaching them the re- psychological factors in most second language classrooms.
quirements of the different aspects of the examination, es- This suggests that language anxiety can hinder or support
pecially essay writing. This is perhaps why most of the efforts second language acquisition or learning processes. In [13],
aimed at ameliorating the problem of mass failure in English language anxiety is a product of transfer of apprehension to
language examinations in Nigeria have largely been focused language learning situations or a response to unfamiliar
on teacher and instructional-related variables. Some of the stimuli in the process of learning a language. Such anxieties,
previous studies have investigated the effect of teachers’ if unfettered, are capable of hindering the language learning
questioning behaviour and instructional organisation [5], process or making the experience unpleasant. Therefore,
teachers’ communication styles [6], and so on. language anxiety is an implicit or explicit kind of appre-
Although these studies reported the effectiveness of hension exhibited by language learners in a foreign/second
teacher-related factors in improving students’ achievement in language classroom.
different aspects or skills of the English language, perfor- It is not all forms of anxiety that are bad because some
mance in the subject in public examinations has not improved anxieties can be helpful in motivating or facilitating the
significantly. This is because there are several other learner- desired change while the harmful or negative anxiety hinders
related factors such as cognitive style, gender, language ex- learning performance [14]. It is also possible for second
posure, verbal ability, vocabulary knowledge, language anx- language learners’ anxiety to be neutral and it has no impact
iety, and prior knowledge that are able to influence or on the language learning process. In view of the inconclusive
contribute to students’ learning outcomes in ESL classroom. nature of anxiety and its role in language learning situations,
Success in English language examination at WAEC- and this study determines the influence of language anxiety on
NECO-conducted examinations has been strongly tied to ESL students’ achievement in expository essay.
students’ ability to succeed in the written aspect of the ex- One of the factors responsible for anxiety during a
amination. Expository essay is a regular question type in the second/foreign language instruction is how well learners are
essay or composition section of the examination every year. able or not able to integrate the new instruction into their
Writing an expository essay presents at least two challenges to schema. That is a situation where learners do not have prior
the second language learner: he or she must demonstrate a knowledge that aids in recall or transfer of learning, which
mastery of the rudiments of the target language and the know- serves as a platform for the new knowledge. Prior knowledge
how on the technicalities of the topic to be written on. refers to the sum of relevant body of knowledge or expe-
Demonstrating a mastery of the writing skills or use of rience possessed by learners relevant to the task they are
the target language can be very challenging for a second expected to perform. Reference [15] avers that prior
language learner. It is often in form of a mild or pronounced knowledge helps students to recall and make use of what
apprehension or anxiety in a second language classroom. In they have been taught through a complex network of in-
actual fact, several language teachers have acknowledged the terrelated information that they bring to the classroom.
existence of language-induced anxiety in second/foreign Prior knowledge and experiences influence the thinking of
language classrooms and its influence on students’ perfor- ESL learners in the language classroom and new learning
mance in the target language [7–9]. Similarly, learner- experiences are often constructed based on their prior
centred variables such as language anxiety and prior knowledge.
