Presentation Schedule
Second Language Anxiety and Self-Disclosure Among Chinese International Students in Japan (105500)
Tuesday, 24 March 2026 14:30
Session: Poster Session 2
Room: Orion Hall (5F)
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
This study aimed to clarify the relationship between second language anxiety and self-disclosure among Chinese international students in Japan, a connection that has been suggested but not fully examined in prior research.
A questionnaire survey was conducted with 105 Chinese international students residing in Japan using Qualtrics. The survey consisted of a demographic questionnaire, a Japanese language anxiety scale (covering both classroom and non-classroom settings), and a self-disclosure scale. Participants reported their degree of self-disclosure toward four target groups: Japanese friends, Chinese friends, new Japanese acquaintances, and new Chinese acquaintances.
Results indicated that participants disclosed most to Chinese friends, resulting in a notable gap in disclosure levels between Chinese and Japanese friends. This disclosure gap showed a weak negative correlation with Japanese speaking proficiency, suggesting that higher speaking ability reduces perceived barriers to self-disclosure with Japanese peers, while both classroom and non-classroom second language anxiety exhibited weak positive correlations with the gap. Simple regression analyses further confirmed that second language anxiety in both contexts positively predicted the disclosure gap, with classroom anxiety exerting a slightly stronger effect. Overall, these findings suggest that international students tend to disclose more to friends who share their native language due to lower linguistic barriers and reduced anxiety, whereas improved speaking proficiency facilitates self-expression and emotional sharing with Japanese peers, narrowing the disclosure gap, while higher levels of second language anxiety inhibit self-disclosure and widen the gap, particularly in classroom settings where interpersonal dynamics may intensify anxiety.
Authors:
Lan Liu, Nagoya University, Japan
About the Presenter(s)
I am currently a first-year master’s student at Nagoya University, majoring in Social Psychology.
See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule
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