SPECIALIST AREAS IN TESOL RESEARCH
EFL
LEARNERS’ ANXIETY AND READING COMPREHENSION PERFORMANCE
Abstract
This
literature report regards EFL learners anxiety and its relationship to reading
comprehension performance as important factor to be considered when
learning a foreign language. The
introductory section provides a brief background and some technicalities of the
context of English language learning of Thai students in Thailand. It also
draws literature reviews from previous and past studies about the effects of
anxiety to foreign language learning in general as well as the impact of
language anxiety in reading comprehension performance of the foreign language
learners. This paper is divided primarily into, language learning in Thailand, anxiety
and language anxiety and anxiety and reading anxiety.
6024 words, excluding bibliography and footnotes.
Table
of Contents
1. Introduction 4
1.1Foreign
Language learning in Thailand 5
2. Anxiety and Language Anxiety 7
2.1Anxiety Among Foreign Language
Learners 9
2.2Anxiety and Reading Comprehension 11
3. Conclusion and Areas for Further
Research 17
4. References and Bibliography 19
1.
Introduction
With the popularity of English
around the world and with its status elevated as the world’s lingua franca, it
is inevitable that a lot of countries around the world are adopting it as
either their second or official language, as a foreign language, or a third
language that has to be learned at
school or the whole citizenry in general. Foley (2005:5) mentions that:
“There is a very clear recognition
of the importance of English in the international context of globalization and technology, not only for people in
academic and business environments,
but also people from all walks of life.”
As a matter of fact, the Article 34
of the Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also states that
English should be the working language in the region (http://www.aseansec.org/21069.pdf).
Kirkpatrick (2009:5) in his article about English as Asian lingua franca affirms that ASEAN pays importance to English
by including it in their educational curricula by using English as a medium of
instruction teaching primary schools Science and Math.
Thailand being located in Southeast
Asia and as an international hub of some industries is not exception to this
bandwagon. As a member of the regional group ASEAN (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) it tries to invigorate its people with the charms and power of
the English language. This country wants to have to a strong foundation in the
English language that made it reenergizes English and spread it in the
curriculum. Indeed, its Basic Education Core Curriculum of 2008 which has to
have a full implementation in 2012 states that:
“The foreign language constituting
basic learning content that is prescribed for the entire basic education core
curriculum is English, while for other foreign languages, e.g.,French, German,
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Pali and languages of neighbouring countries, it is
left to the discretion of educational institutions to prepare courses and
provide learning management appropriately.”(Thai Basic Education Curriculum,2008)
Corollary to this pressing need of
Thailand in embracing English as a second or foreign language is the task of
the teachers to find better teaching methods, materials and pedagogical
practices and seek answers to the problems that manifest in the EFL classrooms.
The discovery of such would optimize Thai students’ development as English
Language learners. Thus, the subject of this paper emanates from the purposeful
reason of the researcher to learn about the anxieties among the Thai high
school EFL learners. It also tries to illuminate and bring out in the open the
reading anxieties among them and as to whether these anxieties impede the
reading comprehension of the Thai high school EFL learners.
This literature report is conceived
in the context of the Thai students who study at Assumption College Sriracha in
Chonburi, Thailand. They are from the Lower Secondary Level Grade 9 whose age ranges
from 14-15. These are all boys who have been studying English as a foreign
language for 8 years both with Thai English and foreign teachers. The
participants in this literature report also learn content-based subjects such
as Math, Science, and Social Studies in English. Historically, English has been
taught at Assumption College Sriracha since its inception. But it’s only until
recently that the school injects in its curriculum the full implementation of
the Basic education Curriculum of Thailand of 2008.
Central to this literature report is
the term anxiety. Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope(1986:127) defined anxiety as the
subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, and worry associated with an
arousal of the autonomic nervous system. Liu and Huang (2011:1) quote that:
“Over the years, state anxiety,
trait anxiety, and situation specific anxiety have become three main approaches to anxiety research in language
teaching.”
