Linguistic anxiety, personality, and willingness to communicate in English among LGBTIQ+ university students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.33566

Keywords:

Anxiety, Foreign language learning, Willingness to communicate, Personality, LGBTI+

Abstract

Developing communicative competence is the primary goal in a foreign language classroom, and several variables influence this process. This study aimed to analyze personality dimensions, Linguistic Anxiety (LA), and Willingness To Communicate (WTC) in English among LGBTQI+ university students. Quantitative research with a cross-sectional design was conducted in a sample of 97 sexually diverse university students. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, the Willingness to Communicate Questionnaire, and the NEO Personality Inventory were administered. Findings demonstrate that 55.7% of sexually diverse individuals in this sample have a high level of LA, 32.0% show a tendency towards neuroticism, 22.7% towards extraversion, 44.3% towards introversion, and 41.2% present low WTC in the L2. A moderate positive correlation was found between LA and neuroticism, as well as a moderate negative correlation between LA and extraversion. Lastly, it was found that the neuroticism dimension is a significant predictor of LA, and that personality and LA are not predictors of the WTC. It is concluded that among LGBTQI+ individuals, the WTC is neither associated with LA nor with personality, yet the latter is linked to LA.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Juan Fernando Gómez, Tecnológico de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Colombia

Juan Fernando Gómez Paniagua, PhD in Education Sciences and Master in Applied Linguistics to English Teaching. He works at the Department of Basic Sciences at Tecnológico de Antioquia - Institución Universitaria in Colombia. He teaches undergraduate courses in general English and has designed a great deal of communicative-based English courses for undergraduate programs in different universities. His research field is metacognitive and affective factors that affect language learning.

Jorge Emiro Restrepo, Tecnológico de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Colombia

Dr. Jorge Restrepo serves as an Associate Professor and the Director of the OBSERVATOS Research Group at the Faculty of Education and Social Sciences of the Tecnológico de Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia. His educational background includes a Doctorate (PhD) and a Master's degree (MS) in Neuropsychology from the University of Salamanca, Spain. He holds a Bachelor degree of Science in Biology from Universidad de Antioquia, a Bachelor´s in Psychology from Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, and a Bachelor´s in Philosophy from UNAD.                              

Claudio Díaz Larenas, Universidad de Concepción, Chile

Claudio Diaz Larenas, PhD in Education and Master of Arts in Linguistics. He works at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Faculty of Education in Universidad de Concepción, Chile. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in EFL Didactics and Assessment. He is currently coordinating the Master in English teaching, learning and assessment program at Universidad de Concepción. His research field is teacher cognition, language assessment and teacher knowledge.

Julio Antonio Álvarez Martínez, Universidad de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Colombia

Julio Antonio Álvarez Martínez PhD in Education and Research professor in English language, 10 years of experience as a university teacher in English. Doctorate in Educational Sciences, a Master's degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, a Master's degree in Linguistics Applied to Teaching English as a Foreign Language, a Specialist certification in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and a Bachelor's degree in English and French.

Walter Darién Gómez Torres, Tecnológico de Antioquia, Institución Universitaria, Colombia

Walter Darién Gómez Torres, PhD in Education and Master's in Organizational Management Programs. He also holds a Specialization in Technology Management and works as a researcher in the Research Group CBATA. He is the Coordinator of the Department of Basic Sciences at Tecnológico de Antioquia - Institución Universitaria in Colombia. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Software Engeneering.

References

Ayedoun, E., Hayashi, Y., & Seta, K. (2019). Adding communicative and affective strategies to an embodied conversational agent to enhance second language learners’ willingness to communicate. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 29(1), 29–57. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-018-0171-6

Babakhouya, Y. (2019). The big five personality factors as predictors of English language speaking anxiety: A cross-country comparison between Morocco and South Korea. Research in Comparative and International Education, 14(4), 502–521. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745499919894792

Baros, J. N. (2021). Linguistically invisible: The experiences of transgender students in Spanish language courses. Journal of Homosexuality, 69(13), 2326–2347. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2021.1938465

Cahnmann-Taylor, M., Coda, J., & Jiang, L. (2022). Queer is as queer does: Queer L2 pedagogy in teacher education. TESOL Quarterly, 56(1), 130–153. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.3044

Cano-Vindel, A., Dongil-Collado, E., Salguero, J. M., & Wood, C. M. (2011). Intervención cognitivo-conductual en los trastornos de ansiedad: Una actualización. Informació Psicològica, (102), 4–27. https://www.informaciopsicologica.info/revista/article/view/63

Cao, Y. (2014). A sociocognitive perspective on second language classroom willingness to communicate. TESOL Quarterly, 48(4), 789–814. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.155

Castañeda-Peña, H. (2021). Local identity studies of gender diversity and sexual orientation in ELT. HOW, 28(3), 154–172. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.28.3.683

Coda, J., Cahnmann-Taylor, M., & Jiang, L. (2020). “It takes time for language to change”: Challenging classroom heteronormativity through Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS). Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 20(2), 90–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2020.1726755

Consejo de Europa. (2002). Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas: Aprendizaje, enseñanza, evaluación. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/marco/cvc_mer.pdf

