This book provides an overview of current theory, research and practice in the field of language anxiety and brings together a range of perspectives on this psychological construct in a single volume. Chapters show that language anxiety can be viewed as a complex and dynamic construct and can be researched using different methods and frameworks.

This book provides an overview of current theory, research and practice in the field of language anxiety and brings together a range of perspectives on this psychological construct in a single volume. Chapters in the volume are divided into three sections. Part 1 revisits language anxiety theory, showing that it can be viewed as a complex and dynamic construct and that it is linked to other psychological variables, such as the self and personality. In Part 2, a series of contextualised studies on language anxiety are presented, with a key feature of these studies being the diverse research designs which are applied in different instructional settings across the globe. Part 3 bridges theory and practice by presenting coping strategies and practice activities with a view to informing classroom practice and pedagogical interventions.

Does anxiety about learning and using a foreign language decline as learners become more competent in the target language, or is anxiety also relevant at higher levels of proficiency? This is the question Foreign Language Anxiety and the Advanced Language Learner sets out to explore. The aim of the book is to give readers an insight into what role anxiety plays in the language learning and communication processes of advanced language learners. Specifically, the study examines how advanced EFL learners’ foreign language anxiety (FLA) can be characterized; how anxiety relates to other individual differences (cognitive, affective, personality); and explores the relationship between FLA and various aspects of learners’ performance and communication experience in the target language. The research context is Hungary. The findings, however, are not confined to the Hungarian EFL setting. In addition to making a contribution to the clarification of some unresolved issues in language anxiety research—including the role of proficiency in the development of anxiety, the relationship between anxiety and other learner variables, and the much-debated question of whether or not anxiety accounts for differential success in L2 learning—this study has important implications for language teachers as well.

Language Education and Emotions presents innovative, empirical research into the influence of emotions and affective factors in language education, both in L1 and in foreign language education. It offers a comprehensive overview of studies authored and co-authored by researchers from all over the world. The volume opens and ends with "backbone" contributions by two of the discipline’s most reputed scholars: Jane Arnold (Spain) and Jean-Marc Dewaele (United Kingdom). This book broadens our understanding of emotions, including well-known concepts such as foreign language anxiety as well as addressing the emotions that have only recently received scientific attention, driven by the positive psychology movement. Chapters explore emotions from the perspective of the language learner and the language teacher, and in relation to educational processes. A number of contributions deal with traditional, school-based contexts, whereas others study new settings of foreign language education such as migration. The book paints a picture of the broad scale of approaches used to study this topic and offers new and relevant insights for the field of language education and emotions. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the field of language education, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.

"Finally a comprehensive discussion of language anxiety, this collection of papers considers the points of view of teachers and students as well as of theorists and researchers. What is language anxiety? How does it affect language learners? How is it related to other types of anxiety? What can teachers and program directors do to minimize language anxiety in their classrooms? These and other issues are addressed in this landmark text." -- Back cover.

This book presents theoretical considerations and the results of empirical research on pronunciation learning strategies (PLS) deployed by pre-service trainee teachers majoring in English as a foreign language who experienced different levels of language anxiety (LA). The theoretical part focuses on the concepts of pronunciation learning, pronunciation-learning strategies and language anxiety and includes an overview of recent empirical research dealing with various related issues. The empirical section of the book presents the findings of a research project that investigated the interplay between PLS and LA, in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Based on the findings, the author proposes two profiles of anxious and non-anxious EFL trainee teachers who support their pronunciation learning with an array of pronunciation learning strategies and tactics.

Foreign language anxiety and language-skill-specific anxiety are widely used to describe the feeling of tension and apprehension, which is specifically associated with foreign language learning contexts, including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) is related to foreign language anxiety and language-skill-specific anxiety, and fairly recently identified as distinguished from other forms of anxiety. FLCA is a more general type of anxiety in learning a foreign language with a strong speaking anxiety element; and low self-confidence is identified as an important component of its construct. Research shows that FLCA is a complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon; it has many potential sources; and it interferes with the acquisition, retention, and production of a foreign language. This book examines the dynamics of FLCA phenomena.