Foreign Language Classroom: The Style Analysis

The ultimate goal of learning a language is to be able to use it as a means of communication. This requires one’s ability to use their language productive skill which is speaking. Nonetheless, getting oneself up in front of a large audience and having to speak in a language that they are not familiar with can be quite a challenge and even intimidating for some people. Furthermore, in language learning process, teachers would sometimes facilitate talking time for the students by asking them to respond or present some topic in front of the class. Some students might find it as a difficult task, terrifying, and even would start feeling uneasy about it for they are aware that the whole class is watching. Ying Zheng (2008:1) stated that a traumatic

There were 152 foreign language learners from classes at the University of South Dakota during spring 2006, and 54 foreign language learners from classes at Wen Zao University, 76 learners at Kun Shan University, and 103 learners at Far East University during the fall of 2007. There were three instruments used in this study namely The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety scale by Horwitz et al., 1986; the Style Analysis Survey by Oxford et al., 1999a; and ten questions designed by the author. The survey was translated into Chinese by a full-time language teacher at Far East University, the accuracy of the Chinese was checked by two other full-time teachers in the applied foreign language department. The result showed that there was a relatively low anxiety level of foreign language students and a strong perception that classroom activities were conducted in a cooperative learning mode. No significance was found at the University of South Dakota, yet a very large positive significance was found at three Southern Taiwan Schools. In brief, Foreign Language Anxiety and cooperative learning showed no relationship in the US school, and a positive relationship in the Taiwanese

Related Theories

a. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA)

Horwitz et al (1986:128) stated that FLA is ‘’a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning process arising from the uniqueness of the (foreign) language learning process’’. According to a research conducted by Professor Dr. Elaine Horwitz, between 30 up to 40 percents of language learners experience FLA. Ellis (2008) argued that this type of anxiety is prompted by specific set of conditions for example public speaking or participating in class.

As cited in Tóth (2010:12), Sarason (1978, 1991) as well as Wine (1971, 1982) mentioned that people with high levels of anxiety have been found to differ from those low in anxiety with regard to their cognitive activity before and while performing in evaluative contexts, with anxious individuals tending to engage and become absorbed in self-preoccupying worry, i.e. distressing ruminations about how they are doing, how they are seen by others, their personal incompetence, implications of failure, etc.

b. Cooperative Learning

Jolliffe (2007) stated that “Cooperative learning requires pupils to work together in small groups to support each other improve their own learning and that of others’’. Cooperative learning involves students learning from each other in groups as mentioned in Larsen-Freeman