4._P.75!90!10080 the Factors Cause Language Anxiety for ESL

黃埔學報第六十三期民國一百零一年 75 WHAMPOA - An Interdisciplinary Journal 63(2012)75-90

The Factors Cause Language Anxiety

for ESL/EFL Learners in Learning Speaking

Shu-Feng Tseng Cheng Shiu University

Department of Applied Foreign language Assistant Professor

Abstract

Feeling of anxiety, apprehension and nervousness are commonly expressed by second/foreign language learners in learning to speak a second/foreign language. These feelings are considered to exert a potentially negative and detrimental effect on communication in the target language .

The use of modern communicative language teaching approaches in the language classrooms and the wide-spread use of English language have increased the demand to learn good communication skills but existence of such feelings in the learners may prevent them from achieving the desired goal.

Consideration of learners’ anxiety reactions in learning to speak another language by a language teacher is deemed highly important in order to assist them to achieve the intended performance goals in the target language. The purpose of this study is to provide a review of related literature on studies on foreign language anxiety, Asian studies on anxiety, factors associated with learner’s own sense of ‘self ’ and language classroom environment, self perceptions, social environment and limited exposure to the target language, culture difference, social status and self-identity, gender, strict and formal classroom environment, presentation in the classroom, fear of making mistakes and apprehension about others’ evaluation, important causes of anxiety among the language learners, ways of the learners to reduce speaking anxiety, and ways of the instructors to reduce speaking anxiety. This study has attempted to investigate the factors that language anxiety can possibly stem from, both within the classroom environment and out of classroom in the wilder social context, and has recommended a variety of strategies to cope with it.

The past researchers have suggested to use a variety of perspective and approaches to investigate the subject. Key words: apprehension, communicative language teaching approach, target language

76 黃埔學報第六十三期民國一百零一年

INTRODUCTION Traditionally, the focus of research in second language acquisition (SLA) has been primarily on issues such as language pedagogy (Grammar Translation method, Audio-lingual, etc.), contents of pedagogical instruction, and ways to improve them. Consequently, the implications of this research remained restricted to the learning and teaching of the language itself; that is to say, to the cognitive domain with little attention being paid to the affective variables learners bring with them into language classroom. It was only in late twentieth century, in the 1970s, that the SLA researchers began to study the significant role played by personally and motivational variables in second language acquisition (Shams, 2006).

In order to gain a holistic understanding of his process, learners’ affective variables need to be taken into account to cater for their needs and interests (Samimy, 1994). In addition, as the focus of L2/FL instruction has shifted from the narrow concern for developing learners’ linguistic competence to the need for communicative competence, learners are challenged to be able to speak in the target language spontaneously in various social contexts. In order to meet this challenge, attention has diverted to

studying the role of affective variables like learning styles’ motivation, personality traits, etc. that can impede the process of learning and speaking a second/foreign language. Among these affective variables, learner anxiety has come to be recognized as an important area of study in second language acquisition because of the negative influence it can have on students’ performance.

The chapter reviews literature on language anxiety from two broader perspective: psycholinguistic and socio-cultural.

Literature Review Studies on Foreign Language Anxiety The academic literature has offered a somewhat confusing account of language anxiety. Researchers have been unable to draw a clear picture of how anxiety affects language learning and performance. Some researchers reported a negative relationship between language anxiety and achievement, e.g. the higher the anxiety, the lower the performance, (Clement, Gardner, & Smythe, 1977, 1980: cited on Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999). Others reported no relationship, or a positive relationship (Pimsleur, Mosberg, & Morrison, 1962, Backman, 1976, Scovel, 1978: cited in 1999). More

Shu-Feng Tseng: The Factors Cause Language Anxiety for ESL/EFL Learners in Learning Speaking 77

recently, Horwitz (2001) has reiterated that issue of understanding the relationship between anxiety and achievement is unresolved. The relationship between anxiety and second language learning is presenting some conflicting evidence and illustrating that anxiety is a complex, multi-faceted construct. In addition to the negative effects of anxiety on language learning and performance, anxiety has occasionally been found to facilitate language learning. Anxiety serves simultaneously to motivate and to warn the learner. Facilitating anxiety “motivates the learner to “fight the new learning task; it gears the learner emotionally for approach behavior” (Scovel 1991). Debilitating anxiety, in contrast, “motivates the learner to “flee” the new learning task; it stimulates the individual emotionally to adopt avoidance behavior” (1991) Asian studies on anxiety While the above to be a comprehensive set of source of anxiety, high frequency sources may differ for different culture groups. Truitt (1995) founded that Korean university students studying EFL held different beliefs than those of Young (1991) and other studies carried out on American language learners and international students studying in the U. S. Truitt suggests that the difference for Korean students may be partially culture

