Phonetics Learning Anxiety – Results of a Preliminary Study

Małgorzata Baran-Łucarz

doi:10.2478/v10015-012-0005-9

Authors

Małgorzata Baran-Łucarz School of English, University of Wroclaw

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-012-0005-9

Keywords:

Phonetics Learning Anxiety (PhLA), pronunciation self-image, self-efficacy and self-assessment, fear of negative evaluation

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to verify the assumption that pronunciation learning during a course of phonetics is hindered by the feeling of anxiety (Phonetics Learning Anxiety) experienced by foreign language (FL) learners studying English as their major at universities or colleges. A study carried out among 32 students of the School of English at Wroclaw University (Poland) revealed a significant negative correlation of moderate strength between the subjects’ level of Phonetics Learning Anxiety (PhLA) and their attainments on pronunciation tests (sentence, passage and word reading) conducted after a 45-hour (30x90-minute lessons) course of practical phonetics. The detrimental effect of PhLA on pronunciation learning was further supported by t-tests, in which the pronunciation of high anxiety subjects was found to be at a significantly lower level than that of low anxiety students. The Phonetics Learning Anxiety Scale, a 44-item questionnaire based on a 6-point Likert scale, designed for the purpose of the research sheds light on the nature of this peculiar type of apprehension experienced by advanced FL learners in a specific educational context (i.e. a traditional classroom, rather than a language or computer laboratory), in which the major focus is on pronunciation practice. The obtained quantitative data imply that such factors as fear of negative evaluation (represented by general oral performance apprehension and concern over pronunciation mistakes, pronunciation self-image, pronunciation self-efficacy and self-assessment) and beliefs about the nature of FL pronunciation learning are significant sources of PhLA. Anxiety about the transcription test (IPA Test Anxiety) - one of the other hypothetical determinants of PhLA - did not prove to be correlated with the general level of Phonetics Learning Anxiety.

References

Aida, Y. 1994. Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope’s construct of foreign language anxiety: The case of students of Japanese. The Modern Language Journal 78: 155-168.
Google Scholar

Argamon, O. and S. Abu-Rabia. 2002. The influence of language anxiety on English reading and writing tasks among native Hebrew speakers. Language, Culture and Curriculum 15: 143-160.
Google Scholar

Ashcraft, M. H. and E. P. Kirk. 2001. The relationship among working memory, math anxiety and performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 130: 224- 237.
Google Scholar

Bailey, K. M. 1983. Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language learning: Looking at and through the diary studies. In H. W. Seliger and M. H. Long (eds) Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House: 67-103.
Google Scholar

Baran-Łucarz, M. 2011. The relationship between language anxiety and the actual and perceived levels of FL pronunciation. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 1(4): 491-514.
Google Scholar

Baran-Łucarz, M. 2013. Foreign language pronunciation and listening anxiety – a preliminary study. In E. Piechurska-Kuciel and E. Szymańska-Czaplak (eds) Language in Cognition and Affect, Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg: 1-20. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-35305-5_15
Google Scholar

Broadbent, d. E.and M. Broadbent. 1998. Anxiety and attentional bias: State and Trait. Cognition and Emotion 2: 165-183.
Google Scholar

Burgoon, J. I. and R. J. Koper. 1984. Nonverbal; and relational communication associated with reticence. Human Communication 10: 601-626.
Google Scholar

Celce-Murcia, M., D. Brinton, and J. Goodwin. 2000. Teaching Pronunciation. A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Cheng, Y.-S, Horwitz, E. K. and D. L. Schallert. 1999. Language anxiety: Differentiating writing and speaking components. Language Learning 49: 417-446.
Google Scholar

Darwin, C. 1965/1872. The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar

Eysenck, M. W. 1997. Anxiety and Cognition: A Unified Theory. Hove: Psychology Press.
Google Scholar

Eysenck, M. W. and M. G. Calvo. 1992. Anxiety and performance: The processing efficiency theory. Cognition and Emotion 6: 409-434.
Google Scholar

Friedman, I. A. and O. Bendas-Jacob. 1997. Measuring perceived test anxiety in adolescents: A self-report scale. Education and Psychological Measurement 57: 1035-1047.
Google Scholar

Gardner, R. C. and P. D. MacIntyre. 1993. A student’s contribution to second-language learning. Part II: Affective variables. Language Teaching 26: 1-11.
Google Scholar

Gregersen, T and E. K. Horwitz. 2002. Language learning and perfectionism: anxious and non-anxious language learners' reactions to their own oral performance. The Modern Language Journal 86(4): 562-570. DOI: 10.1111/1540-4781.00161
Google Scholar

Hilleson, M. 1996. ‘I want to talk with them, but I don’t want them to hear’: An introspective study of second language anxiety in an English-medium school. In K. M. Bailey and D. Nunan (eds) Voices from the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 248-277.
Google Scholar

Horwitz, E. K. 1988. The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. The Modern Language Journal 72: 283-294.
Google Scholar

Horwitz, E. K. 2010. Research timeline. Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching 43(2): 154-167. DOI:10.1017/S026144480 999036X
Google Scholar

