Heritage Language Anxiety in Two Spanish Language Classroom Environments: A Comparative Mixed Methods Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-113
Author(s):  
Josh Prada ◽  
Paola Guerrero-Rodriguez ◽  
Diego Pascual y Cabo
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Classroom Environments ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Experimental Group

While research into foreign language anxiety (i.e., nervousness towards using the second/additional language) has increased substantially in the last decade, little is known about how language anxiety operates among heritage speakers. Following Tallon’s early works on the topic (2009, 2011) and recent publications (e.g., Sevinç & Dewaele, 2018), the present study further conceptualizes and explores the nature of heritage language anxiety in two different classroom environments at the university level: the traditional Spanish (for second language learners) class, and the Spanish for heritage speakers class. Thirty participants completed (i) the DASS21 scale (Rehka, 2012), (ii) a modified version of the foreign language anxiety scale (Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014), and (iii) semi structured individual interviews. Participants were distributed between two groups: those in the control group (N=14) were enrolled in a Spanish class for second language learners and those in the experimental group (N=16) were completing a Spanish for heritage speakers course. Results show consistently lower language anxiety rates among participants from the experimental group than among participants from the control group. Additionally, our analyses reveal the role of contextual variables in language anxiety emergence in these two commonly available types of Spanish classrooms.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of an Engaging Program to Reduce Saudi Female University EFL Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety and to Enhance Their Motivation to Learn English at Taif University

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasrah M. Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Attitude And Motivation ◽  
Experimental Group

<p>Teaching a language is a complex but interesting process. It involves teacher, learner, curriculum, and learning environment. Also this process is affected by certain social, cultural and psychological factors. This study is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a proposed program for developing EFL learners’ engagement in learning English. The sample of this study consisted of 103 females (M = 19.260, SD = 0.876 years), it was divided into two groups; the experimental group consisted of 53 girls and the control group consisted of 50 girls. Students’ engagement was measured by the Handelsaman, Briggs, Sullivan, and Towler (2005) questionnaire, while their foreign language anxiety was measured by the Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) questionnaire. Students’ motivation was measured by Gardner’s (1985) Attitude and Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The research applied continued for three months which included the proposed program. The data proved that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental group and the control group on the post-test of the engagement questionnaire, the foreign language anxiety scale as well as the students’ motivation dimensions, showing a significant increase in students’ engagement and motivation in favor of the experimental group. The findings also indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the pre-test and post-test results for the experimental group on the students’ engagement and motivation. This shows that the experimental group had an increase in skills after having participated in the program as seen on the post-test. In light of these results, the study provides a number of procedural recommendations that may contribute to raising the degree of the importance of students’ engagement and motivation training for the students with foreign language anxiety. The paper concludes that more training should be given in using all engagement activities by embedding them in regular classroom activities. Suggestions are offered for future research.</p>

scholarly journals The Effect of Group Counselling Based on the Modification of Negative Self-Statements on Reducing Gender-Biased Foreign Language Anxiety among Ajloun National University Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 730
Author(s):  
Mohammad H. Abood ◽  
Nadia Ahouari-idri
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
National University ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
And Control ◽  
Experimental Group

This study investigated the effectiveness of a training program, based on themodification of negative self-statement, to reduce foreign language anxiety (FLA) among EFL students at university in Jordan. To achieve this goal, the foreign language classroom anxiety scale was used. Participants were 30 male and female students from Ajloun National University, who scored high in FLA, and randomly dispensed to one of the two groups: experimental and control. The experimental group received a pilot programme to modify the negative self-statement and the control group did not. Results showed that the modification of negative self-statement program (MNSP) was effective in reducing FLA. A statistically significant difference (.05) was found between the two groups in the effectiveness of the self-statement programme.

Young Children’s Foreign Language Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jieun Kiaer ◽  
Jessica M. Morgan-Brown ◽  
Naya Choi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Psychosocial Wellbeing

This book presents original research on the effects of foreign language anxiety (FLA) on young language learners. It includes suggestions for alleviating FLA and encouraging foreign language enjoyment which will ultimately facilitate more effective language learning and support children’s psychosocial wellbeing.

Acquisition of Spanish verbal morphology by child bilinguals: Overregularization by heritage speakers and second language learners

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fernández-Dobao ◽  
Julia Herschensohn
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Dual Immersion ◽  
Inflectional Morphology ◽  
Verbal Morphology ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
Present Tense

AbstractThe current study analyzes Spanish present tense morphology with a focus on overregularization. It examines written production from two groups of English/Spanish bilingual children in a dual immersion setting, Spanish heritage language (SHL) speakers (n = 21) and Spanish second language (SL2) learners (n = 41), comparing them to age-matched (nine to ten years old) Spanish majority language children (n = 15). Spanish majority children show full mastery of present tense regular, stem-changing and irregular morphology. SHL children seem to have acquired mastery of regular inflectional morphology, but not of stem-changing morphology. SL2 children are significantly less accurate than both majority Spanish and SHL children in terms of both regular and irregular morphology. Evidence of overregularization, but not of irregularization, is provided for both SHL and SL2 children. The analysis of overregularization errors supports a variational approach (Yang, 2016) to acquisition, storage and access of morphology.

