This thesis deals with foreign language (FL) anxiety as a complex phenomenon specific to the context of language learning and one of the most powerful emotions affecting the FL learning process. FL anxiety has been extensively researched among FL learners over the past 40 years; however, more often on a global scale than in Croatia. After a theoretical introduction that deals with definitions of anxiety and foreign language anxiety, the author described and discussed the findings of some of the FL anxiety research studies, with the emphasis on the research studies conducted in the Croatian context. Research studies described in this thesis showed thatFL anxiety was closely related to the learner’s self-perception as an EFL learner, classroom contextual factors, such as teacher’s perception, linguistic error treatment and assessment, and negative experiences with the use of FL. In the final part of the thesis, strategies for treating and overcoming FL anxiety are described. Overall, this thesis aimed to provide an overview ofthe most important studies of FL anxiety in the Croatian context while touching on the layers of this complex phenomenon based on the research findings