Analysis of "Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety"
The effect of anxiety on second language learning is clearly identified in “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety”. This source argues that “communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation” (127) are the three main aspects that embody foreign language anxiety. The study also mentions that overstudying, skipping class, and an inability to effectively communicate during class are key effects of foreign language anxiety. The study documented by the project, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, found that students experience “tenseness, trembling, perspiring, palpitations, and sleep disturbances” (129) while attempting to learn or understand a second language. This research overall effectively reveals the effects of anxiety upon the language learning student in the classroom.
This source effectively denotes the effects of foreign language anxiety on second language achievement through Zhou’s narrative. Zhou recounts in her narrative that she memorized English but found herself unable to communicate in the language due to the thought that she couldn’t effectively express herself in English, causing her to become shy and to fear any form of speaking with her English teacher, Michael. Due to this fear, Zhou became limited in her English speaking skills. This fear of oral communication and shyness exhibited by Paris illustrates the aspect of foreign language anxiety, communication apprehension. Communication apprehension is described as a facet of foreign language anxiety that involves a student experiencing shyness due to a “fear” of orally communicating in the target language with others. Students believe that they will have difficulty in expressing themselves, therefore they withhold their ability or inability to orally communicate in the target language, resulting in the stagnant proliferation in effectively communicating in the second language. Zhou’s narrative also seems to suggest that her fear of speaking in English not only comes from her belief that she would have difficulty in expressing her thoughts in the language, but also from the seemingly intimidating environment of a language-learning classroom.
“Fear of negative evaluation”, as described in the source, is when the student becomes afraid of being negatively judged because of their oral performance in the language by others. Zhou’s narrative suggests that Zhou became shy and fearful in the language-learning classroom because she anticipated that Michael would negatively assess her English communication abilities. Through analyzing this detail of Zhou’s narrative, it is evident that “fear of negative evaluation” can cause “communication apprehension” and vice versa, revealing that these aspects of foreign language anxiety are interconnected, contrary to the project’s claim that these aspects individually contribute to foreign language anxiety. This source also does not account for a dynamic change in language learning, in which the students no longer experiences anxiety in the language-learning classroom. Near the end of the narrative, Zhou recounts the positive learning experience of finally overcoming her anxiety and becoming to understand English through conversational encounters with her English teacher, Michael, who aided her in improving her English speaking skills. Zhou’s narrative demonstrates that there is a solution to foreign language anxiety.