Biases in Self‐Ratings of Second Language Proficiency: The Role of Language Anxiety (original) (raw)
Related papers
2017
This study examines the relationship between foreign language (FL) anxiety and learners' recognition of their proficiency differences across the four skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. To this end, 191 French and Spanish FL graduate and undergraduate students were surveyed to assess their FL anxiety attributable to self-perceived L2 skill disparity, and their personal assessment of the importance of each skill. Results suggest that a FL leamer's awareness of skills disparity, coupled with a high value placed on the lacking skills, elicited heightened FL anxiety when leamers engaged in activities using the deficient skill(s). These flndings suggest a need to consider integrated approaches to language instruction that foster mutually supportive growth of the four skills simultaneously
In this contribution, I investigate the effect of the knowledge of other languages on self-perceived communicative competence and communicative anxiety inthe French of 953 users. I tested the hypothesis that knowledge of more languages, specifically other Romance languages, create stronger or clearer affordances (Singleton & Aronin 2007), which may have a strengthening effecton self-perceived communicative competence in French and lead to less communicative anxiety using that language. Using the database collected through a web-based questionnaire (Dewaele & Pavlenko 2001–2003), I focused on participants who had French as an L1, L2, L3 or L4. The analyses suggest that when a language is either very strong or very weak, the knowledge of other languages does not play a major role. However, at intermediate levels of proficiency, multilingualism and affordances can serve as a crutch in challenging communicative situations.
Anxiety and perceived English and French language competence of education students
Canadian Journal of Higher …, 2005
The authors examined manifest anxiety and perceptions of English and French language competence among Anglophone (n = 35), Francophone (n = 29), and Mixed-heritage (n = 34) elementary education (60%) and secondary education (40%) students (80% female) in their second, third, or fourth year of study at the Faculté Saint Jean (University of Alberta). Participants assessed their language competence differently in English and French. Francophone and Mixed-heritage students felt equally competent in the two languages, but Anglophone students reported much higher language competence in English. Manifest anxiety and self-assessments of language competence were related only among the Anglophone group, with high levels of manifest anxiety associated with both low self-assessments of French language competence and high selfassessments of English language competence-the two being correlated with each other.
Bilingual learners’ willingness to communicate in English and anxiety when speaking the language
SHS Web of Conferences, 2019
The present study focuses on bilingual learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) in English and foreign language anxiety (FLA) when speaking English in the classroom at Yugra State University. The paper reviews the theory, experiment and methods of pedagogical correction for those who are interested in these two phenomena in their research. The aim of the paper is twofold: to identify the main communicational difficulties faced by learners, explore the underlying causes, and provide some recommendations to overcome learners' unwillingness to communicate in English actively and freely. The findings support the claims that FLA and WTC stem from issues with foreign language proficiency as well as some personal traits with FLA and WTC influencing each other and the process of mastering a second language. 2 Problem statement Educators are interested in quantifying the effects of anxiety when learning a foreign language; they have offered different definitions of foreign language anxiety. Some of them, Clement, Young etc., define the term as a complex psychological construct, dealing with learners' psychology: their feelings, self-esteem, and selfconfidence associated mostly with language learning [1-3]. Guiora considers that the process of learning any foreign language itself is "a profoundly unsettling psychological proposition" because it directly threatens an individual's self-concept and worldview [4]. More specifically, E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz and Cope defined FLA as "a distinct complex construct of selfperceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to
Second language anxiety: Construct, effects, and sources
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics
Second language (L2) anxiety is the most studied affective factor in the field of second language acquisition. Numerous studies have been conducted on this emotion from different perspectives over the last few decades. These studies can be classified into three groups. The first group has tried to conceptualize and operationalize L2 anxiety and identify the different components or dimensions of the construct (e.g., Cheng, 2004; Horwitz et al., 1986). The second group has explored the impact of L2 anxiety on various motivational, behavioral, learning, and performance aspects of L2 learning (e.g., Gkonou et al., 2017). Finally, the third group has investigated different sources of L2 anxiety (Papi & Khajavy, 2021). In this manuscript, we will draw on studies from the three strands to present an overview of the state of research on this construct and conclude by discussing major issues with the conceptualization, measurement, and design of studies on L2 anxiety.
