The Anxious Psychology and its Inspiration of Foreign Language Learning

【Abstract】Anxiety is one of the emotions that influence foreign language learning， and excessive anxiety can have negative effects on students’ behavior. More and more researchers are interested in the study of anxiety psychology， the influence of anxiety to foreign language learning and the causes of anxiety. This paper has discussed the definition and classification of anxiety， it’s performance in foreign language teaching， and the cause of anxiety and its inspiration.

【Key words】anxiety psychology； foreign language； learning

1. Introduction

Foreign language learning is a process affected by many factors， among which anxiety is the biggest affective disturbance in the process. Appropriate anxiety can promote students’ learning while excessive anxiety is counterproductive. In the foreign language classroom， learners always worry about whether they can be accepted by others， fearing the communication in target language is not fluent and correct， fearing exams and being evaluated lowly. Learners always feel tense， worried， scared and anxious in learning and using foreign languages. This anxious condition will directly affect the absorption of language input and the language output of learners， so as to impede their language learning. The paper has made a discussion of the anxious psychology and its inspiration of foreign language learning.

2. The definition， classification and its performance in foreign language learning

2.1 The definition of anxiety. Anxiety is one of the abnormal emotions， also known as psychological abnormality. From the clinical point of view， psychologists regard anxiety as normal adaptive behavior of unpleasant emotion， and describe them as a strong expectation that they have to make special endeavors to the danger， the threat and the need but have nothing to do with it. However， linguistics always use “anxiety” to describe emotional experience such as tension， worry， fear and the worried sate in learning and using the second language. Foreign language learning is a process of language input and output influenced by many factors. A large number of psychological studies have shown that emotional factors of learners can lead to differences in different learning styles and academic achievements. Emotional factors include motive， attitude， personality， self-esteem， anxiety， risk-taking， etc. All the factors act on foreign language learning in different level. Among them， anxiety is the biggest affective disturbance in language learning.

2.2 The classification of anxiety. Some scholars believe that anxiety has not only negative impacts on foreign language learning， but also positive impacts. Therefore， anxiety can be divided into facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. The former indicates that a certain level of anxiety is good to learning， for example， keeping a certain level of anxiety before an exam can help them to study； while the influence of the later is negative.

2.3 The performance of anxiety in foreign language learning

（1） Classroom anxiety. Different from other classes， foreign language class focuses on cultivating learners’ actual applying ability， so its class structure is mainly about interaction and communication. The main manifestations of class anxiety are the fear of teacher’s questions and the fear of using foreign language to communicate with each other， which shows especially in oral classes.

（2） Exam anxiety. Most students have exam anxiety more or less， mainly showing insomnia before an exam， drive at night， bad condition in an exam， distraction， hot face， sweating hands， cold hands and feet， and so on.

3. The causes of anxiety

3.1 The teacher factors. A survey of “good language teacher and bad language teacher” shows that teacher’s attitude is the main factor lead to students’ anxiety. Good language teachers give no pressure to learners， trust them， make them believe themselves， and they are friendly， and so on. However， bad language teachers are serious， have no smile， prefer to satirize students. These two different ways will have different learners and different achievements. Obviously， good language teachers will help learners to overcome their anxiety of leaning second language while bad language teachers will aggravate learners’ anxiety and impede their learning interests.

3.2 The leaner factors

（1） Self-esteem. Self-esteem is a kind of self-evaluation of human value and the psychological fundament of success. Generally， successful language learners have more self-esteem than failures. To those who have less self-esteem， the anxiety， no matter big or small， are mostly impeditive and can only have negative effects. To those who have more self-esteem， because they will try their best to adapt and accept foreign languages， anxiety will turn to be driving force. Therefore， anxiety is supportive and can have positive effects for them.

（2） Personality. Different personalities of learners will lead to different learning styles， so as to influence the efficiency of foreign language learning. Generally， extraverted learners are enthusiastic， talkative and active. Introverted learners prefer to be taciturn and they especially pay more attention to the evaluation of teachers and classmates.