knowledge are prevalent in most Nigerian classrooms. This Similarly, prior knowledge deals with the meta-cognitive
is because most learners have acquired the mastery of their aspect of learning especially when learners need to compose
mother tongue before the fourth year of primary/basic or brainstorm before or during the process of writing an
education when English “progressively” becomes the lan- expository essay. There is no vacuum in the construction of
guage of instruction in the classroom [10]. knowledge because the new body of knowledge has to be
According to [11], the implication of the Nigerian ed- built on some old understanding or prior knowledge. This is
ucational policy is that learners have to learn English (as a perhaps why [16] submits that the higher the volume of prior
second language) and learn with English at the same time. knowledge an individual possesses is, the lesser the in-
Most of the learners struggle to learn English and with the structional support that is needed, and the lesser the prior
English language, especially because they unassumingly knowledge an individual possesses is, the higher the support
transfer the rules, styles, and pronunciation of the first will be needed. The concern of this study is that the in-
language (L1) to the second language (L2) classroom. teraction between students’ prior knowledge and anxiety in
Learners’ prior knowledge in L1 is capable of creating anxiety ESL classroom is capable of determining students’ level of
that hinders the learning or acquisition of L2 in most ESL success irrespective of the teacher-related factors such as
classrooms. subject mastery, qualification, choice of instructional
Education Research International 3

strategy, and the quality of corrective feedback in the organised. Schema or schemata refer to a mental framework
classroom. Therefore, the concern of this study is to examine used by humans used to represent and organise information,
the relationship between language anxiety and prior which aids in easy recall. These schemata are building blocks
knowledge on ESL students’ achievement in expository of cognition derived from learners’ experiences or prior
essay. knowledge and they enable us to recall, modify our be-
haviour, concentrate our attention on key information, or
try to predict the most likely outcomes of events. Schema
1.1. Statement of the Problem. The National Policy on Ed- influences the processes involved in students’ interest and
ucation (NPE) in Nigeria recommends the progressive use of ability to pay attention and absorb new knowledge: people
English as the language of instruction for ESL learners from are more likely to notice things that fit into their schema. The
the fourth year of the primary/basic school after most of the theory further states that people can quickly organise new
learners had already acquired the mastery of the basic perceptions into schemata and act without effort. Schema
communication skills in their mother tongue. By implica- theorists suggest that knowledge is organised through an
tion, most ESL learners in Nigeria are confronted with the elaborate mental activity, which involves prior knowledge,
realities of language anxiety and prior knowledge in the cognitive processing, and memory recall. Similarly, this
learning of the target language, and this is largely responsible study involves how psycholinguistic and cognitive factors
for the perennial mass failure in English language in public such as language anxiety and prior knowledge contribute to
and private examinations. Efforts to improve students’ students’ active participation in the learning process through
performance in English language and essay writing in cognitive processing and memory recall in the process of
particular have largely focused on pedagogical innovations second language instruction with the aid of the learners’
with little attention to learner-related variables such as schema. These factors enable the learners to actively par-
language anxiety and prior knowledge that can influence ticipate and facilitate learning during the process of class-
learning outcomes in ESL classrooms. In spite of these in- room instruction. ESL students often construct their
terventions, the problems of mass failure and poor quality of learning by relying on their schema to actively generate their
essays still persist. Studies have confirmed that language- own learning. The theory is applicable to this study in the
related anxiety and prior knowledge in ESL classroom can sense that schema-related factors such as language anxiety
influence students’ performance irrespective of the quality of and prior knowledge play every important role in ESL in-
instruction in a second/foreign language classroom. Most of struction and they can be maximised to improve learning
the previous studies on learner-related factors in second experience and learning outcomes.
language learning considered variables such as cognitive
style, gender, maturation, foreign language anxiety, and
vocabulary knowledge, with little emphasis on the rela- 1.4. Language Anxiety and Prior Knowledge as Factors in ESL
tionship between language anxiety and prior knowledge on Students’ Learning Outcomes. English language instruction
students’ achievement in essay writing in ESL classroom. in Nigeria is largely used as a second language in schools
Therefore, this study determined the relationship between because most of the learners live in indigenous linguistic
language anxiety and prior knowledge on achievement in environment and must have acquired at least one indigenous
expository essay in Ibadan North LGA, Nigeria. language as a mother tongue before the official school age.
This is why the NPE [10] states that the use of English as the
1.2. Hypotheses. Based on the stated problems, the following medium of instruction in Nigerian schools should com-
null hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. mence progressively from basic (primary or grade) four.
When language learners have acquired the requisite skills of
Ho1: there is no significant relative relationship be- a language before learning a new language, several learner-
tween the independent variables (language anxiety and related factors, which include language anxiety and prior
prior knowledge) and students’ achievement in ex- knowledge, are likely to interfere with learning outcomes
pository essay and the process of instruction in ESL classrooms.
