Anxiety and Second‐Language Learning: Toward a Theoretical Clarification* (original) (raw)
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This paper gives a comprehensive review of studies on foreign language anxiety. Foreign language anxiety has been recognized in the past few decades as a situation-specific emotional reaction that potentially impedes foreign language learning. Research has shown that foreign language anxiety is not only prevalent among foreign language learners, but also has various negative effects on foreign language learning. In order to help learners cope with this problem, researchers have identified a large number of sources of foreign language anxiety, which generally fall into four major categories, namely, the classroom environment, learner characteristics, the target language, and the foreign language learning process itself. Researchers have also investigated quite a number of factors associated with foreign language anxiety (including categorical background variables and quantitative learner variables) and have produced mixed results. Based on a thorough review of foreign language anxiety, the paper concludes with recommendations for future studies on foreign language anxiety.
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Language anxiety has become a great concern in second and foreign language learning research over the last three decades, and is a topic that triggers significant differences of opinions. As the first theory that emphasises the specific nature of foreign language anxiety, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's theory of foreign language anxiety has been used in quite a number of studies in the field. This paper reviews the theory and discusses the criticisms that other researchers have put forward it with an aim to provide further understanding of the theory for those who are interested in involving foreign language anxiety in their research.
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The responses of four scholars in the field of second language education to questions about language anxiety in second language learners are presented. The four respondents were Stephen Krashen, Alice Omaggio Hadley, Tracy Terrell, and Jennybelle Rardin. The formats of the interviews included telephone interviews on questions presented beforehand, a personal interview, and responses made in writing. Although a variety of questions were asked, only four are discussed here. In response to the first, the interviewees discussed whether there are positive aspects to anxiety in the language learning context. The second question asked whether language learners experience an equal amount of anxiety in all four skill areas. In the third question, respondents were asked to identify ways in whinh learners might express their anxiety in the classroom. The final question asked for effective anxiety management strategies. The texts of answers to each question are presented together, and a brief summary analysis of the responses is also presented. A 41-item bibliography is included. (MSE)
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Foreign language anxiety is a complex phenomenon that has been found to be a predictor of foreign language achievement. This study of 210 university students examined factors that predict1 foreign language anxiety. A setwise multiple regression analysis revealed that seven variables (i.e., age, academic achievement, prior history of visiting foreign countries, prior high school experience with foreign languages, expected overall average for current language course, perceived scholastic competence, and perceived self-worth) contributed significantly to the prediction of foreign language anxiety. An analysis of variance, which included trend analysis, revealed that freshmen and sophomores reported the lowest levels of foreign language anxiety, and that anxiety levels increased linearly as a function of year of study. The educational implications of these findings for understanding foreign language anxiety and for increasing foreign language learning are discussed, as are suggestions f...
Foreign language anxiety and learning
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This study investigates foreign language anxiety that can have some serious effects not only on the students’ performance but also on the whole process of learning among students learning a new language. Studies have shown that students who suffer from stress, anxiety or nervousness face considerable complications in foreign language acquisition. Their performance abilities in acquiring the new language are impeded and thwarted and that will illicit to difficulty or failure in second language acquisition. Keywords : anxiety, language acquisition, thwarted performance, cognition, the negative impact.
What Causes Foreign Language Anxiety
International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences , 2022
Learning a foreign language can be challenging to many students. Having to familiarize oneself with an entirely new language and culture is not an easy task to do. This causes anxiety among learners while attending foreign language lessons. Thus, this study is done to investigate the causes of the students' anxiety upon learning foreign language. 120 respondents from a public university in Malaysia composed of three different French class levels participated in answering this survey. Adapted from Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986), the survey includes communication apprehension, test anxiety and negative evaluation as tools to measure student's anxiety scale. The survey revealed that the three tools mentioned above are certainly causing learners to be anxious during foreign language lessons. Findings from this quantitative research also projected students' anxiety scale through means score accordingly with negative evaluation coming as the highest total mean of 3.25. In the face of students' profound anxiety, educators' role is crucial in minimizing students' worry so that it will not affect students' study.