Foreign language anxiety is a type of anxiety that is tied to foreign language learning settings. In the literature, there are mixed findings about the debilitative effect of foreign language...Show moreForeign language anxiety is a type of anxiety that is tied to foreign language learning settings. In the literature, there are mixed findings about the debilitative effect of foreign language anxiety on L2 performance and L2 fluency. Moreover, it is unclear how foreign language anxiety affects L2 speech processing. The following study investigates the effect of foreign language anxiety on L1 Dutch L2 English learners’ fluency. By means of an experiment, the L2 learners performed two speaking tasks in both a high and a low-anxiety condition. Their L2 utterance fluency was explored quantitatively by means of temporal measures, whereas their cognitive fluency was explored qualitatively with stimulated recalls. In the high-anxiety condition, the L2 learners reported that they felt more anxious and judged their performance as lower. However, there was no difference in L2 utterance fluency between the conditions. The stimulated recalls did reveal a difference in the number and quality of processing issues between the anxiety conditions. Therefore, the exact target of foreign language anxiety in L2 learners remains obscure and it is fruitful to further explore its effect in L2 performance and L2 learners and find successful implementations to reduce foreign language anxiety in the classroom.Show less
The processes involved in second language phonology have been long researched, yet the research is not always easy to apply in real-life teaching situations. Considering the dynamics of learning a...Show moreThe processes involved in second language phonology have been long researched, yet the research is not always easy to apply in real-life teaching situations. Considering the dynamics of learning a second language and respecting the innate processes that are involved in phonology acquisition the method of this thesis steps away from a traditional lengthy formal instruction: participants were given a very short instruction on their pronunciation. The differences before and after instruction were measured both phonetically (in F1 and F2 frequencies) and audibly (survey). One participant is successful at changing his output both phonetically and audibly, while the others are less successful. Their results, however, inform us about learners’ aptitude, the interconnectedness between vowel output and learner proficiency, transfer processes, and draws comparisons with dynamic systems theory and the effect that psychological tension may have on language output.Show less
