Acculturation and English Writing Anxiety among Indigenous Students of Kerala

The impact of acculturation with reference to English language writing anxiety among the indigenous students of Kerala is a less discussed topic in tribal education and language studies. This paper analyses the English language classroom anxiety and writing anxiety using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory (SLWAI) respectively, among indigenous students in Kerala and the impact of these on their English language writing performance. The paper is an attempt to evaluate the above-mentioned scenario in the light of the acculturation these students have to undergo. This study helps to evaluate the condition of the students based on the fourth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development [1]. Data from 188 indigenous students from five tribal residential schools in Wayanad, Kerala have been collected and analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) to prove the assumptions of the study. The three variables of the study are Second Language Writing Anxiety (SLWAI), Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCAS) and Writing Performance (WPS). SLWAI and FLCAS are considered as a result of acculturation. According to Pearson Correlation, the correlation shows that the correlation between the SLWAI and FLCAS is r(188) = 0.677, FLCAS and WPS is -0.376, and SLWAI and WPS is -0.345. All are significant at the level of 0.01. The regression result shows that SLWAI and FLCAS predict WPS for 15.6%. Independent sample t-tests between Malayalam-speaking and community language-speaking students on the SLWAI, FLCAS and WPS are − 4.651**, -3.803** and 10.100**, respectively. The paper puts forward recommendations that can not only improve the condition of these students but also ensure an inclusive learning environment.