Overcoming foreign language anxiety

This study suggests that about one in six English majors and one in three non-English majors in a Finnish university experience high levels of debilitating anxiety, which negatively affects their learning. These individuals suffer from physical symptoms such as heart pounding, and psychological symptoms such as communication apprehension. It is needless to say that such ordeals in language learning eventually lead to loss of motivation or even to the discontinuation of one’s language studies. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore ways to overcome FLA. This chapter presents learner-identified means that can alleviate and help the learners’ overcome FLA.

As previously mentioned, the online questionnaire included an additional open-ended question, which’ aim was to complement the main findings of this study and uncover learner-identified actions that the university students or the teachers could take in order to alleviate or overcome FLA (What you or your teacher could do, so that you would not feel so nervous or anxious in English language learning situations?). The participants were able to recognize a variety of means that the learners or teachers could utilize in overcoming FL anxiety. The gathered data was analyzed similarly as the two other open-ended questions with inductive quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Based on the analysis of the responses to this extra open-ended I created a list of means to overcome FLA. This list is presented in Table 14.

Table 14. A list of learner-identified means to overcome FLA

Pursue personal growth or change of attitude Practice and prepare

What the teacher can do:

Create an encouraging and safe learning environment

Pay attention to appearance and behavior Revise the instructional methods

What the peers can do:

Be supportive

Get familiarized with peers

Altogether, the participants provided a number of ideas on how to overcome FL anxiety. The participants felt that personal growth or a change of attitude might help them in overcoming FLA.

They did not specify what this personal growth is, but in this context it most likely refers to achieving self-acceptance or to gaining a more positive attitude towards English language learning.

Many participants suggested that one should be more accepting about failure, be less self-critical, accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes, or remind oneself that one does not have to be speak the TL perfectly. Several participants also suggested that one should trust one’s abilities or think positive thoughts about one’s own performance. Essentially, all of these comments convey that learners themselves can alleviate their FLA by being more compassionate towards oneself.

Moreover, the participants reported that they could practice more on their own and prepare for their English classes better. For example, non-English major participant 7 reported that they could practice by listening to speech in English, while English major participant 103 reported that they

could use the English language more in their spare time. In addition, non-English major participant 114 reported that they could gain more experience in public speaking in general in order to alleviate their FL anxiety. Interestingly, some of the participants reported that seeking anxiety-inducing situations and inuring oneself to FLA might help alleviate feelings of anxiety. However, it is good to remember that while seeking anxiety-inducing situations might help alleviate anxiety in some learners, it might not work for all. Nevertheless, in theory, gaining resilience through experience sounds logical, especially since the current study has indicated that more experienced English learners experience lower levels of FLA than less experienced English learners. A sample response related to this is presented below:

8. “There is no easy solution when it comes to overcoming anxiety. I would like to tell the teachers in advance that certain situations make me feel anxious, but then, I would never have to face these situations and would not overcome them. I probably should work on my own outlook on these anxiety-inducing situations and try to participate in conversations more actively both in classes and outside of classes.”

English major participant 117

Several of the participants reported that the teacher could help them overcome their FLA by creating an encouraging and safe learning environment. In reference to this one participant commented:

9. “The teacher can create either an encouraging and safe learning environment or a depressing and anxiety-inducing learning environment with their presence and choice of words. All competent instructors surely know this, and there is no reason to think that the atmosphere in the classroom or the teachers’ attitude and means of interaction have no effect on learning when it comes to adult learners.”

Non-English major participant 56

The latter sample response also had references to the teachers’ appearance and behavior.

Participants suggested that the teacher should, for example, pay attention to how they correct mistakes. English major participant 38 commented that “Correcting one’s mistakes in front of other

students often feels more like the teacher is trying to humiliate me rather than give constructive feedback” and English major participant 100 commented that “The teacher could make sure that they do not appear grim. A little bit of lightness to the composition, so that you don’t look disappointed”. Participants also commented that they would feel less anxious if the teachers used certain less anxiety-inducing instructional methods and would take into account the fact that learners are of different skill level. For instance, non-English major participant 88 hoped that teachers would bear in mind that some students have learning difficulties, and English major participants 67 and 68 as well as non-English major participants 5 and 120 hoped that exercises, especially those that include oral production, could be completed in small groups rather than with the whole classroom.

Furthermore, some participants suggested that peer support or simply getting to know their peers better might have help them in overcoming their feelings of anxiety in the English language classroom. For example, participant 66 commented that “The teacher and the peers play an important part in the general atmosphere during the [English] courses. It is essential to make everyone feel as comfortable, supported, and accepted as possible.” In fact, earlier studies, such as Huang et al. (2010), have confirmed that peer support is pivotal when it comes to decreasing FLA.