Review of Studies of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety

Anxiety is considered to be one of the key psychological variables as well as one of the important emotional factors that affect language learning. Taken into account that classroom is the main place in which Chinese college students learn English,it is of great significance to study students' language anxiety in the classroom environment. Based on the previous researches, this paper reviews the relevant studies in this area conducted at home and abroad.

A Brief Analysis About the Function of the Communicative Approach -- It Can Lighten Classroom Anxiety in Foreign Language Teaching

Classroom Anxiety is very common and to some extent it influences students＇ achievements in foreign language learning. So, how to solve this problem in order to help students have a good performance in foreign language learning is a very urgent issue. According to the writer＇s study, communicative approach is an effective method to deal with it.

An Empirical Study on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety of College Students

Classroom anxiety could exert a tremendous influence on foreign language learners during their process of studying.Within this study,353 college students of China Youth University of Political Studies(CYUPS)are selected as participants;the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS)is applied as a tool and Statistic Package for Social Science(SPSS)software is used to analyze all the data to figure out whether there is difference on genders,grades,and majors among college students on their levels of foreign language classroom anxiety.The results show that considering all three anxiety perspectives:communication apprehension,test anxiety,and fear of negative evaluation,anxiety level between males and females are similar;there is also no significant difference among grades;however,English majors are significantly less anxious than non-English majors on test anxiety.

Speaking Anxiety in a Kazakhstani Foreign Language Classroom

The present study aimed to contribute to our understanding of foreign language anxiety, in general, and in particular speaking anxiety in Kazakhstani environment. It was the first attempt to fill this gap and reveal more about the speaking anxiety in the Elementary level of Kazakh students group, having considered how anxiety might have affected speaking and overall classroom performance. This study addressed the issue of identifying foreign language speaking anxiety and the major consequences of language speaking anxiety reported by students learning English in the evaluation of the foreign language classroom. Anxiety levels in Kazakh students of English were studied through self-evaluation using a scale adapted from the FLCAS （Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale） developed by E. K. Horwitz, M. B. Horwitz, and Cope （1986）. As revealed by the results of this study, English language speaking anxiety does exist among the Kazakh second-year university students who participated in this study. And too, the study revealed that these students have had a number of negative experiences with speaking activities in a foreign language class.

A Study on Left-behind Junior Students'Foreign Language Learning Anxiety

Since the 1960s, foreign language educators and researchers home and abroad have started to pay attention to the influence of the affective variables including language learning anxiety on foreign language learning. This thesis tried to find out the factors that may influence the foreign language learning anxiety level of left-behind students and put forward ways to help lower down the foreign language learning anxiety level of the left-behind junior middle school students.

An Analysis of the Foreign Language Anxiety among Chinese Non-English Majors

In college English learning, many learning variables are considered to influence the proficiency of studying, among which, anxiety is one of the most important affective variables. There is a negative correlation between anxiety and foreign language learning. The present study explores the correlation between foreign language anxiety and language performance. It put forward two suggestions concerning what language teachers can do to help Non-English Major students lower their foreign language anxiety.

Researches on Foreign Language Learning Anxiety

Foreign language anxiety is one of the factors of affecting foreign language achievement. It is negatively associated with language skill learning. This article will show some researches on foreign language anxiety from certain aspects.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety:Associations With General and Domain-Specific English Achievement

Recent research has confirmed the predictive effect of general foreign language(FL) achievement on Foreign Language Enjoyment(FLE) and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety(FLCA).However,few studies have examined the effect of domain-specific language achievement in shaping FL learning emotions.The present study thus aims to examine how FLE and FLCA are linked to overall FL achievement and self-perceived achievement in six different domains across listening,speaking,reading,writing,vocabulary,and grammar.A total of 1,415 Chinese senior secondary students participated in the questionnaire survey.Regression analyses showed that 1) both FLE and FLCA were predicted more by self-perceived general English proficiency,while less by actual English achievement;2) perceptions of speaking and grammar competence were significant predictors of both emotions;3) perceived reading competence predicted FLE significantly but not FLCA;and that 4) perceptions of listening,writing,and vocabulary competence predicted neither FLE nor FLCA.The implication is that domain-specificity should be taken into consideration in future explorations of FL emotions.

