Foreign Language Anxiety, Attribution, and Coping Strategies Among Spanish University Students: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Comparison (2014 and 2026)

This study examines foreign language anxiety among 131 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in education-related degrees and in Translation and Interpreting, all of whom receive instruction through English. It investigates anxiety sources, responsibility attribution, self-perceived coping ability, and coping strategies, and compares selected findings with a similar study conducted by the authors in 2014. The comparison is framed by the possible influence of active methodologies on students’ perceptions and responses. Qualitative analysis showed that anxiety remains mainly associated with oral communication, although students now more often describe it as shaped by contextual factors. Descriptive statistics indicated that students most frequently attributed responsibility to themselves, followed by the teacher and peers, replicating the pattern observed in 2014. Mann–Whitney U tests showed that women attributed significantly less responsibility to teachers than men and reported significantly higher perceived coping ability, differences not observed in the earlier study. Kruskal–Wallis tests revealed achievement-related differences in several coping strategies at the item level, with higher-achieving students reporting greater use of help-seeking strategies. Mann–Whitney U tests also indicated that students in education-related degrees scored higher in emotional regulation than those in Translation and Interpreting. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed.