The Role of Blended Learning on Moderating Self-Motivation to Mitigate Foreign Language Anxiety among EFL Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) it looks at how much foreign language anxiety and self-motivation there are among EFL students, and (2) to determine if learning preferences interact with self-motivation to lessen FLA, i.e., moderate this relationship. To do this, 232 EFL students from the 2020–2021 academic year were randomly chosen to participate in a survey method at three universities in central Saudi Arabia: Qassim University, Majmaah University, and Shaqra University. SPSS was used for descriptive analysis, where Macro Process Hayes Plug-In was used for the moderated regression analysis. The findings showed a moderate level of internal and extrinsic goal orientation, control over learning beliefs, self-efficacy, task value, social engagement, instructor support, as well as anxiety related to learning a foreign language. Additionally, it was determined that participant demographic factors had no statistically significant impact on any of the distinct dimensions of self-motivation or anxiety related to learning a foreign language. More significantly, blended learning was found to have a greater negative impact on foreign language classroom anxiety than face-to-face learning and e-learning, indicating that it has a greater impact on increasing self-motivation to lessen classroom anxiety.