An investigation of reading anxiety of EFL secondary school students in a Thai government school

The aim of this study was to examine the level of English reading anxiety between two groups of students. A total of 168 participants, all eleventh-grade students at a government school in Thailand, took part in this study. Half of the participants were Science-Math program students, while the other half were from the English-Math program. The study employed the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) by Saito (1999) as a research instrument and utilized convenience sampling. The findings indicated a significant difference in English reading anxiety between the two groups. The mean scores for English reading anxiety were higher in Science-Math program students compared to English-Math program students. Both groups exhibited high levels of English reading anxiety, particularly in terms of dissatisfaction with their reading ability, literal translation when reading, encountering unknown grammar, discomfort when reading aloud, taking English reading tests, and encountering unfamiliar vocabulary. The study provides pedagogical implications for EFL teachers to better understand the differences in English reading anxiety among students. This understanding can help teachers design effective reading lessons, select suitable materials, find useful resources, and foster a positive learning environment to alleviate students' English reading anxiety.