On foreign language Anxiety and Countermeasures in Classroom

劉筠++徐淑玉

Abstract：Foreign language anxiety has been recognized as an emotional barrier that potentially impedes foreign language learning. Based upon studies on language learning anxiety， this article mainly discusses the negative impact of language anxiety on foreign language learning and a series of countermeasures in the classroom to reduce the foreign language anxiety， so as to improve the students' English proficiency.

Key words：language anxiety；negative impact；countermeasures；reduce anxiety

中圖分類號(hào)：G648 文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識(shí)碼：B 文章編號(hào)：1672-1578（2017）02-0001-01

1.Introduction

English as a worldwide language has been getting increasingly important in China while the students usually have difficulties with their English learning as a foreign language. Anxiety has been regarded as one of the most important affective factors that influence foreign language acquisition.

2.Review of researches on foreign language anxiety

Many psychologists and linguists in the world have paid intensive attention and explored rigorously language anxiety since 1970s. According to Gardner and MacIntyre， language anxiety is fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in a second or foreign language. Horwitz， and Cope describe three components of foreign language anxiety： communication apprehension， test anxiety， and fear of negative evaluation.

3.Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety on language learning

Studies under a wide range of learning contexts have shown that foreign language anxiety is not only prevalent among learners， but also has various negative effects on second/foreign language learning. For many students， language class can be more anxiety-provoking than any other course that they take. In the language classroom， increased levels of anxiety can have a variety of negative effects. If the students are very anxious in class， they are probably not full engaged - or not engaged at all. Anxious students are less likely to volunteer answers and to participate in oral classroom activities. As discussed above， language anxiety and learning achievement are negatively correlated.

4.Countermeasures for overcoming language anxiety in classroom

Being conscious of the existence of foreign language anxiety and that it can have negative effects on the learning process， what can we do to relieve it has become the issue that many researchers focus on. First， we have to increase teachers' awareness of foreign language anxiety. Teachers should have students recognize their irrational beliefs and fears through activities designed for this purpose； discuss with students reasonable expectations for successful language learning； help students develop more realistic expectations； help students adopt an attitude that mistakes are a part of language learning and will be made by everyone. Second， teachers should be humanistic， more friendly， relaxed， and patient in the classroom， as well as develop a sense of humor. In addition， teachers can use humor to shorten the distance between them and their students. Finally， teachers should create a cooperative learning environment for the students. Hopefully， the above mentioned suggestions can provide useful information for language teachers so as to make the students benefit from the low anxiety-provoking language learning situations in the classroom.

5.Conclusion

We have demonstrated that anxiety exits among foreign language learners， which affects the language proficiency. Faced with such a problem， English teachers should be fully aware of the existence of anxiety in their classroom and realize that learning anxiety is one of the important factors which cause the poor English performance of the students. Then teachers can employ as many methods as possible to create a lively and supportive class teaching environment and make students study in a relaxing mood. By doing so， students may build up their self-confidence increasingly and thus reduce their anxiety.

References：

[1] Gardner， RC & PD MacIntyre.1993. On the measurement of affective variables in second language learning. Language Learning， 43， 157-194.

[2] Horwitz， E.K.， Horwitz， M.B. & Cope， J. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal， 70， 125-132.

[3] MacIntyre， P.D. & Gardner， R.C. 1991a. Methods and results in the study of anxiety in language learning： A review of the literature. Language Learning， 41， 85-117.