Oxford (in Brown, 2007: 162)
classifies these anxieties as either harmful and helpful anxiety which is
termed as either facilitative or debilitative in nature. Consequently, three
main questions will be addressed in this report tackling the issues of
anxieties in learning a foreign language, anxieties in foreign language reading
and the effect of anxieties to learners’ reading comprehension. The questions
are:
1.
What are the reported
anxieties being experienced by the Thai EFL learners?
2.
Are these anxieties present
in EFL reading?
3.
Do these anxieties affect
the reading comprehension of the EFL learners?
It is hoped that through this
examination of the materials and research present in the field could shed light
in some gray areas in the field of ELT.
1.1
Foreign Language Learning in Thailand
It is evident that learning English
as a Foreign Language has shown a dramatic rise in terms of the numbers of
learners in Thailand. Contributing to this popularity is mainly because of the English language
becoming the world’s lingua franca. In this connection, Thailand being one of
the promising economies in the region is not an exception in this trend. A
growing number of Thai people learning English as a foreign language both
locally and abroad are increasing to a greater amount.
According to Wiriyachitra (2001:1),
English plays a vital role in Thailand because the advent of new technology and the popularity of the internet results to development and innovation in the
area of business, education, science, and technology, which demand high
proficiency in English. She also adds that Thailand lags behind in proficiency
as compared to some of its Asian counterparts. In addition, Anyadubalu
(2010:193) as he narrates the Thai experience in the English language recalls
that Thailand as one of the non-native
English speaking countries has been introduced to the English language for
several decades in primary, secondary, colleges, vocational and tertiary
institutions. In the new curriculum,
English will be a compulsory foreign language subject starting from level 1 in
primary education (6 years of age). It
is one of the eight compulsory strands that students will have to take in the
core and elective courses. It is to be
divided into four levels. Level 1 (Preparatory Level) and 2 (Beginning Level)
are in primary education; level 3 (Expanding Level) is in lower secondary education and level 4 (Expanding Level) is in upper – secondary
education(Wiriyachitra,2001) .
Moreover, as a response to this need
the Thai Ministry of Education by virtue of the Basic Education Core Curriculum
of Thailand states that foreign language especially the English language should
be taught in Thai schools at all level. The foreign language constituting basic
learning content that is prescribed for the entire basic education core
curriculum is English, while for other foreign languages, e.g., French, German,
Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Pali and languages of neighboring countries, it is
left to the discretion of educational institutions to prepare courses and
provide learning management appropriately (MOE,2008).
Though the English language has been
here for several decades and despite the efforts of the government to cope up
with the changes brought about by the prominence of English as the world’s
lingua franca to uplift the students’ proficiency in English, still the country
lagged behind in proficiency.
With the knowledge that English is a
foreign language in Thailand, the researcher wants to find out the hindrances
on the part of the learners in achieving proficiency in the language. Though
there were much research trying to find out the anxieties of Thai students, a
very few are concerned about the anxiety and the causes of anxiety of Thai
students. In this light the term anxiety seemed to surface among the
other factors in language learning. This is reflected in their performance in
both the national tests like Ordinary National Educational Test and
standardized tests like TOEFL and TOEIC. The Higher Education Commissions”
English Proficiency Development Center of Thailand reported that Thai students
came eighth in the nine ASEAN countries rated by TOEFL and fourth in TOEIC with
an average score of 524 (Khamkien,
2010:184; Wiriyachitra, 2001:1).
2.
Anxiety and Language Anxiety
Anxiety as defined in
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is simply fear or apprehension. Another popular definition is that anxiety
is the subjective feeling of tension,
apprehension, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous
system (Horwitz, Horwoitz and Cope, 1986:125). In the field of second language
acquisition, foreign language
anxiety is defined as a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs,
feelings, and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the
uniqueness of the language learning process (Horwitz,Horwitz, and Cope 1986:128).
