Considers the literature on language learning anxiety in an effort to clarify the relationship between anxiety and second language learning. Suggests that anxiety is indeed a cause of poor language learning in some individuals and discusses possible sources of this anxiety. (Author/VWL)

Replies on behalf of the authors of a previous article to a critique of their study on foreign language anxiety. Argues that factors other than cognitive-linguistic deficits contribute to problems in foreign language achievement. (Author/VWL)

Presents, through an interview format, several language specialists' perspectives on foreign language anxiety, covering second-language teaching and theoretical implications, language anxiety sources and manifestations, language anxiety reduction, and areas requiring further research. (41 references) (Author/CB)

Responds to an earlier article that introduced the concept of foreign language reading anxiety and reported the results of a preliminary study of reading anxiety. Argues that the explanations for the study findings are misguided. (Author/VWL)

Used variables from social-psychological model proposing that language-learning strategy use depends on knowledge of appropriate strategies, having reason to use them, and having nothing to prevent their use, to predict frequency of use for 50 language-learning strategies. Results showed the model accounted for 60% of variance of strategy use and…

This interview study examined the relationship between foreign language anxiety and perfectionism. Comments of anxious and non-anxious learners were audiorecorded as they watched themselves interact in a videotaped oral interview. Results suggest that anxious and non-anxious learners differ in their personal performance standards, procrastination,…

Investigated the relationships among students' perceptions of their second language (L2) writing anxiety and various learner differences and among L2 writing anxiety and other forms of language anxiety. Four language scales and a background information questionnaire were used to collect data. Findings suggest that fostering students' positive and…

Argues that many nonnative foreign-language teachers experience foreign-language anxiety and that this anxiety can have negative consequences for language teaching. The article discusses how anxiety affects teachers' feelings of self-confidence, use of the target language, and instructional choices and offers suggestions for increasing teachers'…

Describes a project-driven classroom that elaborates on the conventional role play, implementing the instructional goals of the National Standards in Foreign Language Education project, while presenting possible solutions to the issue of listening-comprehension anxiety. (Author/VWL)

Provides basic information about language anxiety and how to handle it. Specific sections address the following: anxiety and its effects on learning and performance; what language anxiety is; what causes language anxiety; what language anxiety does; identifying students who have language anxiety; and managing language anxiety. (Author/VWL)

Examined the stability of the general foreign language classroom anxiety construct across English and French. Subjects were preservice teachers from two western universities in Venezuela majoring in these languages. (Author/VWL)

Examines the role of tension in the process of instructed second/foreign language acquisition on the basis of findings from a comprehensive ethnography of the 7-week intensive beginners' class in the summer French School of Middlebury College. This project completes and challenges the current research paradigm on language anxiety as it shifts the…

This article addresses a research direction in which language professionals' research efforts can be invested to clarify the conceptual framework of the foreign language (FL) anxiety construct and develop an alternative measure to the construct. Current research on the effects of FL anxiety on learner performance has yielded inconsistent research…

Investigated two potential sources of the anxiety of college learners of Japanese in oral practice: an individual student's fear of negative evaluation and self-perceived speaking ability. A survey was administered to 212 students in Japanese courses at two major universities. Results are discussed. (Author/VWL)

Explored the relationship between language anxiety and reading in Spanish. Issues addressed include the following: the effect of language anxiety on reading comprehension and recall of university-level students and the effect of language anxiety on the reading process itself. Two inventories assessed two different anxiety levels: the Reading…