Dimensional Differences in English Speaking Anxiety Across Physical and Online Contexts: A Study of Chinese EFL Undergraduates

Abstract

While previous research has established that online learning reduces language anxiety, less is known about how different dimensions of speaking anxiety respond to the shift from physical to digital classrooms. Grounded in foreign language classroom anxiety theory and situated within a communication studies framework, ESA is deconstructed into three dimensions: Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Test Anxiety. This study employed survey design with 507 undergraduates in Shandong Province using parallel questionnaires for both contexts and paired samples t-tests. The findings show a significant contextual difference in overall ESA levels. Online classrooms (M=2.291) exhibit markedly lower anxiety than physical classrooms (M=2.791), with a mean difference of 0.500; Dimensional analysis reveals varying contextual sensitivities. Fear of Negative Evaluation shows the greatest contextual disparity (mean difference=0.579), descending from moderate to low levels across contexts. Test Anxiety follows closely with similar reduction patterns. Communication Apprehension exhibits the smallest contextual difference (mean difference=0.360), maintaining consistent moderate levels across contexts. This indicates its stability as a cognition-based construct; The digitally mediated environment proves particularly effective in alleviating social-evaluative anxiety linked to audience presence and immediate judgment. Yet it does little to reduce ability-focused cognitive anxiety. This study reveals the complex relationship between communication medium, learner psychology, and language performance. It provides empirical evidence for implementing “context-aware, dimension-sensitive” pedagogical frameworks in technology-enhanced language education. The study contributes to both linguistic and communication scholarship by demonstrating how media characteristics reconfigure specific affective components of language learning.