Testing of a model intended to help students focus on positive aspects of second-language learning to reduce language anxiety found that the use of a focused essay, forcing students to concentrate on their reactions to events, helped to alter students' self-perceptions of their language learning ability. (63 references) (CB)

A study investigated the relationships between anxiety experienced by students in the second language classroom (usually associated with test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and communication apprehension), irrational thoughts associated with these anxieties, and classroom achievement among three groups of language learners. The Foreign…

Expectations of performance in a foreign language are important predictors of future achievement. Two types of bias occur in foreign language learning: self-enhancement bias, which pertains to students who are unrealistically optimistic about their ability to learn a foreign language; and self-derogation bias, which pertains to those students who…

A discussion of second language learning and second language underproduction proposes a differentiation between conscious avoidance and subconscious underproduction Reference is made to J. Schacter's avoidance theory, which was based on a study in which Chinese and Japanese students of English as a Second Language (ESL) produced fewer Relative…

The writing apprehension experienced by Puerto Rican university students is examined. Levels of apprehension when writing in English versus native Spanish, for males versus females, and for students enrolled or not enrolled in writing classes are compared. The results indicate that the students, particularly the women, are more apprehensive when…

This study investigated: (1) the causes and effects of Chinese students' beliefs about foreign language learning; (2) mismatches between teachers' and students' beliefs; and (3) how teachers' and students' beliefs compare across cultures. Subjects were 23 Chinese and English teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and 224 EFL university…