Scovel (in Brown, 2007:161) defines anxieties as feelings
of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry. Speilberger (in Liu ,2011:1) classified
anxiety into three specific anxieties such as state anxiety, trait anxiety, and
situation specific anxiety. It is also the classification that is being used by
psychologists also categorize anxiety into trait anxiety and state anxiety by
which the language anxiety falls into one aspect of state anxiety which is at a
situational level (Brown,2007: 162). Abu-rabia (2010:144) believes that the
main component of the feeling of anxiety is the cognitive one that is characterised
by the individual’s concern for himself or herself, excessive
self-consciousness, and doubts regarding his her ability and self-esteem. To
some researchers (Lang 1971; Cheng 2004;) anxiety has three different
components rather than two: cognitive, physiological (somatic), and avoidance
behavior (behavioral). It is believed to involve a variety of dysfunctional
thoughts, increased physiological arousal and maladaptive behaviors. Some
studies find somatic anxiety and cognitive anxiety co-vary and are hard to
separate. Learners experience apprehension, worry and dread. They exhibit
behavior such as missing the class and postponing the work or assignment. The
relations among anxiety, cognition and behavior are best seen as recursive or
cyclical where each influences the other.
Although there has
been an on-going debate as to whether anxiety stems from poor performance in L2
or the product of this poor performance (Brown, 2007:163) Sparks and Ganschow (1996:2007)
claimed that language anxiety is a consequence of the learners foreign language
learning difficulties while Horwitz (in Brown :163) contended that foreign
language anxiety cannot be attributed to first language deficits. Whether the ongoing debate could seek a clear
explanation by and through research as
to where anxiety stems from, one thing that is clear is the presence of anxiety
in EFL learning dimension and this is language anxiety. Language anxiety
according to Horwitz (2001:114) is the one responsible for students negative
emotional reactions to language learning. Young (1991) mentioned that it is a
type of anxiety that is specifically associated with second/foreign language
learning contexts. Abu-Rabia (2002;143) defines it as a part of general kinds
of situational anxieties related to oral expression and interpersonal
communication known as communication apprehensions.
Language anxiety has been one of the so-called personal
factors that have been considered worth studying once a psychological theory of
the process of second language learning started to develop. In fact, the
anxiety variable has been taken into account by the best foreign known models
of Second Language Acquisition/Learning that have been proposed for the last
thirty years, especially by those who highlighted the importance of affective
variables in the learning process (Cebreros,2004) .
Krashen
(in Peregoy and Boyle, 2001:45) in his
Monitor Model and Affective Filter Hypothesis states that the low anxiety learning
environment is one of the most important affective variables that favours
Second Language Acquisition. Brown (2007:163) supported this claim that anxiety
is one of the predictors in the success of second language acquisition and that
it has an effect in achieving proficiency and too much and too little anxiety
can hinder the process of a successful second language learning.
However,
Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) found out that early research failed to
establish the relationship of learners anxiety in learning a foreign language,
and they attributed this to lack of a reliable and valid measure of anxiety
specific to language learning. They then
theorized that anxieties such as communication
apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation, are
important parts of foreign language anxiety and have an adverse effect on
foreign language learning.
Kao
and Craigie (2010) confirmed this in their studies of undergraduate English
major students from a Taiwanese university is
a predictor of success in foreign language learning. Lucas,Miraflores,
and Go (2011:110-112 ) in their study found that anxious learners, who judged language
learning to be relatively difficult, possess relatively low levels of foreign
language aptitude. On the other hand, they
discovered that faulty beliefs such as learning another language at an early
age is easier and using translation facilitates learning and studying another
language is an overwhelming task may cause the learners to have unrealistic
expectations about the language learning process.
Campbell
and Ortiz (1991:195) estimated that up to one half of all language students
experience debilitating levels of language anxiety. He reveals that when people
are confronted with a situation that they think will make them anxious, the
most expected response is to avoid the situation and thus avoid the discomfort.
However, in most language classrooms, avoidance is not a viable option; they
are expected to find some way to cope with the anxiety.