Consejo de Europa. (2018). Marco Común Europeo de Referencia para las Lenguas: Aprendizaje, enseñanza, evaluación (Volumen complementario). Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Formación Profesional; Instituto Cervantes. https://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/marco_complementario/mcer_volumen-complementario.pdf

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (2008). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment, Vol. 2. Personality measurement and testing (pp. 179–198). Sage Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849200479.n9

Dewaele, J.-M. (2019). The effect of classroom emotions, attitudes toward English, and teacher behavior on willingness to communicate among English foreign language learners. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38(4), 523–535. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19864996

Dewaele, J.-M., & Al-Saraj, T. M. (2015). Foreign language classroom anxiety of Arab learners of English: The effect of personality, linguistic and sociobiographical variables. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 5(2), 205–228. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2015.5.2.2

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Eisenmann, M., & Ludwig, C. (2018). Introduction: Gender and literature in the EFL classroom. In M. Eisenmann & C. Ludwig (Eds.), Queer beats: Gender and literature in the EFL classroom (pp. 17–38). Peter Lang.

Fatima, I., Mohamed Ismail, S. A. M., Pathan, Z. H., & Memon, U. (2020). The power of openness to experience, extraversion, L2 self-confidence, classroom environment in predicting L2 willingness to communicate. International Journal of Instruction, 13(3), 909–924. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2020.13360a

García Castillo, A. M. (2020). Educación inclusiva y marco legal en Colombia: Una mirada desde la alteridad y las diferencias. Tesis Psicológica, 15(2), 72–93. https://doi.org/10.37511/tesis.v15n2a4

Ghapanchi, Z., Khajavy, G. H., & Asadpour, S. F. (2011). L2 motivation and personality as predictors of the second language proficiency: Role of the big five traits and L2 motivational self-system. Canadian Social Science, 7(6), 148–155. http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/css/article/view/j.css.1923669720110706.030

Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.48.1.26

Gómez, J. F., Restrepo, J. E., & Díaz Larenas, C. (2021). Relación entre la disposición para comunicarse en inglés, el uso de estrategias de comunicación oral y el temor a la evaluación negativa en estudiantes universitarios. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 39(2), 411–425. https://doi.org/10.6018/rie.426741

Gómez, J. F., Restrepo, J. E., & Díaz Larenas, C. (2022). Variables que afectan el aprendizaje del inglés: Modelo con ecuaciones estructurales. REICE: Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 20(3), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.15366/reice2022.20.3.003

Heinz, M. (2018). Communicating while transgender: Apprehension, loneliness, and willingness to communicate in a Canadian sample. SAGE Open, 8(2), e2158244018777780. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018777780

Hernández-Lalinde, J., Espinosa-Castro, J. E., Rodríguez, J., Chacón Rangel, J. G., Toloza Sierra, C. A., Arenas Torrado, M. K., Carrillo Sierra, S. M., & Bermúdez-Pirela, V. (2018). Sobre el uso adecuado del coeficiente de correlación de Pearson: Definición, propiedades y suposiciones. Archivos Venezolanos de Farmacología y Terapéutica, 37(5), 587–595. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=55963207025

Homayouni, A. (2011). Personality traits and emotional intelligence as predictors of learning English and Math. Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 839–843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.163

Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154–167. https://doi.org/10.1017/S026144480999036X

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x

Hussain, W., Bukhari, S. R., Ullah, Z., Ullah, A., & Khan, T. W. (2022). The relationship between English language speaking anxiety and big five personality factors: A study of university students from the twin metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 6(8), 9897–9907. https://journalppw.com/index.php/jpsp/article/view/11715

Kalsoom, A., Soomro, N. H., & Pathan, Z. H. (2020). How social support and foreign language anxiety impact willingness to communicate in English in an EFL classroom. International Journal of English Linguistics, 10(2), 80–91. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v10n2p80

Kang, S.-J. (2005). Dynamic emergence of situational willingness to communicate in a second language. System, 33(2), 277–292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2004.10.004

Karadağ, Ü. Ş., & Kaya, S. D. (2019). The effects of personality traits on willingness to communicate: A study on university students. MANAS Journal of Social Studies, 8(1), 397–410. https://doi.org/10.33206/mjss.519145

Kelsen, B. A. (2019). Exploring public speaking anxiety and personal disposition in EFL presentations. Learning and Individual Differences, 73, 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.05.003

Khajavy, G. H., Ghonsooly, B., Hosseini-Fatemi, A., & Choi, C. W. (2016). Willingness to communicate in English: A microsystem model in the Iranian EFL classroom context. TESOL Quarterly, 50(1), 154–180. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.204

Luo, X., & Wei, R. (2021). Is multilingualism linked to a higher tolerance of homosexuality? Evidence from a national survey. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 45(2), 196–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.1874002

MacIntyre, P. D. (2007). Willingness to communicate in the second language: Understanding the decision to speak as a volitional process. The Modern Language Journal, 91(4), 564–576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2007.00623.x

MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. The Modern Language Journal, 82(4), 545–562. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1998.tb05543.x

Manipuspika, Y. S. (2018). Correlation between anxiety and willingness to communicate in the Indonesian EFL context. Arab World English Journal, 9(2), 200–217. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol9no2.14

Martínez Uribe, P., & Cassaretto Bardales, M. (2011). Validación del inventario de los cinco factores NEO-FFI en español en estudiantes universitarios peruanos. Revista Mexicana de Psicología, 28(1), 63–74. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=243029630006

Mitchell, J. D. (2018). Foreign language anxiety, sexuality, and gender: Lived experiences of four LGBTQ+ students [Master’s thesis, Portland State University]. PDXScholar. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4336/

Ortega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.

