Overcoming Anxiety in Foreign Language Classrooms

Foreign language anxiety is widely used to describe the feeling of tension and apprehension, which is specifically associated with second language contexts, including speaking, listening and learning. It is a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process. In general, students who struggle with anxiety are more likely to struggle with reading, writing and most notably, listening comprehension and speaking. Research shows that students, regardless of anxiety within a specific category of language-skill-specific anxiety, tend to have a general feeling of low-self confidence. This book examines the dynamics of the anxiety phenomena.