Linguacultural Anxiety and Academic Underperformance in a Buddhist Tertiary Institution in Sri Lanka

Abstract

English language anxiety has been widely recognised as a significant affective barrier to language learning and academic achievement in higher education contexts worldwide. This study investigates the relationship between English language anxiety and academic performance among undergraduate students at Sri Lanka Buddhist and Pali University (SLBPU), an institution whose scholarly identity is deeply embedded in Pali and Sinhala intellectual traditions and whose student body consists exclusively of male students, comprising Buddhist reverends (approximately 70%) and lay male undergraduates (approximately 30%). Drawing on Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope's (1986) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), the study employs a convergent mixed-methods design. A sample of 100 students was drawn from a population of 150 undergraduates through stratified random sampling across the Faculties of Buddhist Studies and Language Studies, with 15 participants subsequently selected for in-depth semi-structured interviews. Quantitative analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between anxiety and Grade Point Average (r = -.52, p < .001). Qualitative findings generated four interconnected themes: cultural and linguistic distance from English, the evaluative weight of English in the tertiary setting, the lecture hall as a site of exposure and judgment, and strategic withdrawal as a dominant coping mechanism. The study offers an empirically grounded and contextually nuanced account of English language anxiety in a distinctive Asian higher education setting, extending the Asian Englishes literature by foregrounding cultural and religious incongruence as significant and undertheorised sources of anxiety in institutions with strong non-English scholarly traditions.