Is There a Relationship between All Types of Reading Anxiety?

Abstract

This study examines how three forms of reading anxiety; top‑down, bottom‑up, and classroom‑based influence learners’ academic reading across disciplines. Using a quantitative survey, data were collected through a five‑point Likert‑scale instrument adapted from Miao and Vibulphol (2020) and Zoghi (2012) to measure the relationships among these anxiety types. The respondents comprised 230 university‑level students enrolled in an academic reading course at a Malaysian public university. The findings show that learners experienced the highest anxiety when identifying main ideas and interpreting overall meaning, while expressing personal responses generated comparatively lower anxiety. Vocabulary difficulty and grammatical complexity emerged as substantial contributors to bottom‑up anxiety, and interactive or evaluative classroom tasks intensified classroom reading anxiety. Strong positive relationships were observed among all anxiety dimensions, whereas no significant disciplinary differences appeared, indicating similar anxiety patterns across fields. The results support the view that reading depends on coordinated top‑down and bottom‑up processing and that anxiety disrupts this interaction, particularly when readers struggle with global comprehension or linguistic decoding. Consistent with Attentional Control Theory (ACT), anxiety appears to redirect attention toward perceived difficulties. These findings suggest the need for instruction that strengthens background‑knowledge activation, enhances vocabulary and grammar support, and incorporates low‑pressure classroom practices to reduce reading anxiety across disciplines as strong correlation among anxiety types were shown.