The Effectiveness of Meta-Cognitive Therapy on academic motivation and Social Avoidance and Distress of Students with Language Learning Anxiety

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of metacognitive Therapy on academic motivation and social avoidance and distress of students with foreign language anxiety (FLA). The research design was semi-experimental and the population of the study was all students of public primary schools in Urmia, Iran. 40 students were selected following a multi-step random sampling procedure and were randomly assigned into two groups (N = 20 each). The experimental group received metacognitive Therapy and the control group received no training. Both groups completed Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, academic motivation Scale and social avoidance and distress Scale as pre-test, posttest and delayed post-test. Descriptive statistics and multivariate covariance method were used to analyses the data. The results of this study showed that the mean of internal and external motivation in the experimental group, after the intervention of metacognitive therapy in comparison with the control group significantly increased and the mean of unmotivated and social avoidance and distress decreased. The study implies that counselors and therapists use metacognitive Therapy along with other therapies to improve academic motivation and reduce social avoidance and distress of students with FLA.

Keywords

• language learning anxiety
• metacognition therapy
• academic motivation
• social avoidance and distress