Foreign language anxiety

Foreign language anxiety (or xenoglossophobia) is the feeling of , worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced when learning or using a second or foreign language. These feelings may stem from any second language context whether associated with the productive skills of speaking and writing, or the receptive skills of reading and listening.

Foreign language anxiety is a form of what psychologists describe as specific anxiety reaction. Some individuals are more predisposed to anxiety than others, and may feel anxious in a wide variety of situations. Foreign language anxiety, however, is situation specific and so can also affect individuals who are not characteristically anxious in other situations.

Although all aspects of using and learning a foreign language can cause anxiety, listening and speaking are regularly cited as the most anxiety provoking of foreign language activities.

The causes of foreign language anxiety have been broadly separated into three main components: communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Communication apprehension is the anxiety experienced when speaking to or listening to other individuals. Test-anxiety is a form of performance anxiety associated with the fear of doing badly, or indeed failing altogether. Fear of negative evaluation is the anxiety associated with the learner's perception of how other onlookers (instructors, classmates or others) may negatively view their language ability.

Sparks and Ganschow asked a question which drew attention to the fact that anxiety could either be a cause of poor language learning or a result of poor language learning. If a student is unable to study as required before writing a language examination, the student could experience test anxiety. In this context anxiety could be viewed as a result. In contrast, anxiety becomes a cause of poor language learning when due to anxiety that student is unable to adequately learn the target language.

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