Furthermore,
Papamihiel (2002:20) contends that anxiety in general could be associated with threats to
self-efficacy and could also reduce the feeling of self-efficacy and appraisals
of situations as threatening for the
learners.
2.1 Anxiety among Foreign
Language Learners
Language learning is a cognitive
activity that relies on encoding, storage, and retrieval processes and anxiety
can interfere with each of these by creating a divided attention scenario for
anxious students (MacIntyre,1995:96). As foreign language learners immerse
themselves in an environment new to them, that is learning a new language that
they’ve never been exposed to, it is expected that in one way or another that
anxiety may arise. It has been argued elsewhere that language anxiety stems
primarily from the social and communicative aspects of language learning and
therefore can be considered social anxieties (MacIntyre and Gardner, 1989,1991b).
Needless to say, that this anxiety may arise
from their language deficits or the result of their poor performance.
Whatever the case maybe several studies have demonstrated
correlation between language anxiety and performance in a second language
(Horwitz and Young,1991; McIntyre and Gardner, 1991). Tobias (1986) suggested
that students experiencing language anxiety in the past are prone to
experiencing state anxiety when exposed to a second language context and that
this state anxiety affects the cognitive activity of the learners. Liu (2006)
reflects that the effects of anxiety on foreign language learning have been
explored since the 1970s and apprehensions continue to exist in second/foreign
language classrooms in spite of substantial advances in teaching methods and
techniques. MacIntyre and Gardner(1989) states that students feel anxious only
after on-going negative experiences in the language learning environment.
Campbell and Ortiz (in
Duxbury, 2010:4) revealed that anxiety level in language classrooms is
alarming.
In exploring the anxieties being experineced by the foreign language
learners this report focused more in the Asian region. Anyadubalu (2010) in his study of 324 Thai middle
school students confirmned the effect of anxiety to the learners when he found out that high level of
English langauge anxiety results to Thai learners poor performance but the low
level of anxiety in English langauge yields a remarkable performance among the
Thai learners. It is also supported by
Suwantarathip and Wichadee (2010:56) when they tried to lessen the impacts of
anxiety to of second year university students through cooperative learning
which thus confirm the presence langauge anxiety among Thai learners. Thus, it
also suggetss that language anxiety is a major factor that negatively affects
students performance in the English language. Lucas ,Miraflores, & Go
(2011) in their study of anxiety of foreign language learners in the
Philippines established that test
anxiety and fear of negative evaluation constitute the type of learning
anxieties that students were experiencing. They also concluded that foreign learners experienced anxiety if they
were being evaluated by both their peers and their teachers as to their
performance in using the targetlanguage. The researcher also noted the negative
affective experience when they were learning the language and foreign langugae
learners would like to avoid losing face‟ in their English language class.
In
China and Taiwan context, it has been found out that foreign language learning anxiety is
present in the elementary, secondary and high school level. All of the foreign
language learning anxieties were all obvious in the studies conducted to
Taiwanese students. Communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of
negative evaluation were the anxieties dealt with by the Taiwanese students
whenever they learned English as a Foreign language ( Wu and Yu Ching
(2004);Cui (2011). These findings are supported by the study by Liu (2006) when
she dissected the journals of the college students in China. She found out that
a number of students became anxious
when speaking English in class, especially when singled out to answer questions
or give presentations.
Similarly, Andrade and Williams (2009) in their studies of
Japanese university students indicated that some degree of anxiety affects the
majority of their respondents while a minority suffers a debilitating effect of
anxiety. Cutrone, (2009) reveals potential causes of Japanese EFL learners’ language anxiety as communication
apprehension, social evaluation, and inter-learner competition. Meanwhile
Matsuda and Gobel (2001) conducted a similar study with Japanese university
students and recognized that confident learners experience low anxiety and feel
that they have ability to do well, whereas less confident learners claim higher
anxiety and feel that they lack the ability to perform well.
