TOO MUCH STRESS?

: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE

LEARNING ANXIETY

Article Critique of “Too Much Stress?: A qualitative study

on foreign language learning anxiety
Cristina O’Farrill Perea
Interamericana University at San Germán
TOO MUCH STRESS? : A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY

Introduction
The role of individual learning beliefs and how these beliefs affect language learner’s

learning experiences has been an issue and investigated for many years. Horwitz, Young and

Price are three researchers that have been studying this area. However, the first attempts to

systematically investigate those beliefs started with Horwitz’ studies (1985; 1987; 1988).

Horwitz used an instrument called The Foreign language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS).

Horwitz’ and Young’s foreign language anxiety has been investigated in mostly with

qualitative studies. Horwitz (1991) found that communication apprehension, test anxiety and

fear of negative evaluation were factors that triggered foreign language anxiety. Young (1991)

described six components of foreign language anxiety: personal and interpersonal anxieties,

learner beliefs about language learning, instructor beliefs about language learning and teaching,

instructor-learner interaction, classroom procedures and language testing (p. 427). On the other

hand, Price used qualitative data in his studies. Price found four recurrent themes emerged as the

sources affecting students’ anxiety: teachers’ attitude, communication anxiety, fear of negative

evaluation, and test anxiety.

This paper will firstly discuss language anxiety as defined in the article, plus how and

why it affects performance. It will conclude by stating the study’s indication that by maintaining

positiveness and creating a relaxing atmosphere helps to alleviate some of the stress experienced

by second language students, because by motivation, the fear of negative evaluation is reduced

and the level of confidence is increased.

TOO MUCH STRESS? : A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY

Analysis
“Anxiety is the tension and apprehension specially associated with second and foreign

language contexts, including speaking, listening, and learning” (Macintyre & Gardner, 1994, p.

284). The author of the article mentions that many researchers agreed that there is anxiety-

provoking potential in learning a foreign language and have found that language learning

difficulties could predict anxiety best in foreign language learning settings. Korwitz and Young

(1991) argue that language anxiety in a classroom is correlated significantly with the teacher’s

attitudes, negative evaluation, peer pressure and fear of making mistakes.

One of Horwitz’ investigation was done in Turkey. He did his study with adult

participants that were all enrolled in an intensive language course. Unlike the United States,

Turkey does not educate students at an early age in two or more languages. The majority of the

population do not speak a foreign language. However, during the years, Turkey has been

interested in teaching students a foreign language. Because of this, students have been forced to

learn a language rapidly in order to progress in their profession. This fast-paced learning has

triggered students to experience English language anxiety. Young (1991) also believes that

forcing a student to become fluent in a language in a specific timeframe induces anxiety because

this possible unrealistic goal cannot be achieved.

As an educator, I can say that the ideal time to learn a second language is at an early age.

During one of my many teacher development workshops, they mentioned how neurologist have

demonstrated that language learning is different in childhood and adulthood because of the

development differences in the brain. The joy with which children explore their first language
TOO MUCH STRESS? : A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY

makes childhood the ideal time for a second language. Horwitz demonstrates evidence of this in

her studies in Turkey.

Unlike Young and Horwitz, Price focused his studies in examining foreign language

anxiety on the learners’ point of view and finding solutions from the students’ perspective. I

believe this is why the author of the article paid considerable attention to Price’s work. It

mentioned that Price (1991) interviewed adult students to examine students’ opinions of foreign

language anxiety, revealing that anxiety was related not simply to speaking activities, but more

specifically to speaking in front of classmates and teachers. The article gave examples of how

most of the students expressed that their anxiety was provoked by the teacher’s ignorant attitudes

towards them. Students felt ridiculed when the teacher harshly corrected their errors or put them

on-the-spot. But, are not we all prone to make mistakes? Yes.

As I mentioned above, when you are learning a language at an older age you feel fear in

making a mistake. You may feel even worse when a teacher ridicules you for mispronunciation

of words. The participants in Price’s research blamed the teachers’ ignorant attitude towards

mistakes. Brown (1987) says that language learning, like any other human learning is a process

that involves the making of mistakes. In agreement to Brown, making mistakes can indeed be

regarded as an essential part of learning. I always teach my students that mistakes and errors are

part of their learning process. Why? Making mistakes can have a positive effects on the future. If

a student makes a mistake in a certain situation, he or she will remember about it in the future.

The student learns about how something does not work. Therefore the same kinds of mistakes

will not be repeated.

TOO MUCH STRESS? : A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY

A solution that was found during Price’s research was that students believed that a

positive, motivating, and caring classroom environments would be more effective during their

learning process. Imagine two teachers teaching the same lesson on poetic construction. One is

very impatient with students and the other supportive. Knowing only that, we can probably guess

which students learned the lesson better. As previous researchers mentioned, anxiety and a

teachers’ negative attitude has a great effect on second language acquisition and may be a part of

the difficulty that learners have in acquiring another language.

In conclusion, the article was complex, inconsistent and controversy. Even the author of

the article seemed to question the validity of the studies. It is most likely that foreign language

anxiety has been and will continue to be a key area of research interest.
TOO MUCH STRESS? : A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE
LEARNING ANXIETY

Reference

Ariogulus, S, Uzur. (2009). Too Much Stress? A qualitative Study on foreign Language

Learning Anxiety

Brown, H. Douglas. (2014). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 6th ed

University of Austin Texas (n.d) Elain Horwitz. Retrieved from

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/education/departments/ci/about/faculty/horwitz/