scholarly journals Caring and emotional labour: Language teachers’ engagement with anxious learners in private language school classrooms

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 372-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Gkonou ◽  
Elizabeth R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Teacher Engagement ◽  
Private Language ◽  
Positive Relationships ◽  
Emotional Labour

This study examines how a group of eight teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Greece discuss their efforts to address their students’ language anxiety (LA). We found that in most cases, these teachers’ efforts are motivated by an ethic of care (Noddings, 1988, 2005, 2013) in which they seek to construct positive relationships with students in order to help mitigate their students’ LA. Though desirable, such efforts often result in ‘emotional labour’ as teachers suppress their own negative emotions while attending to those of their students. Adopting a dialogical perspective to teacher engagement with anxious learners, we analyse the affective or emotional labour that language teachers often undertake in responding to their students’ displays of LA. Drawing on positioning theory, we explore these concepts through analysing these language teachers’ interview accounts, produced in response to questions related to their students’ LA.

Foreign and second language anxiety

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine K. Horwitz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Anxiety State ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
The Relationship

The possibility that anxiety interferes with language learning has long interested scholars, language teachers, and language learners themselves. It is intuitive that anxiety would inhibit the learning and/or production of a second language (L2). The important term in the last sentence is ‘anxiety’. The concept of anxiety is itself multi-faceted, and psychologists have differentiated a number of types of anxiety including trait anxiety, state anxiety, achievement anxiety, and facilitative-debilitative anxiety. With such a wide variety of anxiety-types, it is not surprising that early studies on the relationship between ‘anxiety’ and achievement provided mixed and confusing results, and Scovel (1978 – this timeline) rightly noted that anxiety is ‘not a simple, unitary construct that can be comfortably quantified into ‘high’ or ‘low’ amounts’ (p. 137). Scovel did not, however, anticipate the identification in the mid-1980s of a unique form of anxiety that some people experience in response to learning and/or using an L2. Typically referred to as language anxiety or foreign language anxiety (FLA), this anxiety is categorized as a situation-specific anxiety, similar in type to other familiar manifestations of anxiety such as stage fright or test anxiety.

scholarly journals Teaching Anxiety and Foreign Language Anxiety Among Chinese College English Teachers

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110165
Author(s):  
Meihua Liu ◽  
Bin Wu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
College English ◽  
Teaching Anxiety ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
English Competence

This study explored teaching anxiety and teacher foreign language anxiety (FLA) in 151 Chinese college English teachers in relation to their individual characteristics. Analyses of data collected from mixed-form questionnaires revealed the following major findings: (a) Major causes for teaching anxiety were concern about classroom teaching, research, other work and promotion, and interest and confidence in teaching, and major sources for teacher FLA were apprehension of speaking English, fear of negative outcomes, and confidence in English competence; (b) the participants of various backgrounds suffered from varying degrees of teaching anxiety and teacher FLA; (c) gender, age, educational level, English proficiency, and experience of visiting/studying in English-speaking countries significantly affected the participants’ teaching anxiety and teacher FLA levels; and (d) anxiety seriously affected the participants’ work and life. Evidently, anxiety is an important issue faced by university language teachers and needs to be further researched and seriously handled.

scholarly journals Exploring Foreign Language Teachers Recruitment Criteria: A Qualitative Study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyed Ali Ostovar-Namaghi ◽  
Seyyedeh Mobina Hosseini
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Private Language ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Language Schools

Although qualities of effective language teachers have been well specified and well researched, recruiters may not be aware of these qualities or, in the light of local constraints, they may ignore these qualities and apply their own criteria. To uncover the criteria which are actually applied in recruiting language teachers, this qualitative study purposively sampled 15 supervisors who were in charge of recruiting language teachers in private language schools of Sari, the capital city of Mazandran province and then theoretically sampled their perspectives and analyzed them in line with the principles and procedures of grounded theory. Iterative data collection and analysis revealed that the participants considered nine qualities including educational background, professional experience, management skills, mastery over language skills and subskills in recruiting language teachers. The findings have clear implications for both recruiters and language teachers.

scholarly journals Recognizing Visual and Auditory Cues in the Detection of Foreign-Language Anxiety

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy Gregersen
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviors ◽  
English Language Teachers ◽  
Oral Presentations

.This study examines whether nonverbal visual and/or auditory channels are more effective in detecting foreign-language anxiety. Recent research suggests that language teachers are often able to successfully decode the nonverbal behaviors indicative of foreign-language anxiety; however, relatively little is known about whether visual and/or auditory channels are more effective. To this end, a group of 36 preservice English-language teachers were asked to view videotaped oral presentations of seven beginning English-language learners under three conditions: visual only, audio only, and a combination of visual and audio in order to judge their foreign-language anxiety status. The evidence gathered through this study did not conclusively determine the channel though which foreign-language anxiety could be most accurately decoded, but it did suggest indicators in the auditory and visual modes that could lead to more successful determination of behaviors indicative of negative affect.