Language proficiency differences in second language learning anxiety
In general, the objective of learning English language in Malaysian education system is to ensure the students can use English in their daily basis, to further study and for the workplace. The main purpose of English course in Polytechnics is to ensure the students are able to communicate effectively and confidently. Therefore, the students should be able to understand the language and use it with confident in their daily lives and for their future employment. However, most of the students are reluctant to communicate in English and many of them prefer to withdraw from participating in any English language activities. The reason for this issue might be due to the feeling of anxiety in learning the second language. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the language proficiency differences between above average and below average students with respect to language learning anxiety. There were 96 semester three students from Civil Engineering Department, Politeknik Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin participated in this study. SPSS version 22 has been used to analyses collected data consists of a 33 item questionnaire of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). The t-test has been used to determine if there was a significant difference between above average and below average students in regard of language learning anxiety. The study revealed that below average students were more anxious than above average students for all types of anxiety. However, t-test demonstrated that there was no significant difference between language learning anxiety in regard of students' level of proficiency. Thus, several implications have been suggested in this study to help the below average students to cater language learning anxiety. One of the examples is by conducting an English Camp for the targeted students serves as an effective method to cope language learning anxiety among below average students.
Foreign Language Anxiety and Second Language Fluency in Study Abroad
ICERI2023 Proceedings, 2023
The benefits of immersive language experience are well studied and observed in the acquisition of a second language (L2) [c.f. 1]. Study abroad (SA) is consistently shown to bring positive linguistic and non-linguistic outcomes. Some of the affective benefits of SA include boosting international posture and the willingness to communicate in the L2 [2], increasing motivation [3],[4], and reducing L2 Anxiety, [2, 3, 5]. The affective outcomes of second language acquisition are generally understood to impact and be impacted by linguistic performance. Fluency in the L2 has been studied in different learning contexts, including SA [c.f. 6,7]; however, the relationship between fluency and anxiety has received less attention. This study looks at the affective and linguistic outcomes of a long-term (14 week) study abroad program. Both the anxiety of the student and their fluency were measured at the beginning and end of the SA period so that pre-intervention levels can be compared to post-intervention ones. The participants were six U.S. English-native, Spanish learners participating in a semester study abroad program in Spain. To measure fluency, subjects recorded themselves answering open-ended questions in the L2. The Speech Rate, Articulation Rate, and Phonation Time Ratio were calculated in Praat [8] with the aid of De Jong and Wempe's Praat script for Fluency [9], and following Wood's correlates of Fluency [10 pp. 575-581). Anxiety was measured with a test adapted from the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS [11]) and complemented with a qualitative survey of the subject's linguistic experience and attitudes. FLCAS consists of 33 statements expressing either anxiety or ease about foreign language study such as "It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my language class" or "I feel confident when I speak in foreign language class". Subjects respond by either agreeing or disagreeing with the statement with varying degrees of strength. In comparing their responses from the beginning to the end of the SA period, there was an average decrease of 26% in anxiety in the FLCAS test for all but one of the subjects. The most notable changes in the measures of fluency were in the Speech Rate (nsyll/duration), which increased by an average of 32%, while the Articulation Rate (nsyll/phonation time) increased by an average of only 6%. This indicates that the subjects articulated the L2 at a slightly faster rate at the end of the SA program but made a greater improvement in producing more words and less silent pauses while speaking in the L2, also evidenced by a 10% average increase in their Phonation Time Ratio. In sum, L2 Anxiety decreased while some important measures of L2 fluency increased for the majority of the learners participating in the SA program. Similar to Quan [7], who attributes fluency measures to an increased use of formulaic language and the projected identities and communities of practice of the learners, the results from this study show how linguistic and affective outcomes impact positively on each other and on the learners during SA.
Foreign Language Anxiety and Willingness to Communicate in English
2014
This study draws upon a quantitative research with the use of two SPSS tests. Pearson-r was used to investigate the relationship between Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) and learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English, and an independent samples t-test was used to know the gender difference (if any) in the level of learners’ foreign language anxiety at the University of Sindh, Pakistan. The questionnaire comprised of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Willingness to Communicate in English (WTCES). The data was collected through questionnaires from two hundred and thirty two (N=232) undergraduate EFL learners at University of Sindh. Findings suggest that a negative correlation was found between the participants’ foreign language anxiety and willingness to communicate in English, however, no statistically significant difference was found on the foreign language anxiety level between male and female participants of the study.