Factors affecting usage of language learning strategies
Ppt for methodology paper
1. INVESTIGATING ESL UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE ANXIETY IN
THE AURAL-ORAL COMMUNICATION
CLASSROOM
Cris D. Barabas
ENG212M, University of San Carlos
May 18, 2013
2. Presentation Outline
I. Anxiety and Language Acquisition
II. Oral Communication Apprehension
III. Research Questions
IV. Framework for Analysis
V. Discussion on Methodology
VI. Significant Findings
VII. Conclusions
3. Overview on Anxiety
• Psychological concept (Chan & Wu, 2004)
• Emotional response
• “a threat to some value that the individual
holds essential to his existence as a
personality”
(May, 1977)
4. Trait vs. State Anxiety
•Trait Anxiety
• Individuals who are more anxious
regardless of situations (Spielberger,
1983)
• Tendency of people to perceive stressful
situations with elevation in the intensity of
their state anxiety reactions (Toth, 2010)
5. Trait vs. State Anxiety- cont’d
•State Anxiety
•Appraising situations accurately
as being threatening or not within
reasonable limits
•Occurs under certain conditions
(Spielberger, 1983)
8. Language Anxiety
• The question of positive and negative
effects
• Energizer or debilitating?
• Classroom: naturally presents itself as an
anxiety-causing situation
9. Oral Communication Apprehension
• Individual’s level of fear of anxiety
associated with either real or anticipated
communication with another person/s
(McCroskey, 1977)
• Apprehension in oral communication:
avoidance in communicating
10. Research Questions
1. What is the dominant level of the
ESL learners in the aural-oral
communication context?
2. What are the factors that learners
attribute to the development of
language anxiety?
11. Framework for Analysis
• Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
Scale
(Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope, 1986)
-33-item 5-point Likert scale
-24 positively worded, 9 negatively worded
-questions were modified to suit the context
14. Discussion
• 33 FLCAS responses from Filipino USC students enrolled
in English 3 class or ‘Aural-Oral Communication’
• Third week of classes; classroom observation during
students’ advertising activity
• Elicitation on the possible anxiety-provoking factors
“What do you think are the reasons why others (especially
your classmates) experience anxiety in your aural-oral
communication class?”
16. Significant Findings
• No. 17: I often feel like not going to my English 3 class.
(negative)
• No. 21: The more I prepare for oral test in my English 3
class, the more confused I get. (negative)
DISAGREE
17. Significant Findings
• No. 23: I always feel that my classmates speak better
English than I. (negative)
• No. 24: I feel shy when speaking English in front of other
students. (negative)
• No. 32: I feel easy when native English speakers talk with
me. (positive)
AGREE
18. Significant Findings
• No. 33: I get nervous when my English teacher asks
questions which I haven’t prepared in advance.
AGREE
20. Significant Findings
• Eight factors attributed to the development of language
anxiety
• Audience
• Preparations
• Personality
• Unpleasant Experiences
• Environment
• Lack of Skills
• Physiological
• Learning Activities
21. Conclusion
• Universality of anxiety in language learning
(across the concentric circles of English)
• Given the fact that anxiety existed but
barely manifested by students themselves
evaluation on students’ selves, objectives,
classroom instructional practices,
evaluation methods
22. Conclusion
More questions than answers:
-Should the nature of classroom activities,
especially in an aural-oral communication
class, be affected because of the presence
of anxiety alone?
-To what extent do teachers have to “worry”
about the presence of anxiety in class?
-To what extent do we account the students
for the anxiety they feel?
