Effects of Poor Sleep Quality on Attention, Anxiety and Foreign Language Performance in EFL College Students

Abstract

Sleep quality has been found to be a critical issue to students’ learning. The objective of the study was to investigate whether poor sleep quality impact inattention, foreign language learning anxiety, and foreign language performance in EFL college students. English scores of the receptive skills, reading and listening, inattention and foreign language learning anxiety were examined in 148 English major college students in Taiwan, who were divided into experimental group with Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)>5 (Poor-Sleep Group, n=70) and control group with PSQI<=5 (Normal-Sleep Group, n=78).  Inattention and Foreign Language Learning Anxiety were significantly (P<0.05) severer and higher in Poor-Sleep Group than in Normal-Sleep Group. English listening test scores were significantly lower in Poor-Sleep Group than in Normal-Sleep Group. However, English reading test scores were not different between Poor-Sleep Group and Normal-Sleep Group. Poor sleep quality in EFL College students with co-existed more attention deficits and higher foreign language learning anxiety did negatively influence English listening performance, but did not influence English reading performance.