Emic perspectives on young Danish learners’ foreign language classroom anxiety

2021 ◽  
pp. 136216882110012
Author(s):  
Katalin Fenyvesi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Children’S Views ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

This study explores what young Danish learners found anxiety-provoking or difficult in their English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Participants ( n = 32) were early and later starters (ages 8 years vs. 10 years) at two primary schools where children were not assessed in English. The qualitative inquiry aimed to examine what differences characterized 8- and 10-year-old children’s views and how their foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) changed over time. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each child in one-on-one settings and the answers were analysed by thematic analysis. The emerging themes revealed three main categories of situations that made children anxious. The first one concerned being afraid of making mistakes. The second category comprised social situations in which children were asked to speak in English in front of their peers and they were anxious that other children would criticize them or laugh at them. The third category comprised situations in which children felt insecure, for example, they did not understand their teacher’s talk in the target language, did not know the meaning of words they were supposed to learn, did not understand the task at hand, or they had to do tasks they thought were beyond their abilities. Children who experienced a decrease of FLCA after one year of instruction indicated that appropriate support from the teacher had reduced FLCA in some of these situations. Pedagogical implications of the different causes of anxiety are discussed.

scholarly journals Use of Saudi EFL Adult Learners’ L1 to Address Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Khaled Besher Albesher ◽  
Muhammad Sabboor Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

This study highlights the major emotional and psychological factors related to the medium of instruction (use of First Language (L1) in the classroom) in the domain of bilingual education for adult Saudi English as foreign language (EFL) learners. The primary area of emphasis is to consider whether the use of L1 in the class reduces the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety (FLCA) or it deprives the learners of the real and constant language inputs, viz., the words of the teacher in the target language. Thus, the main research question of the study is how the medium of instruction (use/mixing of Arabic or use of English-only approach) impacts the FLCA (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety) of Saudi adult learners. The quantitative research tool of survey has been administered on the teachers and students on five-point Likert-scale with the responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. There are twelve items in the survey and each item tends to explore different psychological dimension of the issue. 100 adult Saudi university students and 100 EFL teachers have responded to these items. The main finding of the study is that learner’s L1 speeds up the language learning process in a natural way if used occasionally and judiciously with the objective of keeping self-esteem and self image of the learners intact and bringing their FLCA down. The research study not only brings to surface the current state of bilingual EFL education in Saudi context, but also puts forth recommendations for learners, teachers, administrators, and policy makers to strengthen English language teaching/learning in EFL perspective in the bilingual context.

scholarly journals Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of Arab learners of English: The effect of personality, linguistic and sociobiographical variables

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele ◽  
Taghreed M. Al-Saraj
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Multicultural Personality ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Anxiety Questionnaire ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

The present study focuses on the link between psychological, sociobiographical and linguistic variables and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of 348 Arabic learners of English (250 females, 98 males). Data were collected using the Arabic Foreign Language Anxiety Questionnaire (AFLAQ; Al-Saraj, 2011, 2014) and an Arabic version of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF; van der Zee, van Oudenhoven, Ponterotto & Fietzer, 2013). Multiple regression analyses revealed that self-perceived proficiency in oral English and frequency of use of English explained over a third of variance in FLCA: More proficient and frequent users felt less anxious. Two personality traits, Emotional Stability and Social Initiative explained a further fifth of variance in FLCA, with emotionally stable and more extraverted participants scoring lower on FLCA. Age was the final predictor of a small amount of variance, with older participants feeling less anxious. Degree of multilingualism, sex and education level had no effect on FLCA.

scholarly journals Lowering Foreign Language Anxiety through Self-Regulated Learning Strategy Use

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armineh Martirossian ◽  
Anahid Hartoonian
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Strategy Use ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Regulated Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

<p>Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and self-regulated learning strategies (SRLSs) are two important factors that influence language learning process in negative and positive ways respectively. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between FLCA and SRLSs. To this end, 100 university students majoring in TEFL were selected. For collecting data, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz, &amp; Cope, 1986) and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich &amp; De Groot, 1990) were used. To analyze the data, Kendall correlation was run. The results revealed that there is a negative relationship between FLCA (communication apprehension, test anxiety, &amp; fear of negative evaluation) and SRLSs (cognitive strategy use &amp; self-regulation).</p>

scholarly journals Validación y Confiabilidad de la versión francesa de la escala de ansiedad lingüística "Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale" y aplicado a estudiantes franceses: Revisión del análisis de Horwitz y Cope, Aida y Pérez y Martínez.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-225
Author(s):  
Laurane Jarie ◽  
Carlos Salavera Bordás ◽  
Abel Merino Orozco ◽  
Pablo Usán Supervía
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

La ansiedad ante el aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras es una de las variables más influyentes en el aprendizaje de idiomas extranjeros.  Horwitz y Cope (1986, 1991) desarrollaron un marco teórico alrededor del constructo específico  de ansiedad lingüística que consigue explicar el rol de esta variable dentro del proceso de enseñanza – aprendizaje de las lenguas extranjeras. Los autores elaboraron una escala estadísticamente fiable y válida para poder medir  los niveles de ansiedad lingüística. La presente investigación pretende estudiar  la validación y la confiabilidad del instrumento Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale traducido al idioma francés  para su aplicación con estudiantes  franceses de secundaria  así como repetir el análisis factorial de la FLCAS realizado por Aida (1994), Pérez y Martínez (2001).   La adaptación del instrumento, se distribuye, tras el análisis con rotación Varimax, en cuatro factores que explican el 58,78% de la varianza total y un alpha de Cronbach de ,77.

scholarly journals How distinctive is the foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety of Kazakh learners of Turkish?

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marc Dewaele ◽  
Cemal Özdemir ◽  
Durmuş Karci ◽  
Sinem Uysal ◽  
Elif Derya Özdemir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Classroom ◽  
Target Languages ◽  
Exam Result ◽  
Classroom Anxiety

AbstractThe present study focuses on foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) of 592 learners of Turkish as a foreign language (FL) in Kazakhstan. Mean levels of FLE and FLCA were found to be similar to previous studies in different settings with different target languages. In contrast with previous literature, a weak positive correlation was found between FLE and FLCA and the gender effect went in the opposite direction, with male participants reporting more FLCA than female participants. Multiple regression analyses revealed that FLE and FLCA were more strongly predicted by learners’ attitude toward Turkish and teacher-related variables than by learner-internal variables, confirming previous research outside Kazakhstan. Attitude toward the FL, teacher’s friendliness, strictness and frequency of use of the FL, attitude toward the teacher, participant’s age and FL exam result explained a total of 25% of variance in FLE. Differing slightly from previous studies, FLCA was found to be only weakly predicted (6% of variance) by some learner-internal variables (FL exam result, attitude toward the FL) as well as teacher-centred variables (friendliness, strictness). The findings suggest that variation in FLE and FLCA among Kazakh learners of Turkish is quite similar to that established in other contexts.

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