scholarly journals Chinese Tertiary-Level English as a Foreign Language Teachers’ Emotional Experience and Expression in Relation to Teacher-Student Interaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinfeng Xie ◽  
Guiying Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Negative Emotions ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Foreign Language Teachers ◽  
Emotional Geography ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Efl Teachers

The present study examines the emotional experience and expression of Chinese tertiary-level English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and their interaction with their students. Data were drawn from semi-structured in-depth interviews with 10 EFL teachers recruited from seven universities of different levels in China and were analyzed in light of Emotional Geography Theory. The results reveal that Chinese tertiary-level EFL teachers experience more negative emotions than positive ones. The emotions most frequently reported by them are anger, enjoyment, anxiety, disappointment, and ambivalence. When it comes to emotional expressions, Chinese tertiary-level EFL teachers tend to display positive emotions by following the emotional rules of school settings. This study also uncovers that EFL teaching in Chinese universities is characterized by EFL teachers’ physical and moral distance from but political closeness to students, all of which are the sources of EFL teachers’ negative emotions. The need for providing positive psychology intervention for EFL teachers is then suggested.

scholarly journals The Anxiety Factors among Saudi EFL Learners: A Study from English Language Teachers’ Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fariha Asif
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
English Language ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
English As Foreign Language ◽  
College And University ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
English Language Teachers

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that trigger language anxiety among Saudi learners in English as Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. The factor of anxiety is especially found among learners while developing proficiency in over all communication and speaking skills as felt by the EFL teachers. The study also seeks to answer the questions like what are the socio-cultural factors as well as psycholinguistic factors that cause language anxiety. Furthermore, this study also explores strategies that can be designed and used to cope with language anxiety successfully. The scope of the study is limited to the college and university English teachers and subject specialists working in public sectors colleges and universities in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Language Anxiety in Teachers

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 175
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Suzuki ◽  
Peter Roger
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Teacher Cognition ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Student Needs ◽  
Sports Science ◽  
Preliminary Model ◽  
Education Culture

In the 2013 Course of Study for senior high schools, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) mandated that English should be taught, wherever possible, through the medium of English. Against this backdrop, we investigated the experiences of foreign language anxiety (FLA) among 15 Japanese teachers of English in relation to their teaching practices and beliefs. The findings, from interviews, questionnaires, and self-reflections, indicate that experiences of FLA among participants stem from two broad categories of factors. The first is the teachers’ conceptualisation of their own role as teachers; the second concerns their perception of student needs and expectations. We examined the findings in the context of Borg’s (2006) framework of Language Teacher Cognition and developed a preliminary model of FLA among this group of language teachers. Using this model, we outline ways in which anxiety related to English use in the classroom could be alleviated. 平成25年度施行の高校新学習指導要領において、文部科学省は「授業を実際のコミュニケーションの場面とするため、授業は英語で行なうことを基本とする」という文言を取り入れた。この背景を基に、本研究はBorg（2006）の「言語教師認知をめぐる枠組」を理論的モデルとして、15名の日本人高校英語教師の外国語使用不安（foreign language anxiety）を教師の信条及び教育実践と関連付けて検証した。インタビュー、質問紙、自己内省に基づく質的データの分析結果として、調査協力者の外国語使用不安は、教師としての役割に関する自己認知、学習者のニーズ及び学習志向に関する教師認知に起因することが判明した。これらの結果に基づき、我々は教師の外国語使用不安研究におけるパイロットモデルを提示し、さらに教師の外国語使用不安の対処法略を提案した。

scholarly journals Sources and manifestations of foreign language anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-52
Author(s):  
Kruna Petrić ◽  
Vesna Milivojević ◽  
Snežana Moretić-Mićić
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Personal Traits

Foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a type of anxiety related to all situations in which an individual is learning a foreign language. Are language teachers and learners in Serbia familiar with foreign language anxiety? If yes, to what degree? If no, why not? The problem needs to be recognized and acknowledged in order to be solved. FLA encompasses many a things, including personal traits, motivation, affect, age, the all important extroversion / introversion dichotomy, why it is happening and how, and what we can do about it, etc. In this paper, the goal is to explain the main sources and manifestations of FLA and, hopefully, raise a few questions for further discussion. If one wants to tackle the problem of FLA and try to help students overcome it, one must know where FLA comes from and how to recognize it in the classroom. This paper is not intended only for teachers, but also for students who have maybe thought about it but did not know it has a name - foreign language anxiety - and that there are ways to mitigate it.

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