Affective factors

1. Anxiety

2. Self-Esteem and ‘Self-concept’ (Self-confidence and self-efficacy)

3. Inhibition

4. Risk Taking

5. Empathy

6. attribution

7. attitude

8. aptitude

Language Anxiety

"Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with
an arousal of the automatic nervous system" (Horwitz et al. 1986: 125).

Language anxiety involves "the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or
using a second language" (MacIntyre 1999: 27)

Types of ANXIETY:

1. TRAIT ANXIETY is the general trait of a person being anxious.

2. STATE ANXIETY is anxiety experienced in relation to a particular event.

"Anxiety experienced in the course of learning a foreign language is specific and unique"

(Bailey et al, 1995)

Sources of Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA)

Personal Anxieties

• Low self-esteem & competitiveness

• Shyness & lack of confidence

Social anxieties

• Fear of negative evaluation

• Fear of making mistakes and embarrassment

• Fear of sounding "dumb" and being laughed at

Beliefs about language learning

 -Self-perceived cognitive abilities

-excessive caution

Self-efficacy

• Performance anxiety

• Language Test anxiety

Communication Apprehension

• Oral production in front of the class

Teacher beliefs about language teaching

• Teacher-learner interactions

• Classroom procedures

Effects of Foreign Language Anxiety

Anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process."
(Arnold and Brown1999, p. 8)

*High levels of anxiety in classroom => abandonment of language study (Dewaele & Thirtle 2009)

*FL teachers need to identify learners who struggle with high levels of FLCA (Gregersen 2007)

Suggested techniques for teachers

Identifying anxious learners + Developing speaking confidence

• Never criticize Ss' performance

• Keep to a minimum intervention and correction:

• Don't Correct - Provide feedback correctly instead

• Do provide positive reinforcement and invites the class to do so

•Develop sense of security and respect: Reduce mocking behavior in class

•Create a good humor atmosphere - making mistakes is part of learning sometimes it's good to be
silly!

•NEVER Ever acknowledge Ss' shyness in public.

•Empower quietest students to express themselves

•Give opportunities to shy students to lead games in classroom activities

Self-Esteem/worth
Levels of self-esteem:

1. Global self-esteem (overall): refers to an individual's overall evaluation of their worth,

value, and competence as a person.

2. Situational self-esteem (context and situation); is context-specific and relates to how

an individual perceives their worth or competence in particular situations or contexts.

3. Task self-esteem (or specific); is focused on an individual's evaluation of their

competence or worth in relation to specific tasks or activities.

Pedagogical Implications

⁃ Students need to experience success opportunities (Create opportunities for students

to experience success in their academic and non-academic pursuits. This can boost their confidence
and contribute to positive self-esteem)

⁃ Teachers may want to avoid overcorrecting the SS (Teachers should provide

constructive feedback that guides improvement without excessively focusing on errors.
Overcorrection can negatively impact a student's self-esteem, hindering their willingness to engage in
learning. °

INHIBITION

A feeling of embarrassment or worry that prevents you from saying or doing what you want.

Pedagogical Implication:

Pedagogical approaches that reduce inhibition/lower the affective filter in L2 classrooms by creating a
"safe" atmosphere for students to take risks.

Risk Taking

‘FAILURE IS NOT OPPOSITE OF SUCCESS, IT IS PART OF SUCCESS’

Pedagogical Implications:

• If the learner is less inhibited, he/she is more willing to take a chance on producing L2

• Good L2 learners are usually moderate risk-takers. "They don't take wild risks or enter into no-win
situations'

Empathy

Definition: Empathy is the process of "putting yourself into someone else's shoes"

Affective empathy: Mirror or share feelings

Cognitive empathy: Understand perspective of others

 Empathic concern Recognize emotions, feel & show concern

Affective Empathy:

Involves mirroring or sharing the emotional experiences of others. Individuals with strong
affective empathy can feel what others are feeling.