Also in their study
of Japanese college students Kondo and Ying-ling (2004) considered that anxiety
had adverse effects on language learning. Their study shows that anxiety itself
is an unpleasant experience and most of the students irrespective of their
anxiety level, would want to minimize its impact. The question, then, should
not be whether students use certain coping strategies, but how effectively
these strategies may be used.
Park and Hyesook (2010) in their study among the Korean
college students, affirms that there is a significant effect of anxiety to the
oral performance of the Korean college students. The result of their study
indicated that higher anxious students in speaking English gained lower scores
in their oral performance.
Subasi (2010)
also asserts in his studies that there is a positive correlation between an
individual’s fear of negative evaluation and his/her anxiety level.
However Liu and Huang (2011:5)
negated the tremendous effect of anxiety in relation to motivation. The result
of their study sided that their respondents who are Chinese university students
did not feel anxious at all and they are moderately motivated to learn English.
In addition, anxiety and English learning motivation are found out to be
negatively correlated.
Nevertheless, some researchers
showed skeptical view on the link between anxiety and second language
acquisition. Scovel and Dewaele denied what the other researchers claim about
relationship between anxiety and second language acquisition.
Furthermore, Horwitz (2001)
generalizes that understanding language anxiety is fundamental to our
understanding in order to know how the learners approach language learning,
their expectations for success or failures, and know why they continue or
discontinue their studies.
2.2 Anxieties
and Reading Comprehension
From
the different definitions of reading we could simply define though it’s quite
vague that reading is the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and
interpret this information appropriately. The role of reading is so complex
that a few comments are needed to situate the role of reading and student
learning. Reading in L2 context continues to take increasing importance. The
overwhelming majority of societies and countries around the world are multilingual
and citizens are expected to function well in more than one language. L2
reading ability, particularly with English as L2, is already in great demand as
English continues to spread, not also as a global language but also as the
language of science, technology and advanced research. But apparently, reading
proficiency in both L1 and L2 does not take place easily and that it requires
considerable amount of time (Grabe and Stoller, 2011). However, one can infer
that there is less attention being devoted on poor comprehension of EFL
learners (Zoghi, et.al,2010:1). Thus, this report seeks to find out more on the
relationship of anxiety and reading comprehension.
Learners
who are incapable of effectively comprehending reading texts may experience great
frustration and may not have motivation for further learning. As Abu-rabia and
Abu Rabia (2010 p.156) put it language anxiety is a central factor that
influences the abilities of foreign language learners in all areas, including
the various skills in writing and reading. Their findings contradicted the
claims of Sparks and Ganschow but not
with reading comprehension. They claimed that students with high language
anxiety obtain significantly low grades in every foreign language skill because
of the lack of ability in the foreign language that arose from a different
origin.
Reading
strategies are techniques or conscious actions taken to improve understanding
and solve difficulties encountered in reading. Reading strategies include
reading aloud, paraphrasing, guessing, re-reading the text, visualizing the
information, asking oneself questions, translating, and using a dictionary Lien
(2011). The successful use of reading strategies benefits learners’ reading
comprehension (Huang, Chern, & Lin, 2009).
Meanwhile,
compared to the amount of studies conducted about foreign language anxiety
reading anxiety in relation to language anxiety receives little attention.
Reading as a receptive skill is one of the essential skills that a foreign
language learner should know. It
is considered an individual act in that the success of reading does not depend
on a dynamic construction of meaning by two or more speakers. In fact, it is
maintained that readers first decode the symbols into sounds, associate the
sounds with words and then attempt to process the meaning of the text (Shariati
and Bordbar, 2009). There is a chance of becoming anxious when the reader can
decipher the words of a foreign language text but not its sense, because of
incomplete knowledge of cultural material underlying the text (Saito et al.,
1999).