Ways to Overcome Foreign Language Anxiety in Listening and Speaking for Middle School Students

Listening and speaking, being important components in English language learning, are affected by many factors,includ-ing one negative emotion, foreign language anxiety. This paper discusses the effects of foreign language anxiety on middle schoolstudents in English listening and speaking. It analyzes the causes of this anxiety in terms of teachers, students, schools, methodolo-gies and cultural background. The relevant teaching strategies are presented to reduce students' language anxiety and improvetheir listening and speaking.

An Analysis of Foreign Language Learning Anxiety in Junior English Classes

There are many factors influencing junior students’English learning and this paper focuses on one aspect of affective factors—foreign language learning anxiety.It has negative effects on students’learning,so suggestions are given in the paper.Students are supposed to be more confident and have a proper awareness of language learning and competition;teachers are expected to change beliefs about language teaching and create a relaxing atmosphere in class.

Foreign Language Enjoyment and Anxiety: The effect of teacher and learner variables (Ⅰ)

Positive psychology has boosted interest in the positive as well as the negative emotions that Foreign Language learners experience. The present study examines whether -and to what extent -foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and FL classroom anxiety (FLCA) are linked to a range of learner-internal variables and teacher/classroom-specific variables within one specific educational context. Participants were 189 British high school students learning various FLs. Levels of FLE were linked to higher scores on attitudes towards the FL, the FL teacher, FL use in class, proportion of time spent on speaking, relative standing and stage of development. Lower levels FLCA were linked to higher scores on attitudes towards the FL, relative standing and stage of development. FLCA thus seems less related to teacher and teacher practices than FLE. The pedagogical implication is that teachers should strive to boost FLE rather than worry too much about students' FLCA.

The Relation ship between Foreign Language Anxiety and PRETCO-B Scores of Higher Vocational College Students

Higher vocational college students are suffering foreign language anxiety in their English learning. Actually, negative cor-relation exists between foreign language anxiety and PRETCO-B scores. Foreign language anxiety debilitates English learning.It ishoped that the finding will be of value to the English teaching and learning in higher vocational colleges.

International Students Experience Foreign Language Anxiety: Case data from galvanic skin response

This experiment utilized video clips and electrodermal activity(GSR) to explore the subject's foreign language anxiety during mathematical operations in two different languages. A single case multiple baseline design was performed with a postgraduate who used English as a foreign language. Physiological measures indicated that international students experienced foreign language anxiety intensely even though they were familiar with the knowledge being tested. And the independent-samples test shows that there exist significant differences in the two types of working memory capacity tasks involving mathematical contents. Further research could focus on individual differences, including demographic variables(the number of subjects, gender) and psychological variables(anxiety traits), to figure out what kind of ways may really suitable for international students' learning.

A Researchon Foreign Language Anxiety among Vocational School Students

Foreign language anxiety is a negative emotion of fear or apprehension occurring in the specific situation of foreign language learning influencing language learning. The author made a research among vocational school students to investigate the level and sources of foreign language anxiety.

Exploring the role of L2 proficiency and foreign language anxiety in EMI course achievement in China

The purpose of this study is to find out how and to what extent students’L2 proficiency and English learning anxiety impact their EMI courses achievement at a Chinese state university.Quantitative research method was conducted.Questionnaire,CET-4 score and EMI exam score(n=94)were collected from undergraduate students from School of Economics who have attended or are attending International Finance course.English language proficiency and anxiety were explored as possible significant predictors of academic success in EMI.The results showed that the two predictors,English language proficiency and anxiety were significant predictors of academic success in EMI.This result highlights that students with a lower level of proficiency need supplementary linguistic support in order to fully succeed in their EMI studies.Also,code-switching to Chinese when necessary and make classes communicative and fun may help to release students’anxiety.This study helped us better understand the impact of students’English level and anxiety on EMI achievement,and it also provides pedagogical implications for teachers of EMI courses.