Cognitive Empathy:

Involves understanding the perspectives, thoughts, and emotions of others without necessarily
sharing their emotional state. It's a more cognitive or intellectual understanding of another person's
viewpoint.

Empathic Concern:

Goes beyond understanding and involves recognizing emotions in others, feeling concern for
their well-being, and expressing that concern through actions or expressions of support

Pedagogical Implications:

Acquiring a second language is in a sense acquiring a new personality; a new culture/self.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis

A number of’ affective variables' have impacts in second language acquisition.

• These variables include: motivation, self-confidence, anxiety and personality traits.

• High motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, a low level of anxiety and

extroversion can lower the affective filter and bring success in second language acquisition.

• Low motivation, low self-esteem, anxiety, introversion and inhibition can raise the
affective filter and form a ‘mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for
acquisition.

Motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety level of the student must be taken into account. If their
affective filter is up, they cannot acquire as much new information

(Krashen, 1987, p.)

Self-Concept

Self-confidence:

Self-confidence relates to how confident people feel about their abilities and competence.

An example given is Nina, a 19-year-old German student who achieved a high level in the Cambridge
Proficiency Exam. Despite her proficiency, a single incident where a stranger identified her as a
foreigner due to her hesitation ('Um') caused her to experience self-doubt.
This example shows that even highly competent individuals can have moments of low self-
confidence, which can temporarily affect their self-perception. However, underlying self-confidence,
as in Nina's case, can help in quickly recovering from such setbacks.

Self-efficacy:

Self-efficacy, as defined by Bandura, is the belief in one's capabilities to complete a task successfully.

It's suggested that people with positive self-efficacy are more likely to try to succeed and overcome
obstacles whereas those with lower self-efficacy may not reach their full potential.

Bandura's theory posits that self-efficacy influences the choice of activities, the effort put into tasks,
and persistence in the face of difficulties.

The text references a study by Alymidin Kyzy (2017) that explored the relationship between self-
efficacy and achievement, underscoring the importance of self-efficacy in academic and personal
success.

Attitude

Lee's Experience:

Lee arrived with good intentions, as indicated by her initial high ratings for strategies like talking to
native speakers and making friends with them.

However, from the beginning, Lee faced challenges and expressed dissatisfaction with her learning
environment, mentioning issues like feeling ignored by the teacher and a desire for more interaction
with native speakers and smaller class sizes.

Over time, Lee's attitude became increasingly negative. She felt unable to meet English speakers and
perceived them as unfriendly, leading to a decrease in her engagement with language learning
strategies.

Despite being promoted to a higher level, it was observed that her progress could have been better if
not for her negative attitude and diminishing use of language learning strategies.

Taro's Experience:

Taro, who started at the same time as Lee, demonstrated a more positive and outgoing attitude.

He interacted enthusiastically with teachers and fellow students, which might have contributed to his
rapid progress through four levels in the same period that Lee was there.

Taro's experience suggests that a positive attitude and proactive engagement in the learning process
can significantly enhance language acquisition.

Conclusion:

The comparison between Lee and Taro highlights how attitude plays a crucial role in language
learning. A positive, adaptable, and proactive attitude, as shown by Taro, can lead to more significant
progress and effective language acquisition, whereas a negative and inflexible attitude, as
demonstrated by Lee, can hinder learning despite having initial good intentions and capabilities.

CONCLUSION

All in all, foreign language anxiety is a critical factor with regard to second language acquisition.
Empirical research has shown it is a dynamic factor (Pawlak 2009; Ellis 2004), which interacts with
other variables, for example with tolerance of ambiguity (Dewaele and Ip 2013). Nevertheless, no
teacher can guarantee that a class will be anxiety-free; however, teachers should be aware of trying
to minimize the anxiety in the classroom to strengthen language learning efficiency.

As MacIntyre (1995: 96) states, "anxious students (.) will not learn as quickly as relaxed students".
Therefore, probably teaching learners how to become less anxious and instructing teachers how to
create a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere is a particular direction of research that should be
developed.