LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENT.docx

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LANGUAGEANXIETYANDACHIEVEMENT

AnnualReviewofAppliedLinguistics（2001）21,112-126.PrintedintheUSA.Copyright®2001CambridgeUniversityPress0267-1905/01$9.50

7.LANGUAGEANXIETYANDACHIEVEMENT

ElaineK.Horwitz

Thischapterconsiderstheliteratureonlanguagelearninganxietyinanefforttoclarifytherelationshipbetweenanxietyandsecondlanguagelearning.Itwillfirstarguethatlanguageanxietyisaspecificanxiety—ratherthanatraitanxiety—anddiscusshowthisconceptualizationhashelpedclarifytheresearchliterature.AfterHorwitz,Horwitz,andCope（1986）proposedthataspecificanxietyconstructwhichtheycalledForeignLanguageAnxietywasresponsibleforstudents’uncomfortableexperiencesinlanguageclassesandofferedaninstrument,theForeignLanguageClassroomAnxietyScale（FLCAS）,tomeasurethisanxiety,findingsconcerninganxietyandlanguageachievementhavebeenrelativelyuniform,indicatingaconsistentmoderatenegativerelationshipbetweenanxietyandachievement.However,someresearchers（SparksandGanschowandtheircolleagues）havesuggestedthatpoorlanguagelearningisacauseratherthanaresultoflanguageanxiety.Thisreviewconcludesthatanxietyisindeedacauseofpoorlanguagelearninginsomeindividualsanddiscussespossiblesourcesofthisanxiety,includingdifficultyinauthenticself-presentationandvariouslanguageteachingpractices.Inaddition,itreportsonnewtrendsinlanguageanxietyresearchthatattempttoidentifyaspectsoflanguagelearning（e.g.,readinganxietyorwritinganxiety）whichprovokeanxietyforsomeindividuals.

Researchers,languageteachers,andevenlanguagelearnersthemselveshavebeeninterestedinthepossibilitythatanxietyinhibitslanguagelearningforquitesometime.Clinicalexperience,empiricalfindings,andpersonalreportsallattesttotheexistenceofanxietyreactionswithrespecttolanguagelearninginsomeindividuals;however,theresearchhistoryinthisareahasnotbeenstraightforward.Thischapterconsiderstheliteratureonlanguagelearninganxietyinanefforttoclarifytherelationshipbetweenanxietyandachievementinsecondlanguagelearning.

AnxietyasPsychologicalConstruct

“Anxietyisthesubjectivefeelingoftension,apprehension,nervousness,andworryassociatedwithanarousaloftheautonomicnervoussystem,”（Spielberger,1983,p.1）.Notonlyisitintuitivetomanypeoplethatanxietynegativelyinfluenceslanguagelearning,itislogicalbecauseanxietyhasbeenfoundtointerferewithmanytypesoflearningandhasbeenoneofthemosthighlyexaminedvariablesinallofpsychologyandeducation.Psychologistsdistinguishseveralcategoriesofanxiety.Typically,anxietyasapersonality“trait”isdifferentiatedfromatransientanxiety“state.”Inotherwords,traitanxietyisconceptualizedasarelativelystablepersonalitycharacteristicwhilestateanxietyisseenasaresponsetoaparticularanxiety-provokingstimulussuchasanimportanttest（Spielberger,1983）.Morerecentlythetermsituation-specificanxietyhasbeenusedtoemphasizethepersistentandmulti-facetednatureofsomeanxieties（MacIntyre&Gardner,1991a）.Publicspeakinganxietyisgenerallyviewedtobeinthiscategory,andthischapterwilltakethepositionthatforeignlanguageanxietyisaswell.

EarlyPerspectivesonAnxietyandLanguageLearning

Sincethemid1960sscholarshaveentertainedthepossibilitythatanxietyinterfereswithsecondlanguagelearningandperformance;however,documentationofthatrelationshipcamemuchlater.Interestingly,therelationshipbetweenanxietyandsecondlanguageachievement—thesubjectofthisreview—isexactlythesameissuethatpuzzledScovelovertwodecadesago（Scovel,1978）.Scovelreviewedthethenavailableliteratureonanxietyandlanguagelearninginanattempttoexplainatrulyconflictingsetoffindings.Atthetimetherewerestudieswhichfoundtheanticipatednegativerelationshipbetweenanxietyandsecondlanguageachievement,butseveralstudiesfoundnorelationship,andpositiverelationshipsbetweenanxietyandsecondlanguageachievementwerealsoidentified（Chastain,1975;Kleinmann,1977）.Inotherwords,contrarytothepredictionsofmanylanguageteachers,somestudiesfoundthatlearnerswithhigherlevelsofanxietyactuallyshowedhigherachievementscores.Scovelpositedarationalsolutiontothisenigma.Hearguedthatsincethevariousstudiesuseddifferentanxietymeasuressuchastest-anxiety,facilitating-debilitatinganxiety,etc.,theylogicallyfounddifferenttypesofrelationshipsbetweenanxietyandlanguageachievement.Scovelconcludedthatlanguageresearchersshouldbespecificaboutthetypeofanxietytheyaremeasuringandrecommendedthatanxietystudiestakenoteofthemyriadoftypesofanxietythathadbeenidentified.