Paiz, J. M. (2017). Queering ESL teaching: Pedagogical and materials creation issues. TESOL Journal, 9(2), 348–367. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.329

Peng, J.-E., & Woodrow, L. (2010). Willingness to communicate in English: A model in the Chinese EFL classroom context. Language Learning, 60(4), 834–876. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2010.00576.x

Pérez-Paredes, P., & Martínez-Sánchez, F. (2000). A Spanish version of the foreign language classroom anxiety scale: Revisiting Aida’s factor analysis. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada, 14, 337–352. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=871315

Piechurska-Kuciel, E., Ożańska-Ponikwia, K., & Skałacka, K. (2021). Can the neuroticism-willingness to communicate relationship across languages be explained by anxiety? Moderna Språk, 115(4), 176–199. https://doi.org/10.58221/mosp.v115i4.6784

Qureshi, H., Javed, F., & Baig, S. (2020). The effect of psychological factors on English speaking performance of students enrolled in postgraduate English language teaching programs in Pakistan. Global Language Review, V(II), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.31703/glr.2020(V-II).11

Rhodes, C. M., & Coda, J. (2017). It’s not in the curriculum: Adult English language teachers and LGBQ topics. Adult Learning, 28(3), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159517712483

Riasati, M. J. (2018). Willingness to speak English among foreign language learners: A causal model. Cogent Education, 5(1), e1455332. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1455332

Riasati, M. J., & Rahimi, F. (2018). Situational and individual factors engendering willingness to speak English in foreign language classrooms. Cogent Education, 5(1), e1513313. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1513313

Rondón Cárdenas, F. (2012). LGBT students’ short-range narratives and gender performance in the EFL classroom. Colombian Applied Linguistics Journal, 14(1), 77–91. https://doi.org/10.14483/22487085.3814

Šafranj, J., & Zivlak, J. (2019). Effects of big five personality traits and fear of negative evaluation on foreign language anxiety. Croatian Journal of Education, 21(1), 275–306. https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v21i1.2942

Shojakhanlou, M. M., Mahmoudi, R., & Farrokhi, F. (2022). Prediction of Iranian EFL learners’ production of request speech act and communication apprehension by the big five personality traits. Issues in Language Teaching, 11(2), 219–254. https://doi.org/10.22054/ilt.2022.64863.660

Subekti, A. S. (2019). Willingness to communicate in English of non-English major university students in Indonesia. Lingua Cultura, 13(1), 55–66. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v13i1.5155

Vongsila, V., & Reinders, H. (2016). Making Asian learners talk: Encouraging willingness to communicate. RELC Journal, 47(3), 331–347. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688216645641

Vural, H. (2019). The relationship of personality traits with English speaking anxiety: A study on Turkish university students. Research in Educational Policy and Management, 1(1), 55–74. https://doi.org/10.46303/repam.01.01.5

Yousef, R., Jamil, H., & Razak, N. (2013). Willingness to communicate in English: A study of Malaysian pre-service English teachers. English Language Teaching, 6(9), 205–216. https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n9p205

Zohoorian, Z., Zeraatpishe, M., & Khorrami, N. (2022). Willingness to communicate, big five personality traits, and empathy: How are they related? Canadian Journal of Educational and Social Studies, 2(5), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.53103/cjess.v2i5.69

Downloads

Published

2026-01-20

How to Cite

Gómez, J. F., Restrepo, J. E., Díaz Larenas, C., Álvarez Martínez, J. A., & Gómez Torres, W. D. (2026). Linguistic anxiety, personality, and willingness to communicate in English among LGBTIQ+ university students. Portuguese Journal of Education, 39(1), e26001. https://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.33566

Issue

Vol. 39 No. 1 (2026): janeiro-junho

Section

Artigos

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Juan Fernando Gómez, Jorge Emiro Restrepo, Claudio Díaz Larenas, Julio Antonio Álvarez Martínez, Walter Darién Gómez Torres

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

1. The authors preserve their authorship and grant the Portuguese Journal of Education the right to the first publication. The work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License that allows sharing the work with the acknowledgment of initial authorship and publication in this Journal.

2. The authors have the right to take additional contracts separately, for non-exclusive distribution of the published version of their work (e.g. to deposit in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), acknowledging the initial authorship and publication in this Journal.

3. The authors have the permission and are stimulated to post their work online (e.g. in an institutional repository or on their personal website). They can do this at any phase of the editorial process, as it may generate productive changes, as well as increase impact and article citation (see The Open Citation Project).


Licença Creative Commons

The work is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)