The Effect of Foreign Language
Anxiety On Second Language
Achievement in the Classroom
Conclusion
The effect of anxiety upon second language learning is profound and is a common phenomenon in language learning classrooms. One study found that at least one-third of students experience foreign language anxiety in the classroom. Foreign language anxiety greatly impacts a student’s ability to achieve success in a second language. Foreign language anxiety prevents a student’s capability to orally communicate in the classroom, perform well on tests, and causes undo stress upon a student’s emotional and mental health. This foreign language anxiety can even be expressed through physical means, such as inability to sleep, sweating, and tremors, which are symptoms of general anxiety, proving that foreign language anxiety is a realistic form of situation-specific anxiety. Students range in difficulty with foreign language anxiety, such as worry, skipping class, or even lowered self-esteem. Foreign language anxiety even lowers a student’s self-confidence regarding their language skills.
Every source expressed teachers as being a solution to a student’s foreign language anxiety in the classroom. In Paris Zhou’s literacy narrative, her teacher helped alleviate the effects of foreign language anxiety on Paris by first identifying that she was an anxious student and then by engaging in daily conversations with her that helped Paris overcome her anxiety in learning English. Michael, Paris’ teacher, serves as a great model for additional research in the foreign language anxiety field. The effects of teachers’ strategies to alleviate foreign language anxiety from students should be the next initiative in second language research. Which strategies work and which have detrimental effects? What is the exact role of the teacher in facilitating or inhibiting anxiety in the classroom? How effective are some strategies compared to others? With at least a third of students in language-learning classrooms experiencing foreign language anxiety, the solution to foreign anxiety should be next pioneer in the second language research field.