Anxiety in Foreign Language Learning

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Anxiety in Foreign Language Learning Anxiety is described as an uncomfortable emotional state in which one perceives danger, feels powerless and experiences tension in preparation for an expected danger. Feeling of anxiety, nervousness are commonly expressed by second/foreign language learners in learning to speak a second/foreign language. These feelings are considered to exert a potentially negative effect on communication in the target language. Language anxiety in the broader construct of anxiety as a basic human emotion that may be brought on by numerous combinations of situational factors. For example, a shy student may feel anxious when asked to give a short talk in front of the whole class. The intrinsic nature of language anxiety poses an additional challenge to language learners as well as teachers. Several recent approaches to foreign language teaching, such as Communicative Language Teaching and Suggestopedia are explicitly directed at reducing learner anxiety. These approaches lay emphasis on pair or group work and learning through communication in the target language as a way to reduce language anxiety. There are three types of anxiety which are trait anxiety, state anxiety and situation-specific anxiety. Trait anxiety is more permanent predisposition to be anxious while state anxiety is a response to a particular anxiety-provoking stimulus such as an important test. Situation-specific anxiety, refers to the persistent and multi-faceted nature of some anxieties. It is aroused by a specific type of situation or event such as public speaking, examinations, or class participation. All the components of language learning are strongly linked with learners’ sense of ‘self’, as it is learners’ ‘self’ which is at risk of failure or being negatively
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