Reducing Learners’ Language
Anxiety: Bridging the Gap
between Research and Practice
by Angelica Galante
Brock University
Copyright Galante, Angelica (2010). This work is the intellectual property of the author.
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AGENDA
 Warm-up: Have you ever heard these comments?
 Defining language anxiety
 What research on language anxiety suggest
 Talking about students’ fears: BALLI and FLCAS
 Bridging the gap: activities that reduce language anxiety levels
 Oral evaluation
 Case studies analysis
 Conclusion
 References
Have you ever heard
these comments?
Warming-up
 “I sweat every time I have to speak English with a native speaker”
 “I hate speaking English in front of the class”
 “My heart starts beating faster every time my teacher asks me a
question”
 “I am ashamed of speaking English because of my accent”
 “I always feel that other students are more at ease to speak than me”
 “I get upset that I just cannot verbalize what I’m thinking”
 “People might think I’m stupid because I can’t express my thoughts in
English”
Affective variables
motivation
attitude
self-esteem
personality
anxiety
Defining language
anxiety
Language anxiety → Situation-specific
Communication
apprehension
Test anxiety
Fear of negative
evaluation
Research on language anxiety
Research on language anxiety (Philips, 1999;
MacIntyre, 1999; Arnold & Brown, 1999; Dornyei,
2005; Woodrow, 2006) has repeatedly shown that it
has a negative impact on L2 learners’ performance,
especially during speaking practices.
Talking about
students’ fears
Talking about students’ fears
Beliefs About Language
Learning Inventory (BALLI)
designed by Elaine K. Horwitz (1987)
Foreign Language
Classroom Anxiety Scale
(FLCAS)
designed by Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986)
used to generate classroom discussion
about the language learning
process
E.g.: Some people have a special
ability for learning foreign
languages.
12345
used to identify students who are
mostly likely to suffer from
language anxiety related to
speaking L2.
E.g.: I tremble when I know that I'm
going to be called on in language
class.
Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor
disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
Activities that
reduce language
anxiety levels
Conversation gambits
“Oh, really?”
“Sorry, I don’t get it.”
“Say that again, please.”
“It’s a beautiful day, eh?”
“By the way, …”
“Actually, …”
“Are you serious?”
“No kidding!”
“You know what I mean?”
helps learners carry on a more ‘natural’ conversation and help build a
sense of community in the classroom by the use of common
communicative vocabulary
Cued response
Activity: Imagine your plans for this weekend. Decide whether you’re
going to do these activities. Add more of your own if you like.
Wake up early:
Have dinner out:
Meet friends:
Watch a movie:
Add more:
“I’m going to wake up early on Saturday”
“I’m not going to have diner out.”
“I’m going to meet my friends”
“I’m going to watch a movie”
“I’m not going to work this weekend…”
helps learners, especially in the early stages of learning, to alleviate
the frustration that occurs when they have to focus both on meaning
and on form
Information Gap
Activity: Find out where the international students come from and in
which countries they lived and traveled in.
Student A
Name
comes
from
Mariette
Belgium
Fahrid
Kofi
Quebec
lived in
Student B
traveled
in
Name
Germany
Mariette
USA
Fahrid
Manitoba
Kofi
comes
from
lived in
traveled
in
Spain
Morocco
Algeria
Colombia
helps learners to build a sense of community. The final product was built as a
team, rather than individual answers
Interviews and surveys
Activity: Find someone who...
a. stayed at home Saturday
b. saw a good film last week
c. went out last night
d. didn’t sleep well last night
e. arrived on time for class today
helps learners have a great deal of practice, which lowers L2 oral
anxiety
Improvising dialogues
Activity: In pairs, students receive two lines of a dialogue. They
work together and come up with a possible dialogue. They are
allowed some time to rehearse it before presenting it to the class.
E.g.: I never thought I’d be in a situation like this!
Who said I liked apples?
helps learners work cooperatively with peers; gives them an
opportunity to rehearse their speech; allows them to get used to
presenting in front of other students; if an element of comedy is
introduced it helps break the ice
Oral evaluation
Helping lower students’ level of
anxiety during oral tests
 Provide students’ with ample opportunities for oral practice in class
 Use the same types of activities students have practiced in class
 Test students’ in pairs or small groups
 Role-plays are excellent tools for evaluating communicative competence
 Humorous role-play could be incorporated into the testing situation
 Teachers need to re-evaluate the evaluation instrument itself: test
communicative competence and not only accuracy
 Students’ test anxiety may be lower if they are aware that their
communicative competence will be rewarded
Case studies analysis
Case 1: Kim’s a 13 year-old from Korea studying ESL in Canada. She rarely
makes oral contributions in class as she says she prefers to listen. She once told
the teacher that she starts to panic when she has to speak without any
preparation in class.
Case 2: Luis is a 42 year-old from Colombia studying EFL in his country. He
is a successful manager in a multinational company and wants to be able to
speak English fluently with his clients. However, Luis is very shy and feels
“stupid” when he speaks in front of his peers.
Case 3: Sonya is a 35 year-old woman who has recently immigrated to Canada
from Poland. She wants to learn English so she can work as a nurse. She’s
attending a LINC course (level 1) and every time the teacher asks Sonya to
make contributions in the class, she starts sweating and trembling. She also
says she’s afraid of speaking English with native speakers.
Conclusion
Concluding…
 Teachers are encouraged to be aware of students’ anxiety about language
learning to better help them manage their anxiety.
 Activities that help learners cooperate and depend on their peers foster an
environment conducive to the development of community.
 Learners feel more at ease and willing to be engaged in oral activities if there is
a more relaxing environment in the class.
 Maintaining the development of communicative competence is a tool to help
learners lower their level of anxiety. Provide students’ with ample
opportunities for oral practice in class
 Providing the opportunity for learners to face their “fears” is more important
than simply “protecting them from speaking in L2”
References
Arnold, J. & Brown, H. (1999). Introduction: A map of the terrain. In Arnold, J. (Ed.) Affect in
Language Learning (pp. 1-24). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Dornyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second
Language Acquisition. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The
Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125‐132.
Horwitz, E. K. (1987). Surveying student beliefs about language learning. In A. Wenden & J.
Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 119–129). Englewood Cliffs, NY:
Prentice Hall
MacIntyre, P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: a review of the research for language teachers. In
Young, D. (Ed.) Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning: A Practical Guide
to Creating a Low Anxiety Classroom Atmosphere (pp. 24-45). Boston: McGraw- Hill.
Phillips, E.M. (1999). Decreasing Language Anxiety: Practical techniques for oral activities. In
D.J. Young (Ed.), Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide
to creating a low anxiety classroom atmosphere (pp. 124–143). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Woodrow, L. (2006). Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. RELC Journal,
37(3), 308–328.