Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1995

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Teacher Education

Major Professor

Patricia Davis-Wiley

Committee Members

Kathleen deMarrais, Ilona Leki

Abstract

This research study is qualitative in its approach to the phenomenon of foreign language anxiety. Drawing on the perceptions of two first-year Spanish students and four second-year French students from a southeastern public university, this study focuses on what foreign language learning anxiety means to these students. The objectives of this qualitative research study were to identify from the learners' perspectives: (1) the anxiety experienced by foreign language learners while learning a second language; (2) the possible causes of and adaptation to foreign language learning anxiety; and (3) the effects of foreign language learning anxiety on foreign language learners. The participants were selected based on their responses to a distributed questionnaire on foreign language anxiety and brief oral biographical interviews. The researcher used the following criteria for selecting the participants: The students: 1) had to be in a first or second year French or Spanish language course as an undergraduate; 2) could not be pursuing an undergraduate degree in a foreign language; 3) had to have expressed having experienced anxiety in the course of their foreign language study in the college classroom; and 3) had to have French or Spanish as the first language that they continued to study or planned to continue to study. The participants were interviewed using an interview schedule developed from a review of the literature on the phenomenon of foreign language anxiety. These interviews were later transcribed for data analysis. Portraits of each of the participants were drawn to characterize and conceive of each participant as a language learner. A thematic structure emerged from the data that provided the findings for the study and led to the development of the "Vicious Cycle" Model of language learning anxiety which may be used a guide for further research on language anxiety. It is concluded by the researcher that those students who are not able to develop anxiety lessening strategies that facilitate their sense of control in the language learning environment and of their language learning process, may tend to suffer in terms of grades, performance, and learning. The researcher suggests that it may be these students' inaccurate assessment of the language learning situation that leads them to ineffective strategies keeping them on a vicious cycle of language learning anxiety, or perhaps it is an unwillingness to fully and accurately assess this environment. Language teachers can aid in the students' accurate assessment of their language learning experience which may lead to better strategies that facilitate these students' sense of control of the language learning process and environment. Further, it is suggested that language teachers keep an "open dialogue" with their students over issues such as the language methodology and materials used in the language class, the students' language learning needs, and the students' language learning anxiety. This dialogue could enable the language teacher to address the language students' needs in the immediate environment of the classroom, alleviating some of the language students' sense of a lack of control which appears to cause language learning anxiety.

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