What We Know about the Acquisition of Russian Aspect as a First, Second, and Heritage Language: State of the Art

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-210
Author(s):  
Anna Mikhaylova
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Russian Aspect ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Common Observation

This paper offers a state of the art review of the available linguistic scholarship on the acquisition of Russian aspect in various acquisition scenarios. While the studies reviewed here differ in their analyses of Russian verbal aspect, specific research questions, acquisition context, and research methodology, a common observation is that Russian aspectual contrasts are not easily acquired and that some may be more difficult to master than others. The review shows that some of these asymmetries are not unique to child grammars or to bilingual acquisition, but hold in all the acquisition contexts and may be determined by the complexity of the category itself, while others reflect developmental trends and effects of context and timing of acquisition. The paper starts with an overview of Russian aspect and the associated learning tasks, which is followed by the review of patterns emerging from studies on the acquisition of aspect by children, adult foreign language learners, and adult heritage speakers of Russian. The paper concludes with a discussion of the way these empirical findings can be connected to classroom contexts.

The Sociolinguistic Impact of Service-learning on Heritage Learners Sojourning in Spain

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-98
Author(s):  
Francisco Salgado-Robles ◽  
Angela George
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Local Features ◽  
Heritage Language Learners ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Experimental Group

Over the past three decades, a considerable number of studies have investigated the connection between study abroad and second language acquisition to the exclusion of another emerging language profile, that of heritage language learners who study abroad to enhance their home language skills. The few studies on heritage language learners’ development of local features abroad have focused on phonological ones, concluding that more in-depth exposure to the varieties abroad was related to increased production of the local features (Escalante, 2018; George & Hoffman-González, in press). Research on the effects of international service learning have also been limited to second language learners, demonstrating increased second language use and proficiency (Martinsen, Baker, Dewey, Bown, & Johnson, 2010) along with the development of geographically-variable patterns of use (Salgado-Robles, 2018). The current study combines these two fields and investigates the development of a variable local feature (vosotros versus ustedes) by 20 U.S. Spanish-speaking heritage language learners of Mexican descent studying abroad for four months in Spain. The experimental group (N = 10) participated in a service learning course in addition to traditional coursework, while the control group (N = 10) completed traditional coursework and no service learning course. The results of the Oral Discourse Completion Task demonstrated that all participants significantly increased their use of vosotros from the beginning to the end of the semester; however, the change by the experimental group was two times higher than the control group. This could be explained by the results of the Language Contact Profile, which revealed more use of Spanish and less use of English by participants in the experimental group. This study offers implications for future study abroad programs, the linguistic impacts of service-learning, and the development of sociolinguistic competence.

scholarly journals EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY ON THE LEXICAL COMPETENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

2021 ◽  
pp. 204-210
Author(s):  
Юлия Сергеевна Андрюшкина
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
State Anxiety ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Foreign Language Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Interference ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Lexical Competence

В работе приведены результаты эксперимента по выявлению иноязыковой тревожности (шкала FLCAS) и ситуативной тревожности (вопросник Ч.Д. Спилбергера), а также их влияния на лексическую компетенцию обучающегося билингва. Полученные результаты позволили сделать вывод, что тревожное состояние приводит к снижению концентрации при выполнении задания, так как мысли о потенциальной неудаче и неуверенность в своих знаниях нарушают течение когнитивных процессов, необходимых для выполнения академической задачи. The paper presents the results of an experiment to identify foreign language anxiety (FLCAS scale) and state anxiety (C.D. Spielberger's questionnaire), and their impact on the lexical competence of a foreign language learner. The research results suggest that anxiety causes cognitive interference with performing specific tasks.

An Exploratory Study of Heritage Spanish Rhotics

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kissling
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Phonetic Variation ◽  
Methodological Challenges ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
New Research ◽  
Language Profiles

When speaking their heritage language, heritage speakers typically sound much like other “native speakers.” However, recent studies have found that heritage speakers (HSs) are highly variable and produce a range of more and less “native-like” phonetic features. In an effort to stimulate productive new research in this area, this article addresses some of the methodological challenges of heritage language phonetics research, namely dealing with high variability and identifying the best predictors of that variability. A study on heritage Spanish rhotics is presented to elucidate those methodological challenges. The study took an exploratory, bottom-up approach to analyzing the rhotics produced by speakers of central Mexican and Salvadoran Spanish with different language profiles: HSs, traditional native speakers, long-term immigrants, and second language learners. The results suggested that overall between-group comparisons of means based on isolated acoustic features could be insufficiently informative. The study also evaluated the contribution of various linguistic (e.g., proficiency and use) and extralinguistic (e.g., cultural and ethnic identity) factors for identifying more homogeneous subgroups of HSs and found that the latter were useful for predicting phonetic variation.

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