Ho2: there is no significant composite contribution of Learners’ anxiety is a common phenomenon during
independent variables (language anxiety and prior instructional procedural processes, especially if the topic,
knowledge) and students’ achievement in expository method, or teaching style is unfamiliar. Prevalence of lan-
essay guage anxiety in a second language classroom is capable of
Ho3: there is no significant relative contribution of affecting the teaching and learning of the four language
independent variables (language anxiety and prior skills, particularly the writing skill. Language anxiety in the
knowledge) and students’ achievement in exposition classroom is the worry or apprehension encountered by the
essay second or foreign language learners, which is capable of
hindering effective learning of the target language. Teachers
play an important role in enriching students’ learning ex-
1.3. Theoretical Framework: Anderson’s Schema Theory. periences and they could trigger anxiety in the second
The theory was developed mostly in the 1970s by American language classroom without taking note of it. As a factor in
educational psychologist, Richard Anderson. Schema theory second language learning situations, it is important that
describes how knowledge is acquired, processed, and language anxiety should be detected early and assistance or
4 Education Research International

support should be provided for language learners in and out prior knowledge and instruction because learners with a
of the classroom. high volume of prior knowledge require less instructional
Reference [12] avers that learning a second/foreign support. However, [16] statement can only be said to be true
language in a multilingual setting is an onerous task because if the students’ prior knowledge is supportive of the new
of the apprehension displayed by most ESL/EFL learners in body of knowledge. But if the prior knowledge or schema
the process of language learning, which often makes the cannot accommodate the new content or instruction in the
experience less enjoyable. The reality of overt or covert target language, ESL students would either struggle or
anxieties based on the learning and acquisition of the target transfer unwholesome content from the prior knowledge in
language in ESL classrooms suggests that teachers should their first language to the target language.
pay close attention to such factors. For example, [9] submits Prior knowledge can be subjective in a teaching and
that several language teachers have acknowledged the ex- learning process and it is one of the factors that account for
istence of language anxiety in ESL/EFL classrooms and its individual differences in classrooms. Prior knowledge exists
influence on students’ performance in the target language. in all ESL classrooms and it is capable of influencing the
According to [17] and Dewey, Belnap, and Steffen (2018), course of instruction and students’ learning outcomes in the
language anxiety was found to hinder language learning target language. Teachers should be conscious of students’
especially in the development of the four skills and they prior knowledge so as to plan their instructions to appeal to
recommended that efforts should be made to find out areas their students’ schema. Reference [22] investigated the role
of ESL students’ concerns, calm such down, and investigate of prior knowledge in the development of strategy flexibility
the sources of their apprehensions. This can be because the in computational estimation and found that prior knowl-
process of learning is both cognitive and affective; therefore, edge impacted the development of flexibility. Similarly,
when ESL learners approach instruction in the target lan- Thompson and Zamboanga examined the role of prior
guage with anxiety or apprehension, effective learning knowledge on flexibility in the use and knowledge of
cannot take place. The social aspect of language anxiety can strategies in mathematics. The result showed that prior
affect ESL learners’ confidence level and self-esteem when it knowledge, self-belief, and previous study success were
comes to effective communication in the target language. positively intercorrelated with prior knowledge and previous
Reference [18] describes language anxiety as a com- study success showing the strongest positive correlation with
munication-related apprehension arising from ESL/EFL the final grade. However, studies on the influence of lan-
learners’ inability to adequately express themselves, fear of guage anxiety and prior knowledge on students learning
negative social evaluation arising from a need to make a outcomes have largely focused on mathematics, computer
positive impression on others, and test anxiety arising from programming, and other science-related subjects with little
worry about academic achievement. For [19], there is a or nothing on essay writing. Therefore, this study examines
distinction between test apprehension and language anxiety the influence of language anxiety and prior knowledge on
because language anxiety is a product of nervousness in students’ learning outcomes in expository essay in Ibadan
communication or fear of social evaluation while test anxiety North LGA of Oyo State, Nigeria.
