A study on the relationship between high-school students’ computer anxiety with their field of study, gender and English language achievement

Authors

1 (PhD), Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University

2 MA at Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between highschool students’ computer anxiety, gender, field of study and achievement in English. To attain this goal, 2004 male and female students from eight provinces of Iran were selected randomly. Their computer anxiety was examined by the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale (CARS) developed by Rosen and Weil (1992). The result showed that the relationship between students’ gender and their computer anxiety was not significant. Yet, the number of technophobic students in Iran (including both female and male participants) was much higher than technophobic students reported in other studies. The result showed that the rate of Iranian technophobic students is around 55% of the sample, while this rate has been reported to be 25-30% of the population in other countries. The result related to students’ field of study showed that there is a significant relationship between students’ field of study and their computer anxiety, i.e., the amount of technophobic students among math students is significantly less than other students. The result also showed a significant relationship between students’ achievement in English and their computer anxiety, i.e., students of high English achievement were found to be less technophobic.  

Keywords