Identifying ELL anxieties in the tertiary-level EFL classroom Chris Pirotto Fukui University of Technology chris.pirotto@gmail.com

These slides may be found on my website http://pirottosensei.wordpress.com

Anxiety in the Classroom can bring… Physical symptoms Perspiration, Increased heart rate, dry mouth, muscle tension, panic attacks, fainting (Andrade and Williams, 2009) Mental Issues Memory recall issues, feeling of helplessness, decreased memory retention (A&W, 2009) Which all can... Decrease motivation and language gains (Oxford, 1999) Affect willingness to communicate (Hashimoto, 2002) Limit ability to present one’s ideas and options (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope, 1986) Make the language learning process an unpleasant experience (HH&C, 1986)

Research Questions 1) Can I categorize the types of anxieties that are present in my students? Answered in Pirotto (2018) 2) How have these anxieties changed throughout my semester-long course? 3) Can anything I’ve done in class be identified as anxiety reducing (or inducing)?

Pirotto (2018) Factor Analysis of the FLCAS, given to my students. Identified 5 factors Anxiety Related to Oral Production Attitude Towards Course Enjoyment Degree of Comfort when Communicating with L1 speakers Comparison Anxiety Fear of being Unsuccessful and Falling Behind

This Study FLCAS given week 2 of the semester Given to all my first years, taking an oral communication course Compare the Factor Analysis with Pirotto 2018 Give the FLCAS again in week 14 of the 15 week semester See how anxiety changed over the semester Follow-up with a few students in interviews

Pirotto 2018 vs This study Factor Items Anxiety Related to Oral Production 2, 9, 12, 13, 15, 20, 24, 27, 33 Attitude Towards Course Enjoyment 5, 6, 17, 21 Degree of Comfort Communicating with L1 Speakers 14, 18, 28, 32 Comparison Anxiety 1, 7, 23 Fear of being Unsuccessful and Falling Behind 10, 19, 22, 25

Results from Pre and Post Tests Factor Pre (Mean + SD) Post (Mean + SD) Effect Size (Cohen’s d) (Plonsky & Oswald, 2014) Anxiety Related to Oral Production 3.39 (0.80) 3.05 (0.80) d = 0.42 (Small??) Attitude Towards Course Enjoyment 2.55 (0.69) 2.50 (0.65) d = 0.07 Degree of Comfort Communicating with L1 speakers 3.75 (0.76) 3.50 (0.69) d = 0.35 Comparison Anxiety 3.54 (0.85) 3.12 (0.84) d = 0.50 (Small) Fear of being Unsuccessful and Falling Behind 3.11 (0.87) 2.66 (0.79) d = 0.55 (Small) 1 = Strongly Disagree (Very Low Anxiety/Fear) 3 = Neutral 5 = Strongly Agree (Very High Anxiety/Fear) Note: A high score in “Attitude towards Course Enjoyment” signifies dislike with the course

Comments from Interviews Factor Comments Anxiety Related to Oral Production -It was good knowing the teacher didn’t chose who would answer. -More time to prepare would be good. Attitude Towards Course Enjoyment -Too many quizzes. -Need more energy during workbook & grammar activities (music?) -Class was as I expected. Degree of Comfort Communicating with L1 speakers -English Café helped but I only went twice. -If all foreigners like you, I would love talking to foreigners. Comparison Anxiety -Getting to know the other students throughout the year helped. -Lots of people in the class can’t speak (English)…just like me! Fear of being Unsuccessful and Falling Behind -(Teacher was) helpful and always knew what my grade was. -A second year told me your class was easy if I did my work.

Resources Andrade and Williams. 2009. Foreign language learning anxiety in Japanese EFL university classes: Physical, motional, expressive, and verbal reactions. Sophia Junior College Faculty Journal, 29, 1-24. Hashimoto. 2002. Motivation and willingness to communicate as predictors of L2 use: The Japanese ESL context. Second Language Studies, 20, 29-70. Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope. 1986. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132. Oxford. 1999. Anxiety and the Language Learner: New Insights. In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in language learning. (58- 67). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pirotto. 2018. A factorial investigation into the English language learning anxiety of first-year university students in Japan. Memoirs of Fukui University of Technology, 48, 165-172.

Fukui University of Technology Thank you Chris Pirotto Fukui University of Technology chris.pirotto@gmail.com