is a general problem, which is not dependent on language
anxiety. Language anxiety is a subjective variable in ESL/EFL 2. Research Methodology
situations and [20] describes it as an important factor in
individual differences in second language acquisition which 2.1. Research Design, Population, and Sampling Procedure.
teachers need to pay attention to. References [12, 17] found The study adopted a descriptive research design of survey
the influence of language anxiety on ESL/EFL students’ type. The population consists of all the senior secondary
learning outcomes to be significant and suggested that school students in Ibadan North LGA of Oyo State, Nigeria.
teachers need to reduce the negative effects of anxiety in ESL Simple random sampling was used to select four schools
classrooms. from the public schools in the LGA and a total of 350 SS2
Apart from language anxiety, prior knowledge also plays students were randomly selected for the purpose of this
a prominent role in second language learning. Prior study.
knowledge covers the total of the relevant skills, aptitude,
and know-how that a learner possesses before coming into
2.2. Variables. The independent variables are language
contact with a new body of knowledge or information. Prior
anxiety and prior knowledge while the dependent variable is
knowledge aids in recall or transfer of knowledge and they
ESL students’ achievement in expository essay.
can be in form of either misconceptions or alternative
conceptions [21]. Prior knowledge deals with the students’
schema and the cognitive aspect of learning. In second 2.3. Instruments and Validation Process. Two instruments
language situations, for example, ESL students’ prior were used in this study. The first instrument, Language
knowledge does not exist as separate or independent threads Anxiety and Prior Knowledge Questionnaire (LAPKQ), was
of information but as an intricate network of interrelated designed by the researcher. LAPKQ is a 28-item question-
previous knowledge. Therefore, students’ prior knowledge naire that has three parts: the first part requested demo-
can be used to enhance the quality of instruction and im- graphic information from the participants, the second aspect
prove students’ learning outcomes in ESL classrooms. on language anxiety comprises 15 items with a three-point
Reference [16] submits that there is a connection between scoring scale of Always (3), Rarely (2), and Never (1), the
Education Research International 5

third aspect is on prior knowledge and it consists of 13 items students’ achievement in expository essay. Therefore,
with a two-point scale of Yes (2) and No (1). LAPKQ was the null hypothesis 2 is hereby not rejected.
subjected to face validation through review by lecturers in Ho3: there is no significant relative contribution of
educational psychology and language education. For content independent variables (language anxiety and prior
validity, there was a pilot test using a sample of 35 students knowledge) and students’ achievement in exposition
with similar characteristics but not part of population for the essay.
study. Cronbach alpha statistics was used to analyze their
responses and a coefficient of 0.78 was recorded. The second The result showed the relative contribution of each of the
instrument is Achievement Test in Expository Writing independent variables (language anxiety and prior knowl-
(ATEW). The instrument is a standardised test because it is a edge) to students’ achievement in exposition essay. The
past WAEC question on expository essay, written under result indicates that there is no significant relative contri-
similar examination conditions and was marked by WAEC bution of language anxiety (β � −0.014; p � 0.809 > 0.05) and
examiners using WAEC-recommended raters’ guide. prior knowledge (β � −0.048; p � 0.396 > 0.05) to students’
achievement in exposition essay. This implies that the
language anxiety and prior knowledge did not individually
2.4. Procedure for Data Collection and Analysis. The process contribute to students’ achievement in expository essay.
of data collection lasted for a period of three weeks. LAPKQ Therefore, the null hypothesis 3 is hereby not rejected.