based, granted that they may also be somewhat influenced by the relative status of language learning and social, political, and economic factors. In a study of Japanese ESL learners in a U. S. setting, Ohata (2005) found that the characteristics of language anxiety that they exhibited, while falling into the categories identified by Young (1991), seemed to be strongly influenced by Japanese culture. It is believed that this is also quite true for Korean EFL learners. Young (2004) conducted an interview study on eight Korean EFL university students and found that their main causes of anxiety were caused by (a) low self-esteem, (b) competitiveness, (c) state (situation-specific) anxiety or personality characteristics, (d) lack of group membership, (e) overt explicit error correction, (f) speaking English in front of the class, (g) little declarative (explicit) knowledge, (h) lack of class preparation, and (i) uneven allocation of turns. Factors associated with learner’s own sense of ’Self’ and ‘Language classroom environment’ All the components of language learning are strongly linked with learners’ sense of ‘self’, as it is learners’ ‘self’ which is at risk of failure or being negatively evaluated in any test-like situation or a situation which requires


communication in front of others. This risk to one’s sense of ‘self’ frequently occurs in a L2/FL classroom. Self perceptions According to Horwitz et.al. (1986), perhaps no other field of study poses as much of a threat to self-concept as language study does. They believe that any performance in L2 is likely to challenge an individual’s self-concept is “the totality of an individual’s thoughts, perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and values having reference to himself as object” (Laine, 1987). This self-concept forms the basis of the distinction, made by Horwitz et al. (1986), between language anxiety and other forms of academic anxieties. They posited, ”the importance of the disparity between the ‘true’ or ‘actual’ self as known to the language learner and the more limited self as can be presented at any given moment in the foreign language would seem to distinguish foreign language anxiety from other academic anxieties such as those associated with mathematics or science”(1986) The term ‘self-esteem’ has been used in much the same meaning as ‘self-concept’ and has been found to be strongly linked with language anxiety. Krashen (1980, 15: cited in Young, 1991:427) suggests, “the more I think about self-esteem, the

more impressed I am about its impact. This is what causes anxiety in a lot of people. People with low self-esteem worry about what their peers think; they are concerned with pleasing others. And that I think has to do a great degree with anxiety”. Individuals who have levels of self-esteem are less likely to be anxious than are those with low self-esteem (Horwitz et al., 1986). According to Terror Management Theory (TMT), “People are motivated to maintain a positive self-image because self-esteem protects them from anxiety” (Greenberg et al., 1992: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999:229) Social environment and limited exposure to the target language In accord with the previous research, the subjects expressed that limited exposure to English in their home countries is a serious obstacle in the development of their communicative competency, which is troubling for L2/FL learners when they are required to speak (see e. g. Lightbown and Spada, 2006:30). A Saudi male learner said in this regard, “we could practice English only in the class, out of the class, no practice; lack of chances or practice…trouble when you find a chance to speak”. This could explain why ESL/EFL learners feel anxious while speaking English even when learning the language in an English-speaking


environment. The use of communicative language teaching approaches demand students to speak English who may not be used to it in their previous learning experience and therefore feel stress when they are called upon to answer a question. A male ESL/EFL teacher explained, “In L2 environment teachers expect students to speak fluently and spontaneously. Students from other cultures may not have this experience; their experience may be to speak only when teacher asks to speak but not any other time… these different practices in the classroom, I know, are very upsetting for the students”. It indicates that language teachers should consider the norms, practices and the previous language learning experiences of the students as an attempt to reduce their language anxiety. With regard to errors in the social settings, participants’ responses were mostly positive. They feel satisfied with the way their errors are treated in the society, which-in-turn encourages them to speak. It is only occasionally that they feel a bit nervous if people say, as remarked by Brazilian female ESL/EFL practitioner, “Oh, you mean this, and then you feel… oh… because you just feel horrible that you could not manage to say”. Generally, the subjects expressed that people do not interfere because they think it ”rude and impolite to

correct someone who is having conversation with them” (Lightbown and Spada, 2006:32). Cultural differences The difference of cultures between that of the learners and target language appeared to be an important anxiety-producing factor. The more uncertainty or unfamiliarity with the target language culture, the more it is likely to be anxiety provoking because, as a Pakistani male ESL/EFL practitioner explained, “You don’t know how others are going to interpret what you say; with reference to your own culture and background which could be altogether different”. Furthermore, an Omani female ESL/EFL practitioner stated, “It is cultural aspect that you ’lose face’ if you say the wrong things”. The use of the term ‘losing face’, by the participant supports Johns’ (2004) view that language anxiety is a concern of face in different cultures. Similar to Jones’(2004) findings about culture as a casual factor in Asian context, an experienced female teacher stated, “It is not anxiety just about language but differences in cultural practices. Even in one-to-one interaction, it is not clear to me how much I should talk and how much they [people from different cultures] should talk”. Her further comments in relation to Japanese students correspond to


