Language Anxiety and English Learning: Comparison the Impulsive/Reflective Cognitive Styles

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between language anxiety and English language achievement, regarding the impulsivereflective cognitive style. 103 students were randomly selected from individual who were studying English language at intermediate level and after answering Broadbent’s Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (1982( and Kagan's Matching Familiar Figures Test (1965(, then 60 subject who were classified either impulsive or reflective answered the Horowitz and Cope's Foreign Language Anxiety Scale's questions (1986(. The subject’s score in language learning 4 skills and also the mixed quizzes were gathered during an educational 3 month long term. Data analysed using MANOVA showed that the reflective group performed significantly better in English language achievement and reading skills. No significant differences were observed regarding the language anxiety level and fear of negative evaluation between reflective and impulsive groups. The results of present study confirmed the efficacy of cognitive style in learning a second language, this effect is not related to language anxiety.