At
this point, there is a preliminary report which strengthen the possible
relationships between general foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA),
foreign language reading anxiety (FLRA), gender, extended overseas experience,
and classroom performance (Matsuda and Gobel, 2004)
A
study by Sellers (2010) pointed out that different target languages may not
have similar levels of reading anxiety. He suggested that when language
proficiency is combined with reading ability the finding would be more
predictive for lower grade levels. Consistent to this finding is the result of
the study conducted by Chen (2007) which revealed that reading performance has
a weak correlation with both test anxiety and reading anxiety as well as no
significant correlation in EFL students reading performance. Meanwhile, Matsuda
and Gobel (2004) conducted a study with English majors in a Japanese university and
they found out that there is no significant relationship between foreign
language anxiety and foreign language anxiety in reading.
When
it comes to gender, anxiety and reading , Jafarigohar and Behroznia (2012:163)
found out that female learners are more concerned about language difficulties
than males and tend to be more anxious and worry-oriented than men. Conversely,
there were some studies that proved that men possessed higher anxiety when
compared to their female counterparts as Kitano, Mejias and Spileberger
discovered, (in Jafarigohar and Behroznia, 2012. Ganschow and Sparks (1996) investigated
the relationship between anxiety level and measures of native language skill,
foreign language aptitude, and foreign language grades among a population
of high school women enrolled in first
year foreign language classes concluded that affective variables such as
anxiety are important for foreign language learning and has received high
regard and consideration from foreign language educators.
Wu
(2011) conducted a study among 91 university students regarding anxiety and
reading comprehension performance of Taiwanese first year college students claimed
that there is no significant differences in reading comprehension performance
among EFL students with high, mid, and low language anxiety and reading
anxiety. But it also indicated that students with high language anxiety had
lower reading comprehension scores than the students with mid language anxiety
followed by students with low language anxiety.
On the other hand, Algothani (2010) in exploring the
relationship among test anxiety, reading anxiety and reading performance
recognized that the nature of the Foreign Language Learning Anxiety has a
facilitating and debilitating effect among the learners in Arabic reading
course in their oral performance. Yao and Jingna (2011:663)conclude
that there is a negative relationship between anxiety level and students
reading comprehension proficiency, teachers should explore instructional
strategies that can reduce anxiety and enable students to exploit fully the
resources available to them. Speaking of resources one of them that is deemed
to help reduce anxiety is the use of multimedia environments to boost self
confidence of low achievers.
Furthermore, students who are perceived with the
lowest level of anxiety were found to comprehend the most when reading silently
and those students with highest level of reading anxiety comprehended the least
when reading orally to themselves (Tsai and Li, 2012; Zhang, 2003).
3.Anxiety
and Its Pedagogical Implications
Under the areas of Affect in second language learning is
anxiety. Brown and White (2010:335) reports that early inquiry into emotions in
Second Language Acquisition focused almost exclusively on anxiety. Gardner,
Tremblay and Masgoret (in Brown and White,2010:336) supports the idea that language
anxiety is associated with deficits, in listening comprehension, impaired
vocabulary learning, and reduced word production, low scores on standardized
tests and low grades in classroom courses
From the standpoint mentioned above it can be gleaned that
foreign language anxiety is indeed an important factor in SLA that should not
be ignored. Young (1999) believes that the only way to train students to become
better language learners is to accomplish it by helping students deal and
overcome their feelings of anxiety.
Anxiety whether it is the product when the learners is
exposed to a foreign language or the anxiety that builds up when someone learns
a foreign language is still anxiety. Thereby, as a classroom teacher and
researcher we have a task of finding ways to alleviate or reduce the anxieties
in the language classrooms.
Likewise, a multitude of ways to reduce anxieties have
been formulated and suggested by various researchers. Jafarigohar and
Behrooznia(2012) advocates that foreign language anxiety should be taken more
seriously not only by instructors, but also by students and program developers.
