Tracking Fluctuations in Listening Anxiety and Metacognitive Awareness Among EFL Learners: A Qualitatively Dominant Mixed-Methods Study
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Objective: This study aimed to explore baseline listening anxiety, situational fluctuations in listening anxiety, and the development of metacognitive awareness among EFL learners during a six-week longitudinal listening program.
Methods and Materials: A qualitatively dominant embedded longitudinal mixed-methods design was used. Participants were 18 undergraduate EFL learners from a private university in East Java, Indonesia, selected through purposive sampling. Quantitative data were collected using the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale, Anxiety Temperature Charts, and the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire. Qualitative data were obtained from reflective listening logbooks completed after repeated listening tasks. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, while reflective logbooks were analyzed thematically. The two datasets were integrated through comparative interpretation.
Findings: Baseline listening anxiety was moderate, M = 2.81, SD = 0.54. Worry had the highest mean, M = 3.36, SD = 0.63, whereas anticipatory fear was low, M = 2.19, SD = 1.18. In-class anxiety fluctuated across sessions, peaking in Session 4, M = 3.40, SD = 0.55, and declining in Session 6, M = 2.50, SD = 0.45. Out-of-class anxiety was more stable, ranging from M = 2.80 to 3.20. Reflective logbooks identified problem awareness, 25 occurrences; evaluative awareness, 20; process awareness, 17; and emotional awareness, 11. MALQ scores showed descriptive gains in problem-solving, planning-evaluation, directed attention, and metacognitive knowledge, with a slight decline in mental translation.
Conclusion: Listening anxiety was dynamic and context-dependent, while repeated reflection supported emerging metacognitive awareness among participating Indonesian learners.
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