LanguageAnxiety

Scovel’ssuggestionshaveproventobegoodones,andsincethattimeresearchershavebeencarefultospecifythetypeofanxietytheyaremeasuring.However,in1986,Horwitz,Horwitz,andCopetooktheliteratureastepfurtherbyproposingthatasituation-specificanxietyconstructwhichtheycalledForeignLanguageAnxietywasresponsibleforstudents’negativeemotionalreactionstolanguagelearning.AccordingtoHorwitz,Horwitz,andCope,thisanxietystemsfromtheinherentinauthenticityassociatedwithimmaturesecondlanguagecommunicativeabilities:

Adultstypicallyperceivethemselvesasreasonablyintelligent,socially-adeptindividuals,sensitivetodifferentsocio-culturalmores.Theseassumptionsarerarelychallengedwhencommunicatinginanativelanguageasitisnotusuallydifficulttounderstandothersortomakeoneselfunderstood.However,thesituationwhenlearningaforeignlanguagestandsinmarkedcontrast.Asanindividual’scommunicationattemptswillbeevaluatedaccordingtouncertainorevenunknownlinguisticandsocio-culturalstandards,secondlanguagecommunicationentailsrisk-takingandisnecessarilyproblematic.Becausecomplexandnonspontaneousmentaloperationsarerequiredinordertocommunicateatall,anyperformanceintheL2islikelytochallengeanindividual’sself-conceptasacompetentcommunicatorandleadtoreticence,self-consciousness,fear,orevenpanic（p.128）.

Theyalsoofferedaninstrument,theForeignLanguageClassroomAnxietyScale（FLCAS）,tomeasurethisanxiety.Sincethattime,findingsconcerninganxietyandlanguageachievementhavebeenrelativelyuniform.StudiesusingtheFLCASandotherspecificmeasuresofsecondlanguageanxietyhavefoundaconsistentmoderatenegativecorrelationbetweentheFLCASandmeasuresofsecondlanguageachievement（typicallyfinalgrades）.Accordingly,thisreviewwillbelimitedtothosestudieswhichassumeaspecificanxietyreactiontolanguagelearning.InadditiontotheFLCAS,thesemeasuresincludetheFrenchClassAnxietyScale（Gardner&Smythe,1975）,TheEnglishUseAnxietyScale（Clement,Gardner,&Smythe,1977）,theEnglishTestAnxietyScale（Clement,Gardner,&Smythe,1980）,theFrenchUseAnxietyScale（Gardner,Smythe,&Clement,1979）,andtheSpanishUseAnxietyScale（Muchnick&Wolfe,1982）.

Thesituation-specificanxietyinresponsetolanguagelearningproposedbyHorwitz,Horwitz,andCopehasbeenfoundtobelargelyindependentofothertypesofanxiety.Horwitz（1986）foundalowbutsignificantcorrelationbetweentheFLCASandSpielberger’s（1983）testoftrait-anxiety（r=.29,p=.002）.Slightpositive,butnonsignificant,correlationswerealsofoundbetweentheFLCASandFearofNegativeEvaluation（Watson&Friend,1969）andCommunicationApprehension（McCroskey,1970）.Inthecaseoftestanxiety（Sarason,1978）,thecorrelationwasmoderateandsignificant（r=.53,p=.001）.Evenso,thiscorrelationmeansthatthetwomeasuresonlyshare28%ofvarianceandare,therefore,reasonablyindependent.Alsoconsistentwiththeconstructofa

situation-specificanxiety,MacIntyreandGardner（1989）didnotfindarelationshipbetweengeneralanxietyandforeignlanguagevocabularylearning.

Thus,withthedevelopmentofdistinctsituation-specificmeasuresofforeignlanguageanxiety,theissueofappropriateanxietymeasurementseemedtoberesolved;however,theissueofappropriateoutcomemeasuresremained.SteinbergandHorwitz（1986）arguedthattheuseoffinalgradesasameasureofsecondlanguageachievementwasprobablyinandofitselfasourceofvariabilityintheanxietyliteratureandurgedresearcherstousemoresubtleachievementmeasurestocapturethetrueeffectsofanxiety.Indeed,thisstudyfoundthatESLstudentsattemptedagreaternumberofelaboratedandpersonalmessagesinEnglishwhenexperiencinganexperimentalconditionintendedtorelaxthemthanthoselearnersexperiencingatreatmentdesignedtoinduceanxiety.Importantly,thesedifferencesinelaborationandnumberofpersonalutteranceswereobservedeventhoughtheanxiousandnonanxiousstudentsdisplayedequallevelsofoveralloralfluency.

LanguageAnxietyandAchievement

Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesinanumberofinstructionalcontextswithvaryingtargetlanguageswhichfindanegativerelationshipbetweenspecificmeasuresoflanguageanxietyandlanguageachievement.InthefirststudyusingtheFLCAS（Horwitz,1986）,therewasasignificantmoderatenegativecorrelationbetweenforeignlanguageanxietyandthegradesstudentsexpectedintheirfirstsemesterlanguageclassaswellastheiractualfinalgrades,indicatingthatstudentswithhigherlevelsofforeignlanguageanxietybothexpectedandreceivedlowergradesthantheirlessanxiouscounterparts.MacIntyreandGardner（1989）alsofoundsignificantnegativecorrelationsbetweenaspecificmeasure