scholarly journals Anxiety in English Language Learning: A Case Study of English Language Learners in Saudi Arabia

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jamilah Mohammed Sadiq
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
English Language ◽  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Language Anxiety

Language anxiety as a specific aspect of language acquisition has occupied a great body of research for the past few decades. In this study, the level of foreign language anxiety among English language learners was investigated. This study was carried out with a quantitative research design using a survey methodology to collect data about the participants’ language anxiety. The sample of the study included 100 university students from the college of Education at Princess Nora University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The participants were randomly selected. For this research study, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) was used to collect the research data. Based on the findings of the study, several implications are highlighted.

scholarly journals A Study of Language Anxiety among English Language Learners in Saudi Arabia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Badia Muntazer Hakim
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Anxiety ◽  
Self Awareness

Classroom anxiety is a recurrent phenomenon for language learners. There are various factors that cause language anxiety, the most common of which include learners’ excessive self-consciousness and self-awareness concerning their oral reproduction and performance and their peculiar, and quite often misplaced and mistaken, views and beliefs regarding different approaches. Other potential reasons for this problem could include the fear, and the consequent deterrence occasioned thereof, of encountering difficulties in language learning, specifically learners’ individual problems regarding the culture of the target language and the varying social statuses of speakers. The most important fear is, perhaps, the deterrent fear of causing damage to one’s self-identity. Therefore, while needing to paying special attention to language learners’ anxiety reactions, language teachers have a crucial role in helping their students achieve the expected performance goals in the target language. Another factor that could potentially lead to language anxiety is simply the poor command of the target language. This problem could be attributed to linguistic barriers and obstacles language learners encounter in learning and using the target language. In the current study, using a qualitative, semi-structured interview and the focus-group discussion technique, the researcher aims to investigate the factors that contribute to language anxiety among Arab language learners. It focuses on learners both within the classroom setting and without, i.e. in the social context, and recommends a number of approaches to manage and overcome this problem.

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games as English as a Foreign Language Learning Environments

2019 ◽  
pp. 162-182
Author(s):  
Hélder Fanha Martins
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Role Playing Games

The objective of this chapter is to gain a better understanding of the usefulness of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) for promoting English as a foreign language (EFL) acquisition. To accomplish this goal, the author analyzed specific categories of interaction occurring between English language learners while playing an online game entitled Eve Online. Previous research has proved that there are positive outcomes on EFL acquisition from the interaction that takes place while playing video games known as MMORPGs. These games immerse players in virtual worlds that are inhabited by hundreds and even thousands of other players, and all are partaking in the game in real time. Learners who choose to play the game in a foreign language are exposed to target language input in a context-rich environment where they can interact with native-speakers and other language learners.

Influence of prestudy on foreign language learning attitude

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Hakki Mirici
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning Attitude ◽  
Target Unit ◽  
Reading Activities

In this experimental study, based on qualitative and quantitative data collection from an experimental and a control group, the influence of 2 different ways of prestudy on foreign language learning attitude of the upper-intermediate level of English language learners was investigated. One prestudy program was based on specially designed familiarization handout-materials comprising topic-related reading activities, the other program entailed using a dictionary focusing on the words used in the target unit. Students who worked with the handout were significantly more motivated, active, and interactive than those who worked with a dictionary. In addition, teachers felt that students who did prestudy using handouts found the unit more meaningful and developed a better attitude towards learning a foreign language than did those who relied on a dictionary.

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.

Going glocal: The impact of CLIL on English Language Learners’ multilingual Identities and Attitudes in the Balearic Islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estefania López-Deflory ◽  
Maria Juan-Garau
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Attitudes And Beliefs ◽  
The Impact

AbstractLanguages are a defining identity component, intrinsic to all individuals and societies. Identities are not fixed but ever fluctuating, hence the process of learning a second or foreign language may entail a negotiation of shifting identities, modifying positioning, attitudes and beliefs. Departing from this premise, in multilingual contexts the potential of education in shaping multilingual identities should be addressed.This study contrasts the attitudes of two groups of secondary education students (n=73), partaking in two different language learning programmes in the Balearic Islands (formal instruction in English as a Foreign Language –EFL, and Content and Language Integrated Learning –CLIL), where the introduction of English as a medium of instruction may be perceived as a threat to the unbalanced coexistence of Spanish and Catalan as the majority and minority languages, respectively. A 31-item questionnaire quantified the values ascribed to multilingualism, Spanish, Catalan, and English, the internationalisation of the latter, and the perception of the classroom as a genuine community of language practice. Qualitative data were collected through an essay eliciting students’ metalinguistic reflection on the position of different languages in their future imagined communities.The results shed light on the relevance of teaching methodologies in the development of identities, ascertaining the positive impact of integrative approaches such as CLIL on the construction of summative multilingualism.

scholarly journals Motivational Factors that Influence English as a Foreign Language Learners at Quality Leadership University, Panama City, Panama

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Ricardo Roman Jr. ◽  
Aixa M. Nunez
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Instrumental Motivation ◽  
Learning English

Research in second language acquisition took off in the early 1970s. This study on integrative and instrumental motivation examined the correlation between the two forms in terms of second language acquisition, and the interest it has generated through continued research efforts in language learning. Research to date suggests a possible relationship between motivation and second language learning. The results obtained by this research were determined by two basic types of motivation which play a relevant role in second language acquisition, it also revealed which was the most prevalent motivational factor that influences students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at Quality Leadership University, Panama. Our objective was to prove that instrumental motivation is more prevalent among students learning English as a Foreign Language in Panama. Although cultural awareness is very much present in the EFL classroom, it too plays a major role with English Language Learners (ELLs). This is a quantitative research study which includes a questionnaire classifying twenty motivational statements into two types of motivation, integrative and instrumental. The study revealed that instrumental motivation was more prevalent among English language learners at Quality Leadership University, Panama. Albiet learning about new cultures has been the driving force with which students approach language learning and students in Panama are not the exception. We can thus conclude that instrumental motivation has been acknowledged as the significant factor by students surveyed and the interest in specific language learning for career advancement, whereas integrative motivation is linked to more general second language acquisition for the benefit of cultural integration.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document