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Second Language Acquisition

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2011-2012

#19: Language anxiety, classroom dynamics and learner beliefs

0. Mottos

In ancient times, all teaching was directed to adults. Learning was

active enquiry – not passive reception. (Knowles 1990)

It is humiliating to be deprived of one's main means of communication

– one's own language, which enables one to appear intelligent or at

least adult. (Linsay 1977)

1. Adult language learners

Among the questions which are often posed by psycholinguists,

methodologists and educators concerned with foreign language teaching and

learning in the adult age group are the following:

• Do adults make poorer L2 students than young learners?

• What causes greater L2 learning stress in adult learners?

Both research and anecdotal evidence gathered in EFL contexts indicate that

– despite their supposed edge over adults in this domain – young learners

(i.e. kindergarten and lower primary) are hardly ever superior in instructed

SLA. The advanced intellectual development and experience are the main

advantages of the adult learner. Among the disadvantages, affective

inhibitors such as low self-esteem and lack of learning know-how are

perceived as most significant.

Skehan (1998) believes that whereas early bilingualism is predominantly

instinctive, owing to the child's easy access to LAD/UG, late bilingualism is

skill-based and therefore perhaps similar to solving mathematical problems.

Yet despite their ability to study foreign languages comparable to younger

students, adult learners are not free from language anxiety. The mechanics

of that personality trait can be explained thus (Majer 2010: 372):

apprehension and low self-esteem interact with an adult learner’s cognitive

maturity and personal integrity.

2

That is because the language classroom imposes on the adult student a new

personality, as well as requires him or her to transgress the language ego

formed during the process of L1 acquisition (Arnold & Brown 1999). This, in

turn, results in his/her perception of performance in L2 as unnatural and

ridiculous. Finally, there is a social dimension to language anxiety, namely

the

perception of self in relation to other participants of the learning

situation – classroom dynamics (Turula 2002, 2006).

2. Types of anxiety in educational contexts

Research studies have provided diverse opinions on the construct of anxiety.

For example, Gass & Selinker (2008: 400) state that is not clear whether

anxiety is a matter of personality, an emotional reaction to a situation, or a

combination of both of these factors. Dörnyei (2005: 198), on the other

hand, believes that the construct in question should be conceived of as:

(i)

beneficial/facilitating vs. inhibitory/debilitating anxiety

(ii)

trait vs. state anxiety

The former dichotomy refers to whether or not anxiety can affect learning

positively or negatively, while the latter refers to whether anxiety is a

learner’s stable predisposition to become anxious, uneasy and tense in

various situations (cf. also MacIntyre & Gardner 1994) or whether it is a

reaction in a particular situation.

Other researchers have come up with the following types of anxiety observed

in educational contexts:

• situational anxiety:

a psychological discomfort occurring under

certain circumstances (MacIntyre & Gardner 1994)

• communication apprehension:

fear of speaking with or listening to

others (Horwitz et al. 1986; Horwitz 2000, 2001)

• test anxiety:

fear of scoring poorly or failing the course (Horwitz et

al. 1986; Horwitz 2000, 2001)

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• archaic anxiety:

a repressed distress of the past acting as a

latent personal trauma; a psychological discomfort resulting from

negative experience of earlier failures (Arnold & Brown 1999)

• performance anxiety:

fear of not being able to learn what one is

supposed to learn (Heron 1989)

• orientation anxiety:

fear of failing to understand everything that

happens in the classroom (Heron 1989)

• acceptance anxiety:

fear of not being liked or accepted by the

classmates (Heron 1989)

3. Foreign language anxiety

Language anxiety can be defined generally as an “emotion often produced in

response to stress” (Piechurska-Kuciel 2011: 200) and more specifically as

the feeling of tension and apprehension particularly associated with L2

contexts, including speaking and listening (MacIntyre & Gardner 1994: 284).

Adult learners, in particular, are sensitive to the

inevitability of errors, largely

due to their impatience to master L2 and their perception of linguistic failure

as a face-threatening act. Besides, there is the well-known phenomenon of

the

frustration of non-communication undermining the status of a grown-up

person in a beginner-learner. Language anxiety may also follow from the

adult learner's

low motivation and from the above-mentioned earlier negative

experience, known in the literature as

archaic anxiety (Arnold & Brown 1999:

9). Finally, there is a social dimension to language anxiety, namely the

perception of self in relation to other participants of the learning situation –

group dynamics (cf. Turula, 2002; 2006).

Summing up,

the construct of

F

OREIGN

L

ANGUAGE

A

NXIETY

can be said to be:

• situation-specific

• stemming from the uniqueness of formal instruction in L2

• caused by learners' low self-appraisal of their own abilities

• a consequence of poor achievement in L2 learning

• leading to a feeling of tension and apprehension, particularly during

speaking and listening activities

4

4. Sources of language anxiety

P

ERSONAL

F

ACTORS

• apprehension and low self-esteem

• the frustration of non-communication

• loss of control over one’s own role in the classroom (e.g. when one is

late to answer a general or personal solicit)

P

EER

F

ACTORS

• judgement and disapproval

• competitiveness

• impatience

• mock and ridicule

• lack of attention for other Ss' contributions (e.g. by showing disregard

or lack of interest and by interrupting)

T

EACHER

F

ACTORS

• negative evaluation (e.g. correction)

• neglect and disregard (e.g. T's favouritism)

• isolation and alienation (e.g. when T does not use Ss' names)

• lack of attention and assistance

5. Classroom dynamics

The construct of

classroom dynamics (see above - section 1) is particularly

important for the social context of L2 learning and teaching.