Jones’ (2004) research that a specific culture-bound syndrome, i.e., one set of culturally distinguished features, is a disorder apparently unique to Japan: it is called taijin Kyofusho (TKS), literally ‘fear of social relations”. She maintained, “Even sometimes if you do manage to encourage Japanese students to speak, they have a very good grasp of patterns, grammar, vocabulary, but they are not confident to use it because they are not sure of cultural rules”. Social status and self-identity In accordance with the research on classroom interaction by Pica (1987), the study found that unequal status between students and teachers can also be a source of anxiety for the students. A Taiwan female ESL/EFL practitioner remarked, “Absolutely, every time I have a meeting with my tutor, I try to speak perfect English, because I am very nervous to talk to somebody higher in status. Their English is perfect”. This indicates that lack of confidence on one’s linguistic competence makes one feel inferior and apprehensive to communicate with someone having full command on language, e.g. native speakers (Peirce, 1995). It can also explain the source of intercultural communication apprehension where unequal linguistic competencies of L1 and FL/SL speakers can make the

communication event stressful for L2/FL speakers. Speaking in a foreign language was found to be disturbing because of the fear that it might lead to the loss of one’s positive self-image or self-identity. The findings of this study in this regard suggest obvious similarity with the previous research on ‘social anxiety (Ohata, 2005). This research assume social anxiety as a feeling of losing one’s self-identity which is deeply rooted in the first language. Rardin (1988 cited in 2005:149) posits, “If I learn another language, I will somehow lose myself; as I know myself to be, will cease to exist”. This apprehension was uttered by a teacher participant who remarked, “People are very surprised to hear the sounds of their own voice, especially if they listen to their own voice in another language, it sounds like another person. I think they find that disturbing because it is another identity they did not know they had”. This finding is quite different to Ohata’s (2005) interview study of ESL teachers where none of the participants referred to such theoretical perspectives. However, in general, most of the basic theoretical perspectives related to social status and self-identity have been replicated in this study. Gender The study yield conflicting


findings as was the case with the earlier studies regarding gender-related anxiety while communicating in a foreign language (e.g., Carrier, 1999:70; Kitano, 2001: cited in Gobel and Matsuda, 2003;23). The subject appeared to have different experiences of feeling anxious or comfortable while talking to the opposite sex. Some male participants stated that it was only in the initial stage when they started studying in co-education at university level that they felt a bit anxious. However, this was not the case in environments where both male and female students study together; as a Chinese female ESL/EFL learner said, “I don’t worry about guys and girls because in China we study together”. This could suggest that only in those cultures where males and females students study in segregation, people are more likely to feel communication anxiety when talking to the opposite sex. Conversely, some participants from the same cultures (e.g/ Pakistani, Omani, Libyan, etc.) stated that they do not feel any such anxiety. This suggests that gender-related communication apprehension is entirely based upon one’s personal view. Strict and formal classroom environment Some participants blame a

strict and formal classroom environment as a significant cause of their language anxiety. They view the classroom a place where their mistakes are noticed and their deficiencies are pointed out. With regard to this issue, a Saudi male EFL/ESL learner expressed, “In the class if you say because I did not know much of a language, you will be blamed. That means you are not hard to study”. Another Saudi male learner expressed, “I feel more anxiety in the class because it is more formal but out of class I don’t feel stress, talk to my friends, not afraid of mistakes”. Such expressions of the fear of being negatively evaluated under formal classroom environment lend support to the previous research that learners feel more anxious in highly evaluative situations, particularly in the L2/FL classroom where their performance is constantly monitored by both their teacher and peers (Daly, 1991: cited in Onwuegbuzie et al., 1999:218). Thus, these perceptions, can be considered a clear indication that the teachers should recognize that the language classroom could become a highly anxiety-provoking environment for students (Tsui, 1996: cited in Ohata, 2005: 148). These perceptions suggest that learners feel more anxious and under stress in the classroom environments that follow the traditional behaviourist theories of learning; for


