Characterizing and dealing with anxiety in the foreign language classroom

Abstract

Foreign Language Anxiety has been defined as the feeling of nervousness that may appear in the process of acquiring a new language. Although it may have beneficial effects on students’ performance, the presence of anxious students in language classes is a major concern for teachers and for the students themselves, which is why researchers on the topic have mainly explored its negative effects and its correlation with Foreign Language Acquisition (FLA). The present paper aims at understanding and analysing the role of this affective variable with a view to providing certain tips and strategies for teachers to take to the classroom, and to improve students’ self-esteem. In order to achieve this goal, I will deal with both theoretical and practical issues. Thus, the paper summarises several research studies that help us characterize foreign language anxiety. These studies are fundamental for the understanding of Foreign Language Anxiety as situation specific type (Gardener & MacIntyte, 1989, cited in MacIntyre, 2017). In addition, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) (Horwitz et al., 1986) will be described in detail. This scale is considered a pivotal tool to measure anxiety levels and it has been highly useful for subsequent research. This paper also focuses on the effects of apprehension on each of the language competences, paying special heed to oral production since this is considered the most anxiety-evoking skill. From a more practical perspective, in this paper I intend to assist the learners in their process of overcoming foreign language anxiety. In order to do so, the ways in which instructors can identify apprehensive students by paying attention to the symptoms and attitudes adopted by those learners that require assistance are discussed. Then, some suggestions to create an anxiety-free classroom are provided. Thus, it is argued that it is very important that teachers accommodate their attitude or their classroom methodology to the needs of apprehensive students. In addition some activities that can boost learners’ confidence and help them to have a more realistic approach to their anxiety are proposed The main conclusion of the paper is that a favourable learning process needs to devote adequate consideration to anxiety since this is a frequent feeling that appears in many students and its effects may prevent the learners from having a comfortable experience of learning a new language.