Investigating Foreign Language Anxiety among Moroccan EFL University Students in Face-to- Face and Distance Learning Modes

Since the English language has become a prerequisite for entering most domains, some students are nowadays enrolled in EFL classes, be them face-to-face or online. However, they face some obstacles that impede their learning process. Foreign Language Anxiety is one of these. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare the anxiety levels that Moroccan university students experience in two different learning environments (face-to-face vs. distance learning). Furthermore, it attempts to find out the sources from which anxiety stems, as well as to suggest some useful strategies to alleviate students' anxiety levels. To this end, two research instruments were used. A survey that consists of two sets of questions adapted from the Foreign Language Virtual Classroom Anxiety Scale and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale was administered to 100 EFL students from different universities in Morocco to gather quantitative data, and interviews that were conducted with 10 students were used to collect qualitative data. In contrast to a traditional class, the study's findings showed that students in online classes have lower levels of communication anxiety. However, it was discovered that in both learning techniques, students' feelings of test anxiety and dread of a poor grade remained largely unchanged. Overall, the findings indicated that most Moroccan university students find online classes to be less anxiety-inducing. This study filled a gap in the literature by investigating foreign language anxiety among language learners who are studying languages remotely.