English Comprehension, Academic Stress, and Test Anxiety in Filipino University Students

What is it about?

Many university students in English-medium programs face difficulties understanding academic English, particularly when coursework involves specialized vocabulary, technical terminology, and complex academic texts. This study examined how second-language (L2) comprehension difficulty, academic stress, and test anxiety are related among 80 early-stage Filipino university students enrolled in entrepreneurship programs. Using survey data and correlational and mediation analyses with bootstrapped confidence intervals, the study examined whether academic stress helps explain the relationship between L2 comprehension difficulty and test anxiety. Students reported relatively high levels of L2 comprehension difficulty, academic stress, and test anxiety. The results showed that greater L2 comprehension difficulty was associated with higher academic stress, while academic stress was strongly associated with test anxiety. The mediation analysis indicated a statistically significant indirect relationship between L2 comprehension difficulty and test anxiety through academic stress. When academic stress was included in the model, the direct association between L2 comprehension difficulty and test anxiety was substantially reduced. The findings therefore identify academic stress as an important psychological pathway linking difficulties in processing academic English with students' experiences of test-related anxiety. Because the study used cross-sectional data, these relationships should be understood as associative rather than causal.

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Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

Why is it important?

English is widely used in Philippine higher education, yet students may still encounter substantial difficulty when academic materials contain specialized vocabulary, technical terminology, and discipline-specific language. These linguistic demands can become particularly important in programs such as entrepreneurship, where students regularly work with business concepts, case materials, reports, and other English-mediated academic tasks. This study is important because it connects a language-related academic challenge with two important psychological experiences: academic stress and test anxiety. Rather than treating comprehension difficulty and anxiety as separate problems, the findings suggest that academic stress may be an important link between difficulty processing academic English and anxiety during academic assessment. The findings have practical implications for higher education. Universities and instructors may benefit from combining academic language support with strategies that help students manage academic stress and prepare for assessments. Possible approaches include scaffolding difficult academic texts, pre-teaching technical vocabulary, breaking complex readings into manageable sections, and providing structured academic and stress-management support. The study also highlights the need for further research using larger and more diverse samples and longitudinal or other designs capable of examining these relationships over time.

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