and ATEW were administered simultaneously and the data
collected from participants were processed for analyses. The 3. Discussion of the Findings
AREW was marked by seasoned WAEC examiners with at
least five years of marking experience and the questionnaire From the foregoing, the findings of this study showed that
was scored for analysis. The data were analyzed using in- language anxiety and prior knowledge had a negative in-
ferential statistics such as Pearson Product Moment Cor- significant relationship with students’ achievement in ex-
relation (PPMC), mean and standard deviation. pository essay. This result implies that a high level of
language anxiety in the ESL classroom led to poor
achievement in expository essay. The findings of this study
2.5. Findings of the Study support similar studies such as [7, 13, 17] that found that
Ho1: there is no significant relative relationship be- language anxiety, if not remedied by the teacher, is capable of
tween the independent variables (language anxiety and hindering the language learning process or making the
prior knowledge) and students’ achievement in ex- experience unpleasant in a foreign language classroom.
pository essay. However, the findings of this study are for second language
learners in Nigeria who have been found to often exhibit
Table 1 shows the relationship each of the independent
implicit or explicit kind of anxiety within and outside the
variables (language anxiety and prior knowledge) had
classroom because of the strong influence of prior knowl-
with students’ achievement in expository essay. The
edge in their mother tongue or L1. However, the findings of
result indicates that language anxiety had a negative
this study on language anxiety are at variance with [14] that
insignificant relationship with students’ achievement in
found that students’ anxiety concerning learning a concept
expository essay (r � −0.029; p > 0.05). This implies that
or subject can be helpful in motivating or facilitating them to
language anxiety influenced students’ achievement in
learn such concept. Also, [8] avers that anxiety can be an
expository essay. The table also indicates that prior
impetus for learning a language. The findings of this study
language had a negative insignificant relationship with
have shown that ESL teachers need to be conscious of
students’ achievement in expository essay (r � −0.052;
learning anxiety in the classroom and assist them to over-
p > 0.05). This also implies that students’ prior language
come such apprehensions in the language teaching and
has a negative influence on their achievement in ex-
learning process.
pository essay. Based on these results, the null hy-
The study also found that prior knowledge had no sig-
pothesis one that there is no significant relative
nificant relationship with students’ achievement in expository
relationship between the independent variables (lan-
essay. This result disagrees with [21] and [22, 23] that found
guage anxiety and prior knowledge) and students’
the relationship between prior knowledge and students’
achievement in expository essay is hereby not rejected.
achievement to be positively significant in subject areas such
Ho2: there is no significant composite contribution of as mathematics and computer science. The result of this
independent variables (language anxiety and prior current study however can be because the study is language-
knowledge) and students’ achievement in expository related and the universal nature of language aided the stu-
essay. dents to draw possible links between their mother tongues
The result showed that there was no significant com- and the target language. Another possible explanation for this
posite contribution of language anxiety and prior result is that the study examined the influence of prior
knowledge to students’ achievement in expository essay knowledge on students’ achievement in essay writing where
(F (2; 347) � .504; Adj. R2 � −0.003; p � 0.605 > 0.05). concepts such as brainstorming and sentence construction
This implies that the two independent variables when can be easily generated in the first language and transferred to
pulled together did not significantly contribute to the target language with little or no mistake. Perhaps, other
6 Education Research International

Table 1: Relative relationship of independent variables with students’ achievement in expository essay.
Variables Students’ achievement in expository essay Language anxiety Prior language
Students’ achievement in expository essay 1
Language anxiety −0.029 (0.593) 1
∗
Prior knowledge −0.052 (0.330) 0.312 (0.000) 1
N 350 350 350
Mean 17.04 25.18 20.60
Standard deviation 6.77 6.65 3.01

skills of English language such as speaking and reading could their mother tongue or first language. However, the English
have produced a different result because students would not language is the language of instruction from the fourth year
have been able to produce or account for sounds that are not of primary education, a core subject and major require-
available in their mother tongue or first language. ment for progress to the other levels of education in the
The findings of this study on language anxiety suggest country. Success in the subject, especially in public ex-
that ESL teachers must ensure that students’ apprehensions amination, has been found to be largely determined by
are addressed through the use of quality instruction, which learner-related factors such as language anxiety and prior
are interactive and communicative so that corrective prompt knowledge. Studies have reported that the perennial mass
feedback can be provided to support students’ learning of the failure in English language is because students do not do
target language (see [6]). In addition, the findings of this well in the aspect of the examination on essay writing.