This may be achieved through workshops or presentations in foreign language
anxiety and exploring different possible ways to alleviate anxiety in the
classroom. Suwantharatip and Wichadee (2010:56) also agrees that cooperative
learning reduces anxiety as part of the language learning method and improves
higher language proficiency. Another way suggested by some researchers is to
promote cooperative learning as it has been suggested as one possible means of
reducing anxieties in the classrooms (Duxbury and Tsai, 2010:4 p.4).However in
the investigation done by Duxbury and Tsai (2010:10-11) they found out that
foreign language anxiety and cooperative learning showed no relationship in the
US school and a positive relationship in the Taiwanese schools. Despite of
these contradicting findings one can observe the practical effect of cooperative
learning in the classroom. A scenario that I have observed in an EFL reading
classroom is that students tend to perform better when they belong to the
group.
And to contradict these findings and agree with the
previous researchers is to give my anecdotal experience in my reading class. Normally
I ask the students to read orally individually, in pairs, in groups or as a
whole class (choral reading). It is not surprising that they perform well when
they read as a whole class. Based on my observation they read fluently with
above average accuracy compared to when they are reading alone. Though they
have to read in synch as a group at a proper pace it never hinders them to do
their best and finish the reading material. I would say that they feel more
relaxed and more motivated and enthusiastic with the reading activity. It is also my assumption as their teacher that
it is anxiety that affects the students performance when they read individually.
Indeed, I would label it as my own style of cooperative learning in a big
class.
Another way to reduce anxiety in language learning is
through social support from teachers and peers since this influence academic
achievement (Huang, et.al, 2010:33). Horwitz ( in Huang,2008) found out that
students who are praised, respected and
supported by teachers felt better and they liked the school and since it
is nearly impossible to eliminate anxiety he suggests that teachers can help
students feel more comfortable. It is also recommended that in order to reduce
the learners’ anxiety language teachers should help the learners recognize
their own discomfort and establish reasonable, and achievable expectations of
language learning. He also reminds the teachers to be gentler when correcting
mistakes, use humor and a other creative ways that create a low anxiety
environment, and engage students in small groups and in pair activities. Huang,
et. al (2010:35 ) similarly found out that in their study of adult Taiwanese
language learners that language learning anxiety and various type of support
are correlated. This means that academic support helps the learners to become
more comfortable in their English learning. These findings is supported by the
study of Liu (2006 :313) with Chinese undergraduate non English major students
:
“Even during pair work, the more nervous students would
contribute less to the discussion and
spend more time listening, looking up words or thinking about what to say and how to say it in
English. When answering questions alone or giving
presentations at the front of the class, especially when unprepared, most students would become very nervous. Some
students became so tense that their mouths
or legs even shook during presentation”.
As regards the findings that teacher and peer support
lower anxiety is undeniable. As students engage themselves in a new environment
or situation, it would be helpful on the apart of the learners to acclimatize
themselves in the environment and one of these is socializing with the people
in the language classroom. Since both parties, the teacher or the peer and the
learners might have a different perception of each role depending on their
cultural upbringing. It would be helpful if the teacher initiates a warm and
welcoming atmosphere in the classroom without jeopardizing your role as a
teacher as you have responsibility over them and keep intact your moral
ascendancy. As Tallon ( in Huang,2010:36) suggests that language teachers need
to acknowledge the existence of foreign language anxiety and realize that
language class could be intimidating for some students. In Asia, especially in
Thailand the teachers are much revered that sometimes the students are
alienated and intimidated by just the mere presence of a new teacher. If this
is the situation, it would be impossible for the language teachers to get any
response or any results from the learners. Leveling of your expectations as
Horwitz points out in the study of Huang (2010) should also be a highlight of
your platform if you want to succeed in reducing learners’ anxiety.
Learning to put oneself in others’ shoes could also be
one of the key. Empathy and not apathy should be in your mind as a language
teacher. Too high expectations or too low is like self infliction of the
burdens that is all there is in foreign language teaching. One should remember
“the word foreign” to guide them with their teaching practice. So the teachers
should learn how to walk with them by guiding them at a pace that is not too
fast but not too slow in order for them to get by with the rigors of foreign
language learning. Reaching out to the learners through this or though ones
demeanor, appearance or gestures could make you in touch with the learners’
reality. Being perceived as a teacher, that is so distant to them, piles up
their anxiety that hampers optimum language learning. The language teacher must
be clear about his role so as not to encourage complacency and be abused by the
learners. As Abu-Rabia (2004) suggests, because of the important role of the
teacher personality and attitude on student learning, teachers should be
formally trained in ways to show support for their students.
