Effects of Language Anxiety on the Oral and Written Skills of Grade 12 Senior High School Students

Abstract

This study investigated the empirical relationship between language anxiety and English language skills among Grade 12 Senior High School students at King’s College of the Philippines - Bambang, Inc., during the second academic term of the School Year 2025–2026. Recognizing English as a vital tool in global communication, academia, and regional ASEAN integration, this research evaluated how psychological and affective barriers impact academic performance. Utilizing a descriptive-correlational research design and a non-probability purposive total population sampling approach (\(n = 150\)), data triangulation was achieved through the adapted Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI). Descriptive findings revealed that the respondents maintain a "Very Satisfactory" baseline profile in both oral language skills (\(M = 88.75\), \(SD = 5.54\)) and writing skills (\(M = 89.23\), \(SD = 4.73\)). However, this linguistic competence coexists with a pervasive level of moderate anxiety across all sub-dimensions, with audience-induced self-consciousness (\(M = 3.41\)) and assignment avoidance behavior (\(M = 3.43\)) emerging as the most pronounced emotional stressors. Using Pearson r correlation, we found opposite trends for speaking and writing anxiety. A student's fear of being judged negatively by peers directly lowered their oral grades (r = -0.175). However, physical nervousness (r = 0.238) and task avoidance (r = 0.263) actually correlated with better writing scores. This unexpected positive link suggests that physical tension and a tendency to delay tasks might stem from a student's perfectionism, pushing them to write more carefully once they start. Cognitive Writing Anxiety and English Classroom Anxiety yielded no meaningful linear relationship with student marks. The study concludes that social evaluation constraints outweigh structural linguistic difficulty in driving student panic. Based on these findings, institutional policy shifts including the implementation of low-stakes diagnostic speaking pods, anonymous peer-writing matrices, and process-oriented composition workshops are recommended to alleviate social evaluation stress while channeling somatic energy into productive performance outcomes.