study showed that there is no significant composite con- Therefore, essay writing in general and expository essay in
tribution of language anxiety and prior knowledge to stu- particular are an integral aspect of instruction in English
dents’ achievement in expository essay. To the best composition in ESL classrooms within Ibadan North LGA.
knowledge of the researchers, the composite contribution of However, students have been found to avoid writing this
the two independent variables in expository essay as ex- type of essay and when they do, students’ achievement in
amined in this study has not been investigated in any other expository essay has been very poor. This is because this
study. However, the findings of this study are at variance essay type requires learners to demonstrate the knowledge
with the results of several other studies that found that of selected concepts which may include the incorporation
language anxiety and prior knowledge contribute signifi- of relevant facts and figures. Hence, students’ schema or
cantly to students’ learning outcomes. prior knowledge and language anxiety are capable of en-
Lastly, the findings of this study showed that there is no hancing or impeding achievement in this type of English
significant relative contribution of learning anxiety and prior composition. Therefore, the study examined the relation-
knowledge to students’ achievement in expository essay. The ship between language anxiety and prior knowledge and
result disagrees with the other previous studies [9, 12, 15, 16] students’ achievement in expository essay in ESL class-
that showed that factors such as language anxiety and prior rooms. The findings of this study showed that there are no
knowledge have significant relative contributions to students’ significant relationships between language anxiety and
achievement across different subject areas. The implication of prior knowledge and achievement in expository essay.
this study is that each of language anxiety and prior Also, there are no composite and relative contributions of
knowledge, when examined separately, does not contribute to the independent variables on students’ achievement in
students’ achievement in expository essay. This result sup- expository essay in Ibadan North Local Government Area
ports [20] that revealed that other forms of apprehension of Oyo State, Nigeria.
within the classroom, aside from language anxiety, are capable Based on this result, the following recommendations are
of contributing to students’ achievement in a language made:
classroom. Although learning a second language in a mul-
(1) ESL teachers need to consider language anxiety more
tilingual setting like Nigeria can be demanding, factors such as
closely in the classroom and remedy such appre-
strong interference of students’ mother tongue, lack of rec-
hensions through quality instructional delivery.
ommended textbooks, poor quality of instruction, emotional
instability, and test apprehension can create unnecessary (2) Teaching English in ESL classroom should be highly
anxiety for learners within the ESL classroom and lead to poor interactive and communication-based, and correc-
achievement that may not be directly connected to language tive feedback must be detailed and prompt.
anxiety. For example, [19] found that there are several causes (3) The primary responsibility of language teachers
of anxiety within the second language classroom apart from should be to create a connection between students’
language anxiety and these factors can influence students’ schema and the new body of knowledge.
performance in the target language. (4) ESL teachers should begin to focus more on pre-
vailing learner-related variables within the classroom
such as language anxiety, prior knowledge, verbal
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
ability, and vocabulary knowledge that can influence
In most Nigerian classrooms, instruction in English lan- students’ achievement irrespective of the quality of
guage begins after learners have acquired the basic skills in the instruction that they received in the classroom.
Education Research International 7

Data Availability [17] E. Şenel, “Foreign language anxiety of students studying

english language and literature: a sample from Turkey,” Ed-
The data used to support this study are included in the ucational Research and Reviews, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 219–228,
manuscript. 2016.
[18] E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz, and J. Cope, “Foreign language
classroom anxiety,” The Modern Language Journal, vol. 70,
Conflicts of Interest no. 2, pp. 125–132, 1986.
The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest. [19] P. D. MacIntyre and R. C. Gardner, “language anxiety: its
relationship to other anxieties and to processing in native and
second languages,” Language Learning, vol. 41, no. 4,
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