It has been found out that
individuals with higher levels of trait emotional intelligence suffered less
from communication and language anxiety (Brown and White, (2010:336).
Pishghadam (2009 :56) found out that emotional intelligence has several
implications in language learning that it fosters development in verbal
intelligence to speaking ability, writing ability , verbal intelligence with
reference to relevancy and fluency. Certainly, we can equate this to maturity
in learning. Learners with mature outlook in life are likely to succeed
compared to the ones who are clueless in their endeavor. In the field of
language learning it can be observed that learners who are motivated to learn a
foreign language also see it differently from their low motivated counterparts.
The mature language learners know their purpose and the importance of their
pursuit from the start.
Yao and Jingna (2011:663) propose that
teachers should explore instructional strategies that can reduce anxiety and
enable students to exploit fully the resources available to them. And when we
speak of resources one of them that is
deemed to help reduce anxiety is the use of multimedia environments to boost
self confidence of low achievers. There has been a study purporting the
creation of multimedia environments in reducing the anxiety of the students in
foreign language learning.
Kao (2006) believes that multimedia
features create safe environments for the low achievers so they can learn
independently because it can reduce pressure from peers and instructors as well
as gain interaction with computers by working through several exercises at
their own pace. Let alone the anxieties that students might face in using this
multimedia technology, gadgets or environment, it would be a helpful tool in
easing the anxiety since the learners of this generation are tech savvy that
they could easily adapt to such method or strategy.
Additionally, a teacher can create a
more interactive and creative ways by fusing technology and language in his
classrooms. On the contrary, adult learners having problems with technology
might be left out which should be taken into consideration by the language
teachers. The teachers should always be reminded that technology could either
make or break any language lessons. It could either motivate or de-motivate the
learners.
Finally, language anxiety is undeniably
affecting the progress of the language learners and it has to be seen earlier
and be given a remedy.
4. Conclusions and Recommendations for
Future Research
Recent studies about language
anxiety show that it is a common phenomenon in the EFL field. A multitude of
studies have been conducted about anxiety and its relationship to language
learning. The studies of Sellers, Huang, Kao, Yao and Jingna are just some of
the recent contributions of the ELT professionals in EFL learning and teaching.
Anxiety, language anxiety, reading anxiety and other areas in English or
foreign language learning are indeed some of the hot topics under the category
of Affect in language learning. Though some researchers or experts also imply
to further look at the other dimensions of language learning and not just the
affective factors, it is the contention of the author that putting forth the
learners’ anxiety in front of their learning process would be a great help for
them. An illness that is diagnosed early can be easily given preventive
medications. It’s the same as knowing the learners’ anxiety and adjusting your
teaching style or finding ways by which you can reduce their anxiety. In this connection,
it is the belief of the author that affective factors such as anxiety is worth
researching and would optimize the learning capabilities of the EFL learners.
Obviously, this paper is focused on
the anxieties being experienced by the male high school students in Thailand particularly
that of Assumption College Sriracha. The author will try to find out their
language anxieties, reading anxieties and the effect of these anxieties in
their reading comprehension performance. Though there are some studies that
have tackled these issues, several of them have Thailand or Thai students as
their respondents. Exploring this dimension would somehow contribute to the
field of ELT and be of use to some professionals or teachers in the field. In
lieu of this, future research conducted in Thai context also is encouraged especially
in a coed institution or in a public institution. Relating demographics and
socio-cultural factors among the Thai learners could also be a good venture for
the researchers. There is a mention of emotional Intelligence in some studies
and pitching it with anxiety and performance of the foreign language learners
may also provide another venue for the other researchers to discover new
knowledge in ELT.
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