The Effect of Foreign Language
Anxiety On Second Language
Achievement in the Classroom
Introduction
In Paris Zhou’s narrative, she recounts an experience in which she becomes fearful to speak in English due to her inability to effectively communicate in the language. In the classroom setting, she describes only being able to say to her teacher, “fine, thank you, and you?” (Zhou). She knew that she possessed the knowledge to speak in English, but fear and worry intimidated her from gathering the courage to hold a conversation with her teacher in English. This type of behavior in language learning classrooms can be described by the psychological term, foreign language anxiety (FLA). Foreign language anxiety is a form of anxiety in which a student experiences a feeling of uneasiness, nervousness, pressure, or dread in learning a second language. These sources provide concrete, scholarly insight into this phenomenon by referencing studies in which foreign anxiety has been identified and characterized, providing common symptoms and behaviors of anxiety-prone students, and illustrating the sources and solutions to this form of anxiety. Through analyzing these sources, one can not only better understand Zhou’s narrative but also engender a greater comprehension of the effects of foreign language anxiety on second language achievement in the classroom.