Assessing the Intersectionality of Language Anxiety and Outcomes for African Learners Writing Examinations in English

This study investigated the intersectionality of language anxiety, writing examinations in English, and outcomes for non-English mother-tongue learners in South Africa. The study focused on the impact of these three factors on learner performance and delved into this intersectionality by reviewing the literature on anxiety stemming from writing examinations and the impact of the language medium used in assessing learners. Qualitative document analysis was used to collect and analyse the data for this study. It involved gathering literature from psychology, education, and language studies to reveal a correlation between anxiety, writing examinations, and the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT). The study concluded that using English as a medium for examinations can have a negative impact on learners who may not be linguistically competent to express themselves effectively in English, even if they were taught using translanguaging pedagogies. It argued that the true potential and outcomes of learners will only be fully realised through the exam process if they are allowed to write examinations in their mother tongues; and recommended that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) should allow for examinations to be conducted in all official languages for all grades and encourage learners to write examinations in their mother tongues. The only examinations they should be required to write in English are those for English Additional Language, like Afrikaans mother tongue speakers who can write all their examinations in Afrikaans except for English as a subject. Keywords: Anxiety, English Hegemony, Examinations, Language of Learning and Teaching, Linguistic Injustice