LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENT.docx

1、LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENTAnnual Review of Applied Linguistics (2001) 21, 112-126. Printed in the USA. Copyright 2001 Cambridge University Press 0267-1905/01 $9.507. LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND ACHIEVEMENTElaine K. HorwitzThis chapter considers the literature on language learning anxiety in an effort

2、 to clarify the relationship between anxiety and second language learning. It will first argue that language anxiety is a specific anxietyrather than a trait anxietyand discuss how this conceptualization has helped clarify the research literature. After Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) proposed tha

3、t a specific anxiety construct which they called Foreign Language Anxiety was responsible for students uncomfortable experiences in language classes and offered an instrument, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), to measure this anxiety, findings concerning anxiety and language achi

4、evement have been relatively uniform, indicating a consistent moderate negative relationship between anxiety and achievement. However, some researchers (Sparks and Ganschow and their colleagues) have suggested that poor language learning is a cause rather than a result of language anxiety. This revi

5、ew concludes that anxiety is indeed a cause of poor language learning in some individuals and discusses possible sources of this anxiety, including difficulty in authentic self-presentation and various language teaching practices. In addition, it reports on new trends in language anxiety research th

6、at attempt to identify aspects of language learning (e.g., reading anxiety or writing anxiety) which provoke anxiety for some individuals.Researchers, language teachers, and even language learners themselves have been interested in the possibility that anxiety inhibits language learning for quite so

7、me time. Clinical experience, empirical findings, and personal reports all attest to the existence of anxiety reactions with respect to language learning in some individuals; however, the research history in this area has not been straightforward. This chapter considers the literature on language le

8、arning anxiety in an effort to clarify the relationship between anxiety and achievement in second language learning.Anxiety as Psychological Construct“Anxiety is the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system,” (Spie

9、lberger, 1983, p. 1). Not only is it intuitive to many people that anxiety negatively influences language learning, it is logical because anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning and has been one of the most highly examined variables in all of psychology and education. Psychol

10、ogists distinguish several categories of anxiety. Typically, anxiety as a personality “trait” is differentiated from a transient anxiety “state.” In other words, trait anxiety is conceptualized as a relatively stable personality characteristic while state anxiety is seen as a response to a particula

11、r anxiety-provoking stimulus such as an important test (Spielberger, 1983). More recently the term situation-specific anxiety has been used to emphasize the persistent and multi-faceted nature of some anxieties (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991a). Public speaking anxiety is generally viewed to be in this c

12、ategory, and this chapter will take the position that foreign language anxiety is as well.Early Perspectives on Anxiety and Language LearningSince the mid 1960s scholars have entertained the possibility that anxiety interferes with second language learning and performance; however, documentation of

13、that relationship came much later. Interestingly, the relationship between anxiety and second language achievementthe subject of this reviewis exactly the same issue that puzzled Scovel over two decades ago (Scovel, 1978). Scovel reviewed the then available literature on anxiety and language learnin

14、g in an attempt to explain a truly conflicting set of findings. At the time there were studies which found the anticipated negative relationship between anxiety and second language achievement, but several studies found no relationship, and positive relationships between anxiety and second language

15、achievement were also identified (Chastain, 1975; Kleinmann, 1977). In other words, contrary to the predictions of many language teachers, some studies found that learners with higher levels of anxiety actually showed higher achievement scores. Scovel posited a rational solution to this enigma. He a

16、rgued that since the various studies used different anxiety measures such as test-anxiety, facilitating-debilitating anxiety, etc., they logically found different types of relationships between anxiety and language achievement. Scovel concluded that language researchers should be specific about the

17、type of anxiety they are measuring and recommended that anxiety studies take note of the myriad of types of anxiety that had been identified.Language AnxietyScovels suggestions have proven to be good ones, and since that time researchers have been careful to specify the type of anxiety they are meas

18、uring. However, in 1986, Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope took the literature a step further by proposing that a situation-specific anxiety construct which they called Foreign Language Anxiety was responsible for students negative emotional reactions to language learning. According to Horwitz, Horwitz, an

19、d Cope, this anxiety stems from the inherent inauthenticity associated with immature second language communicative abilities:Adults typically perceive themselves as reasonably intelligent, socially-adept individuals, sensitive to different socio-cultural mores. These assumptions are rarely challenge

20、d when communicating in a native language as it is not usually difficult to understand others or to make oneself understood. However, the situation when learning a foreign language stands in marked contrast. As an individuals communication attempts will be evaluated according to uncertain or even un

21、known linguistic and socio-cultural standards, second language communication entails risk-taking and is necessarily problematic. Because complex and nonspontaneous mental operations are required in order to communicate at all, any performance in the L2 is likely to challenge an individuals self-conc

22、ept as a competent communicator and lead to reticence, self-consciousness, fear, or even panic (p. 128).They also offered an instrument, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), to measure this anxiety. Since that time, findings concerning anxiety and language achievement have been rela

23、tively uniform. Studies using the FLCAS and other specific measures of second language anxiety have found a consistent moderate negative correlation between the FLCAS and measures of second language achievement (typically final grades). Accordingly, this review will be limited to those studies which

24、 assume a specific anxiety reaction to language learning. In addition to the FLCAS, these measures include the French Class Anxiety Scale (Gardner & Smythe, 1975), The English Use Anxiety Scale (Clement, Gardner, & Smythe, 1977), the English Test Anxiety Scale (Clement, Gardner, & Smythe, 1980), the

25、 French Use Anxiety Scale (Gardner, Smythe, & Clement, 1979), and the Spanish Use Anxiety Scale (Muchnick & Wolfe, 1982).The situation-specific anxiety in response to language learning proposed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope has been found to be largely independent of other types of anxiety. Horwitz

26、(1986) found a low but significant correlation between the FLCAS and Spielbergers (1983) test of trait-anxiety (r = .29, p = .002). Slight positive, but nonsignificant, correlations were also found between the FLCAS and Fear of Negative Evaluation (Watson & Friend, 1969) and Communication Apprehensi

27、on (McCroskey, 1970). In the case of test anxiety (Sarason, 1978), the correlation was moderate and significant (r = .53, p = .001). Even so, this correlation means that the two measures only share 28% of variance and are, therefore, reasonably independent. Also consistent with the construct of asit

28、uation-specific anxiety, MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) did not find a relationship between general anxiety and foreign language vocabulary learning.Thus, with the development of distinct situation-specific measures of foreign language anxiety, the issue of appropriate anxiety measurement seemed to be

29、 resolved; however, the issue of appropriate outcome measures remained. Steinberg and Horwitz (1986) argued that the use of final grades as a measure of second language achievement was probably in and of itself a source of variability in the anxiety literature and urged researchers to use more subtl

30、e achievement measures to capture the true effects of anxiety. Indeed, this study found that ESL students attempted a greater number of elaborated and personal messages in English when experiencing an experimental condition intended to relax them than those learners experiencing a treatment designed

31、 to induce anxiety. Importantly, these differences in elaboration and number of personal utterances were observed even though the anxious and nonanxious students displayed equal levels of overall oral fluency.Language Anxiety and AchievementThere have been a number of studies in a number of instruct

32、ional contexts with varying target languages which find a negative relationship between specific measures of language anxiety and language achievement. In the first study using the FLCAS (Horwitz, 1986), there was a significant moderate negative correlation between foreign language anxiety and the g

33、rades students expected in their first semester language class as well as their actual final grades, indicating that students with higher levels of foreign language anxiety both expected and received lower grades than their less anxious counterparts. MacIntyre and Gardner (1989) also found significant negative correlations between a specific measure