Browsing by Subject "Second language acquisition--Psychological aspects"
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Item Effects of task values, attributions, and cultural constructs on foreign language use anxiety among international teaching assistants(2004) Lim, Hye-yeon; Horwitz, Elaine KolkerThis study examines the relationships between task values, attributions, cultural constructs and foreign language use anxiety using expectancy-value theory, attribution theory, and Triandis’ (1995) cultural constructs model (i.e., individualism versus collectivism) as its theoretical bases. This study explores how perceptions and values of foreign language learning affect foreign language use anxiety. Going beyond the perspective that foreign language anxiety is an individual personality characteristic, cultural constructs were used to investigate the influence of culture on foreign language use anxiety. Three major hypotheses were tested. The first, based on expectancy-value theory, states that the more value attached to foreign language learning, the higher the level of foreign language use anxiety. The second states that individuals who attribute their outcomes externally will have higher levels of anxiety than those who attribute them to internally controllable variables. The third states that those individuals from collectivist societies will have higher levels of foreign language use anxiety than those from individualist societies. Survey data were collected from 226 international teaching assistants at a large southwestern university. The survey instruments included the English Use Anxiety Scale (adapted from Gardner’s French Use Anxiety Scale), Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, a modified version of Eccles and Wigfield’s value scale, and the Triandis cultural constructs scale. The data showed that task values were negatively related to foreign language use anxiety. Thus, the first hypothesis was not supported contrary to theoretical expectations. The data also revealed that as learners perceived the successful acquisition of English to be under their control (i.e., due to their efforts), foreign language use anxiety increased. This finding ran counter to theoretical expectations and failed to support the hypothesis. Finally, no significant relationship between cultural orientation and foreign language use anxiety was obtained. Nevertheless, the data indicated that Asian learners,Item ESL learner's self-efficacy and language anxiety in computer-networked interaction(2003-05) Han, Kyungsun; Schallert, Diane L.; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-This study investigated how two different interaction modes, computernetworked versus face-to-face modes, would affect ESL learners self-perceptions of efficacy and anxiety about learning English. From a social constructivist perspective, it was hypothesized that language learners self-perceptions of efficacy, pertinent emotional states, and corresponding performance would vary according to different learning contexts. Data were collected over one semester from two sections of ESL classes taught by one teacher using both quantitative and qualitative methods. As to the quantitative methods, four self-efficacy and four anxiety self-report questionnaires were administered throughout the semester to measure students emotional states in three different contexts, general, oral and computer discussions. In addition, their oral and computer discussions were recorded six times in the semester and analyzed. For qualitative analysis, students were interviewed and class sessions were observed. Correlation analysis identified varying levels of strength of relationship between self-efficacy and anxiety scores in each context because of different characteristics of the two constructs. In addition, the results of repeated measures contrasts suggested the potential for computer discussion to increase the selfefficacy of students for their oral discussion. According to the analysis of interview data, the participants culture group influenced the emotional experiences differently in the two different contexts of oral and computer discussions. The analysis of discussion data revealed increasing levels of participation in the computer discussion over time by the students who were considered reticent in class although perhaps at the expense of language quality. Most importantly, the analysis of interview data endorsed positive effects of computer discussion on English language learning in terms of students positive attitudes and favorable feelings for the learning context. Finally, the results of comparison between the ESL in this study and EFL students from Cheng (1998) provided a piece of evidence about how the learners self-perceptions were embedded in their real life and larger social contexts.Item On the relationship between anxiety and reading in English as a foreign language among Korean university students in Korea(1990) Oh, Junil, 1959-; Horwitz, Elaine Kolker, 1950-The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between anxiety and reading in English as a foreign language (EFL). An additional purpose was to investigate whether different EFL reading tasks aroused differential levels of anxiety. A total of 114 Korean students in Freshman English courses at Kyungpook National University (Taegu, Korea) participated in the study. Subjects' anxiety levels were measured through the Korean State Anxiety Inventory (KSAI), the Korean Test Anxiety Inventory (KTAI), and the Korean Cognitive Interference Questionnaire (KCIQ). Three instruments were employed to assess subjects' EFL reading. First, the Reading Comprehension Task (ROT) consisted of two English passages each followed by comprehension and sentence verification questions and a written recall task. Second, the Cloze Test (CT) was comprised of thirty-two deletions which required intraclausal, interclausal, or intersentential processing for clozure. Finally, eighteen subjects, matched on English vocabulary knowledge, were asked to think-aloud while reading an English text and later to recall information from the text. The relationship between anxiety and RCT/CT performance, the relationship between anxiety and recall/strategy use as tapped by the Think-Aloud Task (TAT), and the relationship between reading assessment formats and anxiety level were examined through correlational analyses, repeated-measures ANOVAs, and t-tests. The main findings were as follows: (1) worry cognitions as measured by the KTAI's Worry Subscale and the KCIQ were inversely related to recall and cloze performance, particularly deletions requiring intersentential processing; (2) more anxious subjects used more often strategies for Developing Awareness and Accepting Ambiguity, but less frequently those for Establishing Intersentential Ties and Using Background Knowledge; and (3) the TAT and the CT provoked the highest levels of anxiety as measured by the KSAI and KCIQ, respectively. Since anxiety was found to have the potential to hamper reading processes and outcomes, the classroom teacher ought to identify the sources of anxiety which students may experience while reading. In IX addition, students’ anxiety should be alleviated so that they can utilize fully already acquired linguistic and prior knowledge in their attempt to make sense of what they read