Horwitz, E. K., M. Horwitz and J. A. Cope. 1986. Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 70: 125-132.
Google Scholar

Kennerly, H. 1990. Managing Anxiety. A Training Manual. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar

Kim, J. 2005. The reliability and validity of a foreign Language Learning Anxiety Scale. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics 5: 213-235.
Google Scholar

Lesse, S. 1982. The relationship of anxiety to depression. American Journal of Psychotherapy 36: 332-349.
Google Scholar

Lewis, A. 1970. The ambiguous word ‘anxiety’. International Journal of Psychiatry 9: 62-79.
Google Scholar

MacIntyre, P. D. 1999. Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In D. J. Young (ed) Affect in foreign language and second language learning. A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere. Boston: McGraw-Hill: 24-45.
Google Scholar

MacIntyre, P. D. and R. C. Gardner. 1989. Anxiety and second language learning: Toward a theoretical clarification. Language Learning 39: 251-275.
Google Scholar

Mathews, A. 1990. Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy 28: 455-468.
Google Scholar

Mathews, A., Mackintosh, B. and E. P. Fulcher. 1997. Cognitive biases in anxiety and attention to threat. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 1: 340-346.
Google Scholar

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Bailey, P. and C. E. Daley. 1999. Factors associated with foreign language anxiety. Applied Linguistics 20(2): 217-239.
Google Scholar

Pekrun, R. 1992. Expectancy-value theory of anxiety: Overview and implications. In D. Forgays and T. Sosnowski (eds) Anxiety: Recent Developments in Cognitive, Psychological and Health Research. Washington, DC: Hemisphere: 23-39.
Google Scholar

Piechurska-Kuciel, E. 2008. Language Anxiety in Secondary Grammar School Students. Opole: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Opolskiego.
Google Scholar

Phillips, E. M. 1992. The effects of language anxiety on student’s oral test performance and attitudes. The Modern Language Journal 76: 14-26.
Google Scholar

Price, M. L. 1991. The subjective experience of foreign language anxiety: Interviews with highly anxious students. In E. K. Horwitz and D. J. Young (eds) Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall: 101-108.
Google Scholar

Rathus, S. A. 1987. Psychology. New York: CBS College Publishing.
Google Scholar

Riskind, J. H., Williams, N. L., Gessner, T. L., Chrosniak, L. D. and J. M. Cortina. 2000. The looming maladaptive style: Anxiety danger and schematic processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 79: 837-852.
Google Scholar

Ruiz-Caballero, J. A. and J. Bermudez. 1997. Anxiety and attention: Is there an attentional bias for positive emotional stimuli? Journal of General Psychology 124: 194-211.
Google Scholar

Saito, Y. and K. Samimy. 1996. Foreign language anxiety and language performance: A study of learner anxiety in beginning, intermediate, and advanced-level college student of Japanese. Foreign Language Annals 29: 239-248.
Google Scholar

Saito, Y., Garza, T. J. And E. K. Horwitz. 1999. Foreign language reading anxiety. The Modern Language Journal 83: 202-218.
Google Scholar

Scovel, T. 1991. The effect of affect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. In E. K. Horwitz and D. J. Young (eds) Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom Implications. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall: 15-23.
Google Scholar

Sobkowiak, W. 1996. English Phonetics for Poles. Poznań: Bene Nati.
Google Scholar

Spielman, G. and M. L. Radnofsky. 2001. Learning language under tension. New directions from a qualitative study. The Modern Language Journal 85: 259-278.
Google Scholar

VanPatten, B. and W. R. Glass. 1999. Grammar learning as a source of language anxiety: A discussion. In D. J. Young (ed) Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning. A practical Guide to Creating a Low-anxiety Classroom Atmosphere. Boston: McGraw-Hill: 89-105.
Google Scholar

Vasa, R. A. and D. S. Pine. 2004. Neurobiology in anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. In T. R. Morris and J. S. March (eds) Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents. New York: Guilford Press: 3-26.
Google Scholar

Vogely, A. 1999. Addressing listening comprehension anxiety. In D. J. Young (ed) Affect in Foreign and Second Language Learning. A Practical Guide to Creating a Low-anxiety Classroom Atmosphere. Boston: McGraw-Hill: 106-123.
Google Scholar

Wade, C. and C. Tavris. 1990. Psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Harper & Row.
Google Scholar

Watson, D. and R. Friend. 1969. Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 33: 448-457.
Google Scholar

Woodrow, L. 2006. Anxiety and speaking English as a second language. Sage Publications 37(3): 308-328. DOI: 10.1177/00336882060 71315
Google Scholar

Young, D. J. 1991. Creating a low-anxiety classroom environment: What does the anxiety research suggest? The Modern Language Journal 75: 426-439.
Google Scholar

Young, D. J. 1992. Language anxiety from the foreign language specialist’s perspective: Interviews with Krashen, Omaggio Hadley, Terrell, and Rardin. Foreign Language Annals 25: 157-172.
Google Scholar