A Study on Public Speaking Anxiety Among Chinese High School Students in Native Language and English

With the development of society, people start to put more emphasis on the ability of language and speaking. Anxiety, as one ofthe important affective variables that influence the effective of public speaking has attract the attention of many scholars. Previous re-search has indicated that in some cultures, public speaking anxiety in a second language is much higher than peaking in a native lan-guage, but little research has been done in China. Through an empirical research in a high school, this research tries to figure out theoverall situation of high school students foreign language anxiety level, compare students' anxiety of the public speaking in Chinese andin English, and find the relationship between public speaking anxiety and foreign language anxiety, so as to provide suggestions for im-proving the design of high school English class and college English speaking courses, and give some implications for public speakingtrainings.

A Path Analysis of the Interrelationship Among EFL Learners’ Humor Style, Anxiety, and Language Proficiency

Humor is a complicated part of the human experience and therefore an important dimension of humanity’s unique ability for language. The main purpose of this study is to find which dimension of humor styles can better predict anxiety and language achievement. The participants of the present study were 210 (103 female and 107 male) Iranian advanced EFL learners with different ages, both genders, and various educational backgrounds. Convenience sampling was employed to collect data. This study utilized one test and two questionnaires which are Preliminary English Test (PET), the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), and The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). Path Analysis and Pearson correlation were used to analyze data. Results showed that all four sub-constructs of humor styles, affiliative humor (β=-0.27, p < 0.05), self-enhancing humor (β=-0.31, p < 0.05), aggressive humor (β= 0.17, p < 0.05), and self-defeating humor (β= 0.20, p < 0.05) are significant predictors of learners’ anxiety. However, among four sub-constructs of humor styles, only affiliative humor (β=-0.32, p < 0.05), and self-enhancing humor (β=-0.25, p < 0.05) are positive significant predictors of learners’ Language Achievement. In addition, language achievement is predicted negatively by anxiety (β=-0.26, p < 0.05). Two paths from aggressive humor to language proficiency (β= 0.09, p > 0.05), and from self-defeating humor to language proficiency (β= 0.07, p > 0.05) were not significant and removed from the model. With regards to the field of foreign language, humor has been identified as a powerful means to decrease students’ anxiety in a foreign language learning situations and it helps language learners in performing in a foreign language.

The Model of Speaking in Teaching Indonesian to Foreign Speakers Based on Self-Regulated Learning and Anxiety Reduction Approaches

Model for spoken is expected to overcome difficulties in teaching and learning Indonesian language for foreign speakers. Language anxiety is the anxiety that arises when a person learns foreign language. Foreign Language Anxiety （anxiety to learn a foreign language） is of concern or negative emotional reactions that arise when studying or using foreign language. Self-regulated learning is an active and constructive process undertaken by learners in setting goals for their learning and trying to monitor, regulate, and control of cognition, motivation, and behavior, then everything is directed and driven by purpose and adapted to the context and environment. The research method used is an R and D （research and development） method with a sample of foreign speakers of Chinese. Variables that receive interference are the ability to speak in Indonesian, while the variables used to interfere with the self-regulated learning and language anxiety as a variable controller. Intrapersonal factors become barriers that cause stuttering speech limited due to the mastering subject content. On the basis of that, this speaking model applies the principle of self-regulated learning in the learning process, using a communicative and contextual approach. This model intended for foreign speakers who learn Indonesian language outside of Indonesia, so to bring the atmosphere mandated in sociolinguistic built through media and relevant teaching methods.

ANXIETY IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

As is well known, some students are more successful than others in language learning. This different level of achievement may be attributed to variables associated with the teachers and students. In recent years there has been extensive research into aspects of differences in learning a second language. Some dimensions of learner differences are generally acknowledged such as age, aptitude, motivation, cognitive style, anxiety, attitude and learning strategies. In my paper I attempt to review and discuss one of them — anxiety — which research studies indicate may influence students' achievements of language learning.