instance, the classrooms where the students as a whole class constantly drill or repeat the learning tasks like machine(e.g. audio-lingual language teaching method) and thus the power or status differentials between students and teachers is upheld. Contrarily, students feel less anxious and stress in classroom environments that follow the constructivist theories of learning; these emphasize collaborative activities by forming learning communities including both teachers and students. Presentation in the classroom Like discussion in open-class-forum, giving a short talk or presentation in the class has also been reported to be highly anxiety inducing, one which makes the classroom environment more formal and stressful for the learners. All the participants agreed that speaking in front of the whole class or in public caused anxiety for most of the learners. A Chinese female EFL/ESL student expressed, “In class maybe I stand up and do the presentation, I usually feel nervous. I don’t know when I talk to other students in normal class, I think it is ok. Maybe I lose confidence”. Thus, the study reinforced the findings of the earlier studies by Koch and Terrell (1991), Young (1990, cited in Young, 1991:429), and Price (1991), who found that a large number of their subjects

considered oral presentation as the most anxiety-provoking activity in the class. Interestingly, the same female EFL/ESL teacher further stated, “Students try to overcome their anxiety by trying to remember the presentation stuff and by rehearsing it, and then they bring another pressure on themselves by trying to remember what they have rehearsed and feel probably stressed because they cannot remember everything”. This anxiety seems to stem from learners/ perceived inability to make themselves understood or in Price’s (1991:105) words, from their “frustration of not being able to communicate effectively”. For instance, a Chinese female EFL/ESL practitioner said, “I am afraid that audience may misunderstand my speech”. Fear of making mistakes and apprehension about others’ evaluation The evidence gained through past research, “both ethnographic and empirical, supports the notion that language anxiety, for untold number of learners, has its origin in the fear of making mistakes and attracting the derision of classmates” (Jones, 2004:33). The findings of this study were in agreement in this respect too. The participants frequently expressed that learners feel afraid, and even panic because


of the fear of committing mistakes or errors in front of others, or in Jones’ words (2004:31) because of “a fear of appearing awkward, foolish and incompetent in the eyes of learners’ peers or others”. As a result of the fear of making mistakes, some learners expressed that learning and speaking a foreign language in the classroom is “always a problem”. One Saudi male EFL/ESL learner expressed, “Classroom is always a problem… you find many people watching you and try to correct you, laugh at you, you will be blamed for any mistakes, and you have to be correct because it is a class. 1+1=2, you have to say 2, if not say 2, of course, it will be wrong”. Similarly, a Chinese female EFL/ESL practitioner expressed “I am afraid I may make mistakes in the class…for me I don’t want to make any mistake”. Even if teachers do not correct their errors, they find it difficult, particularly adults, to endure a perceived high degree of inaccuracy in their speech. Resulting from a fear of negative evaluation, the apprehensive students reported that whenever they anticipate that complete communication is not possible and that they are unable to express a particular point fully, they either try to escape or “end up being quiet and reticent, contrary to their initial intention to participate” (Ohata, 2005: 135, Jones, 2004:31).

“I try to be silent, keep quiet… so that no body should notice me, I try to escape… try to keep my conversation short as much as I can”, one Saudi male ESL/EFL learner said. Thus, it appears, as Horwitz et al. (1986;127) believe, that frustration experienced when a learner is unable to communicate a message can lead to apprehension about future attempts to communicate. This would explain why anxious learners tend to avoid classrrom participation (Ely, 1986: cited in MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991:297), because they are either unsure of what they are saying or lose confidence when giving an answer to a question in the classroom. Important causes of anxiety among the language learners

Important causes of anxiety among the language learners in the present study appear to be:

1. Pressure by parents and teachers to get good grades at school in English.

2. Lack of confidence in their ability to learn English

3. Fear of making mistakes and subsequent punishment or ostracism, i.e., fear of losing face for not being perfect.

4. Conditioning in childhood to believe that English is an extremely difficult


language to learn. 5. Fear of foreigners and their

behavior. Because of the importance of English on tests for advancement in education and in society, parents and teachers press students to not only attain their potential, but to actually produce results beyond their ability. MacIntyre and Gardner (1991) write: he anxious student may be characterized as an individual who perceives the L2 as uncomfortable experience, who withdraws from voluntary participation, who feels social pressures not to make mistakes and who is less willing to try uncertain or novel linguistic forms? (p.112). Anxiety causes less practice and production in the language being learned, thus hindering the language learning process. It is obvious that overcoming anxiety can improve language learning. Both the language learner and the teacher can be instrumental in overcoming learner anxiety.

