Foreign Language Anxiety in the Classroom.ppt

Foreign Language Anxiety in the Classroom Tien-hui Yu 余天蕙 Seton Hall University Definition Foreign language anxiety: a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process.  Sources of Anxiety Speaking the target language in front of peers Teacher-centered classroom Fear of losing oneself Making errors ………… Three Types of Foreign Language Anxiety  (Horwitz,1986) (1) Communication apprehension (2) Test anxiety (3) Fear of negative evaluation The Influence of Anxiety Severe language learning anxiety causes interlocking problems. Language anxiety is one of the best predictors of foreign language achievement. A Case Study Instrument: Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale ( Horwitz, 1986) Results Anxiety does exist in the Chinese language learning classroom. Learners from different levels are influenced by anxieties. Learners who suffered from one of the anxieties are affected by the other two anxieties simultaneously. Learners who experienced higher anxiety levels had lower self-esteem and got lower grades, while less anxious learners had higher self-esteem and got higher grades. Pedagogical Implications Coping with the anxiety Making the learning context less stressful Coping with Anxiety Workshop Learning training A Less Stressful Classroom Reducing communication apprehension anxiety Reducing fear of negative evaluation Reducing test anxiety Conclusion No teacher can guarantee that a class will be anxiety-free; however, teachers should be aware of trying to minimize the anxiety in the classroom to strengthen language learning efficiency. For further research, there is a need for empirical evidence concerning how effective anxiety reducing techniques are in second language learning classrooms. * *