T

RAITS OF

G

OOD

C

LASSROOM

D

YNAMICS

• a friendly classroom environment

• supportive atmosphere

• cooperation and interaction

• a positive attitude to L2 and the target language culture

5

6. Learner beliefs

According to Lightbown & Spada (2001), L2 learners "are not always conscious

of their individual learning styles, but virtually all learners, particularly older

ones, have strong beliefs and opinions about how their instruction should be

delivered" (p. 35).

The beliefs that learners hold about their learning can be represented as mini

theories (cf. also Horwitz 1985, 1987, 1988, 1999). For instance:

• learning "naturally", i.e. thinking in L2, practising, and seeking output

opportunities

• learning about the language, i.e. studying grammar and vocabulary

• attaching importance to personality and affective factors, i.e. to

feelings that may enhance or hinder learning

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REFERENCES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

Arnold, J. & Brown, H. D. 1999. “A map of the terrain”. In Arnold, J. (Ed.),

Affect in Language

Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bailey, K. M. 1983. “Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: Looking

at and through the diary studies”. In Seliger, H. W. and Long, M. H. (Eds.),

Classroom

Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. 67-

103.

Brown, H. D. 2007.

Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Fifth Edition. White Plains,

NY: Pearson Education.

Dörnyei, Z. 2005.

The Psychology of the Language Learner. Individual Differences in Second

Language Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Dörnyei, Z. & Skehan, P. 2005. “Individual differences in L2 learning”. In Doughty, C. J. &

Long, M. H. (Eds.),

The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford. Blackwell

Publishing. 589-630.

Ellis, G. & Sinclair, B. 1989.

Learning to Learn English. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Ellis, R. 2008.

The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Ely, C. 1986. “An analysis of discomfort, risk-taking, sociability, and motivation in the L2

classroom”.

Language Learning 36/1: 1-25.

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Gass, S. M. & Selinker, L. 2008.

Second Language Acquisition. An Introductory Course. Third

Edition. New York: Routledge.

Hadfield, J. 1992.

Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Heron, J. 1989.

The Facilitator’s Handbook. London: Kogan Page.

Horwitz, E. K. 1985. “Using student beliefs about language learning and teaching in the

foreign language methods course”.

Foreign Language Annals 18: 333–340.

Horwitz, E. K. 1987. “Surveying student beliefs about language learning”. In Wenden, A. L. &

Rubin, J. (Eds.),

Learner Strategies in Language Learning. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice

Hall. 119–129

Horwitz, E. K. 1988. “The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign

language students”.

Modern Language Journal 72: 283–294.

Horwitz, E. K. 1999. “Cultural and situational influences on foreign language learners’ beliefs

about language learning: A review of BALLI studies”.

System 27/4: 557–576.

Horwitz, E. K. 2000. “It ain’t over till it’s over: On foreign language anxiety, first language

deficits, and the confounding of variables”.

Modern Language Journal 84/2: 256–259.

Horwitz, E. K. 2001. “Language anxiety and achievement”.

Annual Review of Applied

Linguistics 21: 112–126.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B. & Cope, J. 1986. “Foreign language classroom anxiety”.

Modern

Language Journal 70: 125–132.

Knowles, M. S. 1990.

The Adult Learner. A Neglected Species. Houston, TX: HH Editors, Gulf

Publishing Co.

Lightbown, P. M. & Spada, N. 2001. "Factors affecting second language learning". In Candlin,

C. N. & Mercer, N. (Eds.),

English Language Teaching in its Social Context. A Reader.

London: Routledge. 28-43.

Linsay, P. 1977. “Resistances to learning EFL”.

ELT Journal 32/3: 184-189.

MacIntyre, P. D. & Gardner, R. C. 1994. “The subtle effects of language anxiety on cognitive

processing in the second language”.

Language Learning 44/2: 283-305.

Majer, J. 2010. "Second language acquisition and foreign language learning". In

Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (Ed.),

New Ways to Language. Łódź: Łódź University

Press. 352-375.

Piechurska-Kuciel, E. 2008.

Language Anxiety in Secondary Grammar School Students.

Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego.

Skehan, P. 1989.

Individual Differences in Second-Language Learning. London: Arnold.

Skehan, P. 1998.

A Cognitive Approach to Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Turula, A. 2002. “Language anxiety and classroom dynamics. A study of adult learners”.

English Teaching Forum 40/2: 28-33.

Turula, A. 2006.

Language Anxiety and Classroom Dynamics. Bielsko-Biała: Wydawnictwo

Naukowe ATH.