Investigating ways of preventing students' anxiety during spontaneous Target Language use in the MFL classroom

Thesis

Researchers, teachers and learners agree on the importance of spontaneous speech in the second language, though previous research has found that this is the most frightening language skill. A review of the literature has suggested that educators have two options when dealing with anxious students: they can help them learn to cope with the existing anxiety- provoking situation; or they can make the learning context less stressful. The aim of this research project was to discover what impact each of these options had on learners' stated levels of anxiety. Following interventions on three classes alongside a control group, data from questionnaires, interviews and observations indicate that explicit affective strategy training only helped students who were already highly anxious. Making the learning context less stressful had observable positive results on all pupils. Whilst students and teachers believed that a combination of methods would bring about the optimum level reduction in oral communication anxiety, results indicate that this was not the case. Therefore further research is planned to identify how best a mixed-method approach could work for all pupils.

Authors: Vivash, L

• Type of award: MSc
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Keywords: MLT; Target Language; Modern Foreign Languages; MLT2015
• Subjects: Education