Reducing Learners’ Language Anxiety: Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice

by Angelica GalanteBrock University

Copyright Galante, Angelica (2010). This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

AGENDA

Warm-up: Have you ever heard these comments?

Defining language anxiety

What research on language anxiety suggest

Talking about students’ fears: BALLI and FLCAS

Bridging the gap: activities that reduce language anxiety

levels

Oral evaluation

Case studies analysis

Conclusion

References

Have you ever

heard these

comments?

Warming-up

“I sweat every time I have to speak English with a native speaker”

“I hate speaking English in front of the class”

“My heart starts beating faster every time my teacher asks me a

question”

“I am ashamed of speaking English because of my accent”

“I always feel that other students are more at ease to speak than

me”

“I get upset that I just cannot verbalize what I’m thinking”

“People might think I’m stupid because I can’t express my

thoughts in English”

Affective variables

Defining language

anxiety

Language anxiety → Situation-specific

Research on language anxiety

Research on language anxiety (Philips, 1999; MacIntyre, 1999; Arnold & Brown, 1999; Dornyei, 2005; Woodrow, 2006) has repeatedly shown that it has a negative impact on L2 learners’ performance, especially during speaking practices.

Talking about

students’ fears

Talking about students’ fears

Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory (BALLI)

designed by Elaine K. Horwitz (1987)

used to generate classroom discussion about the language

learning process

E.g.: Some people have a special ability for learning foreign

languages.

1 2 3 4 5

Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)

designed by Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986)

used to identify students who are mostly likely to suffer from language anxiety related to

speaking L2.

E.g.: I tremble when I know that I'm going to be called on in

language class.

Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree

Strongly disagree

Activities that

reduce language

anxiety levels

Conversation gambits

“Oh, really?”

“Sorry, I don’t get it.”

“Say that again, please.”

“It’s a beautiful day, eh?”

“By the way, …”

“Actually, …”

“Are you serious?”

“No kidding!”

“You know what I mean?”

helps learners carry on a more ‘natural’ conversation and help

build a sense of community in the classroom by the use of

common communicative vocabulary

Cued response

Activity: Imagine your plans for this weekend. Decide whether you’re going to do these activities. Add more of your own if you like.

Wake up early: “I’m going to wake up early on Saturday”

Have dinner out: “I’m not going to have diner out.”

Meet friends: “I’m going to meet my friends”

Watch a movie: “I’m going to watch a movie”

Add more: “I’m not going to work this weekend…”

helps learners, especially in the early stages of learning, to

alleviate the frustration that occurs when they have to focus both

on meaning and on form

Information Gap

Activity: Find out where the international students come from

and in which countries they lived and traveled in.

Student A Student B

helps learners to build a sense of community. The final product was built as a team, rather than individual answers

Name comes from

lived in traveled in

Mariette Belgium Germany

Fahrid USA

Kofi Quebec Manitoba

Name comes from

lived in

traveled in

Mariette Spain

Fahrid Morocco Algeria

Kofi Colombia

Interviews and surveys

Activity: Find someone who...

a. stayed at home Saturdayb. saw a good film last week

c. went out last nightd. didn’t sleep well last night

e. arrived on time for class today

helps learners have a great deal of practice, which lowers L2 oral anxiety

Improvising dialogues

Activity: In pairs, students receive two lines of a dialogue. They work together and come up with a possible dialogue. They are allowed some time to rehearse it before presenting it to the class.

E.g.: I never thought I’d be in a situation like this!

Who said I liked apples?

helps learners work cooperatively with peers; gives them an

opportunity to rehearse their speech; allows them to get

used to presenting in front of other students; if an element

of comedy is introduced it helps break the ice

Oral evaluation

Helping lower students’ level of anxiety during oral tests

Provide students’ with ample opportunities for oral practice in class

Use the same types of activities students have practiced in class

Test students’ in pairs or small groups

Role-plays are excellent tools for evaluating communicative

competence

Humorous role-play could be incorporated into the testing situation

Teachers need to re-evaluate the evaluation instrument itself: test

communicative competence and not only accuracy

Students’ test anxiety may be lower if they are aware that their

communicative competence will be rewarded

Case studies analysis

Case 1: Kim’s a 13 year-old from Korea studying ESL in Canada.

She rarely makes oral contributions in class as she says she prefers

to listen. She once told the teacher that she starts to panic when

she has to speak without any preparation in class.

Case 2: Luis is a 42 year-old from Colombia studying EFL in his

country. He is a successful manager in a multinational company and

wants to be able to speak English fluently with his clients. However,

Luis is very shy and feels “stupid” when he speaks in front of his

peers.

Case 3: Sonya is a 35 year-old woman who has recently

immigrated to Canada from Poland. She wants to learn English so

she can work as a nurse. She’s attending a LINC course (level 1) and

every time the teacher asks Sonya to make contributions in the

class, she starts sweating and trembling. She also says she’s afraid

of speaking English with native speakers.

Conclusion

Concluding…

Teachers are encouraged to be aware of students’ anxiety about

language learning to better help them manage their anxiety.

Activities that help learners cooperate and depend on their

peers foster an environment conducive to the development of

community.

Learners feel more at ease and willing to be engaged in oral

activities if there is a more relaxing environment in the class.

Maintaining the development of communicative competence is a

tool to help learners lower their level of anxiety. Provide students’

with ample opportunities for oral practice in class

Providing the opportunity for learners to face their “fears” is more

important than simply “protecting them from speaking in L2”

References

Arnold, J. & Brown, H. (1999). Introduction: A map of the terrain. In Arnold, J. (Ed.) Affect in Language Learning (pp. 1-24). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dornyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125‐132.

Horwitz, E. K. (1987). Surveying student beliefs about language learning. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 119–129). Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice Hall

MacIntyre, P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: a review of the research for language teachers. In Young, D. (Ed.) Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning: A Practical Guide to Creating a Low Anxiety Classroom Atmosphere (pp. 24-45). Boston: McGraw- Hill.

Phillips, E.M. (1999). Decreasing Language Anxiety: Practical techniques for oral activities. In D.J. Young (Ed.), Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low anxiety classroom atmosphere (pp. 124–143). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC Journal, 37(3), 308–328.