Ken Williams - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Ken Williams
This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then... more This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then examines in detail the reactions reported by Japanese university students to an anxiety-provoking situations in English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) classes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 243 Japanese learners in conversational English classes at 31 four-year universities in Japan. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the physical, emotional, expressive, and verbal reactions to the anxiety-provoking situation? (2) What are the characteristics of anxiety in terms of occurrence, duration, intensity,
expectation, and degree of hindrance? (3) What is the relationship between anxiety and pair and small group work? Overall, the findings indicate that some degree of anxiety affected 75% of the learners and that the debilitating aspects of anxiety strongly hindered about 11% of them. Other findings include significant differences between male-female and high-low perceived ability groups on several dependent variables.
This paper examines research concerning " facilitating anxiety " that is often cited in the langu... more This paper examines research concerning " facilitating anxiety " that is often cited in the language learning literature and that many language teachers are familiar with. It starts with Yerks and Dobson' s （1908） work and then reviews a number of attempts to create a scale to distinguish between students for whom anxiety has a positive effect （facilitating anxiety） and students for whom anxiety has a negative effect in test taking or second language learning situations. Various problems regarding the conceptualization of anxiety and attempts to measure it are pointed out.
This paper looks at Internet based social networking and its expansion of the personal-social nar... more This paper looks at Internet based social networking and its expansion of the personal-social narrative among college age students. In turn this expansion of the personal-social narrative milieu allows teachers to develop effective multimedia material based on tools traditionally used to create cinema.
This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then... more This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then examines in detail the reactions reported by Japanese university students to an anxiety-provoking situations in English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) classes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 243 Japanese learners in conversational English classes at 31 four-year universities in Japan. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the physical, emotional, expressive, and verbal reactions to the anxiety-provoking situation? (2) What are the characteristics of anxiety in terms of occurrence, duration, intensity, expectation, and degree of hindrance? (3) What is the relationship between anxiety and pair and small group work? Overall, the findings indicate that some degree of anxiety affected 75% of the learners and that the debilitating aspects of anxiety strongly hindered about 11% of them. Other findings include significant differences between male-female and high-low perceived ability groups on several dependent variables.
THEY ARE BURNING MY DREAMS
THEY ARE BURNING MY DREAMS
The effect of anxiety on foreign language learning has been the subject of a growing body of rese... more The effect of anxiety on foreign language learning has been the subject of a growing body of research, which
has focused mostly on students studying foreign languages in the United States and Canada. The present
study, in contrast, examined anxiety in Japanese university EFL classes in regard to the type of situations that
provoked the anxiety, the perceived cause of the anxiety, and the ability to cope with the anxiety. Based on
questions used in a cross-cultural study of emotion responses (Matsumoto, Kudoh, Scherer, & Wallbott,
1988), a survey was conducted among 243 Japanese learners in 31 conversational English classes at four-year
universities in Japan. Findings indicated that anxiety was most often associated with the output and
processing (in the sense of mental planning) stages of the learning process and that students attributed the
cause of anxiety to the teacher or other people. Other findings were that the effect of and response to anxiety
were associated with gender and perceived ability level.
This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then... more This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then examines in detail the reactions reported by Japanese university students to an anxiety-provoking situations in English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) classes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 243 Japanese learners in conversational English classes at 31 four-year universities in Japan. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the physical, emotional, expressive, and verbal reactions to the anxiety-provoking situation? (2) What are the characteristics of anxiety in terms of occurrence, duration, intensity,
expectation, and degree of hindrance? (3) What is the relationship between anxiety and pair and small group work? Overall, the findings indicate that some degree of anxiety affected 75% of the learners and that the debilitating aspects of anxiety strongly hindered about 11% of them. Other findings include significant differences between male-female and high-low perceived ability groups on several dependent variables.
This paper examines research concerning " facilitating anxiety " that is often cited in the langu... more This paper examines research concerning " facilitating anxiety " that is often cited in the language learning literature and that many language teachers are familiar with. It starts with Yerks and Dobson' s （1908） work and then reviews a number of attempts to create a scale to distinguish between students for whom anxiety has a positive effect （facilitating anxiety） and students for whom anxiety has a negative effect in test taking or second language learning situations. Various problems regarding the conceptualization of anxiety and attempts to measure it are pointed out.
This paper looks at Internet based social networking and its expansion of the personal-social nar... more This paper looks at Internet based social networking and its expansion of the personal-social narrative among college age students. In turn this expansion of the personal-social narrative milieu allows teachers to develop effective multimedia material based on tools traditionally used to create cinema.
This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then... more This study presents an overview of research devoted to foreign language learning anxiety and then examines in detail the reactions reported by Japanese university students to an anxiety-provoking situations in English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) classes. Questionnaire data was obtained from 243 Japanese learners in conversational English classes at 31 four-year universities in Japan. The following research questions are addressed: (1) What are the physical, emotional, expressive, and verbal reactions to the anxiety-provoking situation? (2) What are the characteristics of anxiety in terms of occurrence, duration, intensity, expectation, and degree of hindrance? (3) What is the relationship between anxiety and pair and small group work? Overall, the findings indicate that some degree of anxiety affected 75% of the learners and that the debilitating aspects of anxiety strongly hindered about 11% of them. Other findings include significant differences between male-female and high-low perceived ability groups on several dependent variables.
THEY ARE BURNING MY DREAMS
THEY ARE BURNING MY DREAMS
The effect of anxiety on foreign language learning has been the subject of a growing body of rese... more The effect of anxiety on foreign language learning has been the subject of a growing body of research, which
has focused mostly on students studying foreign languages in the United States and Canada. The present
study, in contrast, examined anxiety in Japanese university EFL classes in regard to the type of situations that
provoked the anxiety, the perceived cause of the anxiety, and the ability to cope with the anxiety. Based on
questions used in a cross-cultural study of emotion responses (Matsumoto, Kudoh, Scherer, & Wallbott,
1988), a survey was conducted among 243 Japanese learners in 31 conversational English classes at four-year
universities in Japan. Findings indicated that anxiety was most often associated with the output and
processing (in the sense of mental planning) stages of the learning process and that students attributed the
cause of anxiety to the teacher or other people. Other findings were that the effect of and response to anxiety
were associated with gender and perceived ability level.