Ways for the learners to reduce speaking anxiety

To overcome their anxieties, it would be helpful for the learner to implement the following suggestions.

A. Examine the thoughts that cause the fear. Recognize that the fears are unfounded and unwarranted. It is necessary to think positive, to realize that everyone makes mistakes learning a language and that making errors is an integral part of the language learning process. It is also important to realize that perfection is an impossible goal and that is not a requisite for success.

B. Learn how to relax. The more one relaxes, the more anxiety dissipates. Sit comfortably and straight in the classroom seat. Before class or during class, take long, slow breaths, hold it for four or five seconds and release it slowly. Stretch arms and legs for additional muscle relaxation. Exercise turn nervous energy into positive energy through a calming release of chemicals.


C. Know what you want to say. Think through the ideas that you want to express that the vocabulary, structures, and intonation that are appropriate to correctly express them.

D. Concentrate on the message rather than on the people. Do not worry about what people may think if you make a mistake in the message you are trying to communicate. Instead concentrate on producing a message to make communication successful.

E. Become familiar with you audience. Get to know your classmates. The better you know someone the easier it is to speak with them.

F. Get to know the instructor better. Greet them at the beginning and end of class, and ask questions that you may have about English after class. This will make it easier to interact with the instructor during class time.

G. Avoid sitting in the rear of the classroom. Gradually move forward to the middle or front of the class. Closer proximately to the person you wish to speak

to make speaking easier. H. Gain experience to build

confidence. The more you speak English, the more confidence you will have in speaking easier.

Ways for the instructors to reduce learner speaking anxiety

To assist the learner in reducing anxiety, the instructor may implement these suggestions. A. Exhibit genuine

concern for your students and their language learning. If students detect that their instructor has a true interest in their language learning, they will be motivated to have an even stronger interest in their own learning.

B. Provide a warm, reassuring classroom atmosphere. Walk around the room. Make occasional contact with students by tapping them on the shoulder or patting them on the back.. Use humor in sufficient amounts.

C. Provide students with a maximum of speaking time in a


non-threatening environment. Incorporate small-group activities, role plays, and pair work into your lessons.

D. Incorporate into the lesson classroom activities that indirectly get the student to think about their own anxiety, the cause of it, and possibly ways of alleviating it.

E. To create a more relaxed and comfortable classroom atmosphere, song activities may be introduced into the lesson. In addition to the common fill-in-the-blank listening activity, formats such as multiple-choice word selection, spotting the differences, arranging the lines, strip lines, and matching sentences halves may be used. Conclusion English speaking competence is a complex skill that needs conscious development. It can be best developed with practice when students

reflect on the process of speaking without the threat of evaluation. It was found that by focusing on the process of speaking students acquired a useful tool to raise their English spoken ability. The result of the experiment indicate that speaking is foundational in learning a foreign language. Language anxiety, it can be postulated, may not require any ‘special treatment’ but what it does demand is the careful attitude of the language teachers in order to understand and to effectively diagnose this phenomenon in the learners. Then, it requires the application of modern approaches that lay emphasis on enhancing learning opportunities in n environment that is conducive to learning.


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影響英語說話的焦慮因素

曾淑鳳

正修科技大學

應用外語系助理教授

摘要

焦慮、不安和緊張的感覺經常被外語學習者陳述，這些感覺被認為會強加目標語言

的負面影響，溝通式的語言教學方法在教室使用，廣泛的英語學習已經增加了好的溝通

技巧，但具備以上負面的因素可能會阻礙完成預期目標，為了達成預期目標，在學習外

語說話的過程，學習者的焦慮反應被認為是非常重要的。

本文提出一些相關文獻探討如下：外語焦慮的研究，亞洲的焦慮研究，連結學習者

自我意識的因素，語言教室環境，自我理解力，社會環境和沉浸目標語言的機會受到限

制，文化的不同，社會階級和自我認同，性別，嚴厲和正式教室環境，教室裡的上台發

表，對別人評鑑害怕犯錯和不安，語言學習者的焦慮重要成因，學習者減輕說話焦慮的

方法，老師減輕學習者焦慮的方法。

本研究探討語言學習焦慮有來自教室內和教室外廣泛的社會因素，並提出了許多不

同的策略以增加幫助。

關鍵詞：不安，溝通式語言教學方法，目標語言

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4._P.75!90!10080 the Factors Cause Language Anxiety for ESL