Summary_PLLT_chapter 6

 

Chapter 6. Affective Factors

 

 

Affective Factors in SLA

6) Anxiety

    - Spielberger (1983): Anxiety is a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system

    - Scovel (1978): More simply put, anxiety is associated with feelings of uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension, or worry.

    - trait anxiety: more permanent predisposition to be anxious (at the deepest, or global level)

    - state anxiety: experienced in relation to some particular event or act

(at the more momentary, or situational level)

- Three components of foreign language anxiety

 (1) communication apprehension

 (2) fear of negative social evaluation

 (3) test anxiety

- debilitative anxiety = harmful anxiety

- facilitative anxiety = helpful anxiety  => positive factor

  ex) “butterflies in one’s stomach” before giving a speech could be a facilitative anxiety,

   -> a symptom of just enough tension to get the job done

- Spielmann and Radnofsky (2001) preferred to identify tension as a more neutral concept.

    - In Bailey’s (1983) study of competitiveness and anxiety in L2 learning, facilitative anxiety was one of                

      the keys to success.

    - Both too much and too little anxiety may hinder the process of successful L2 learning.

    - Sparks and Ganschow: “foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a consequence of their foreign language     

                                              learning difficulties” + “anxiety in a foreign language class could be the result 

                                              of first language deficits”

 => Linguistic Coding Deficit Hypothesis (LCDH)

    - Objections to the LCDH: anxiety is a common source of interference in all kinds of learning, highly 

                                                proficient language learners experience anxiety …

    - Bailey, Onwuegbuzie, and Daley (2000) “Anxiety is correlated with low perceived self-worth, 

       competence, and intelligence.”

    - Gregersen and Horwitz (2002) linked anxiousness with perfectionism, suggesting that those who set 

       unrealistically high standards for themselves were likely to develop greater anxiety

    - Levine (2003) “anxiety varied depending on whether students were speaking with other students or with   

      teachers.

 

   - self-efficacy and attribution are keys to other affective variables, especially to anxiety.

 

7) Empathy

- Transaction: the process of reaching out beyond the self to others

- language is a major tool used to accomplish transaction.

    - Empathy: the process of “putting yourself into someone else’s shoes,” of reaching beyond the self to                    

                       understand what another person is feeling.

    - Empathy is a major factor in the harmonious coexistence of individuals in society.

    - Both language and nonverbal communication facilitate the process of empathizing.

    - Empathy and sympathy are not synonymous

   ⦁ Empathy implies more possibility of detachment

⦁ Sympathy involves a close affinity with another person

- two aspects to the development and exercising of empathy

 (1) awareness and knowledge of one’s own feelings

 (2) identification with another person

 = You cannot fully empathize until you adequately know yourself

 

   - In order to accurately reach out to another person, we need to transcend our own ego boundaries.

   - In oral communication, since empathetic perceptions are made through immediate feedback from a 

     hearer, a misunderstood word, phrase can be questioned and then rephrased until a clear message is 

     interpreted.

   - In written communication, since immediate feedback from a reader is impossible, the writer must     

     communicate ideas by means of a very clear empathetic intuition and judgment of the reader’s state of 

     mind and structure of knowledge.

  - no significant correlation between empathy and language success

 

8) Extroversion and Introversion

 - Stereotype

   => extroverted person: gregarious, “life of the party” person…

        introverted person: quiet, reserved, reclusive…

  

   - Extroversion

⦁ the extent to which a person has a deep-seated need to receive ego enhancement, self-esteem, and a sense of wholeness from other people

 

⦁ extroverts need other people in order to feel “good”

⦁ energized by interaction with others

⦁ one of the weaknesses can be a deep-seated need for affirmation from others

- Introversion

 ⦁ the extent to which a person derives a sense of wholeness and fulfillment within oneself

 ⦁ introverts have an inner strength of character

 ⦁ be more attentive to thoughts and concepts

 ⦁ energized by concentration on the inner world

 ⦁ conversational, but simply require more reflection

 ⦁ possibly exercise more restraint in social situations

- It is not clear that E/I helps or hinders the process of SLA.

- A teacher needs to be sensitive to

     (1) cultural norms (there’s a cultural difference in whether students can speak out in the classroom or not)

 (2) student’s willingness to communicate in class

 (3) strengths and weaknesses of the E/I continuum

 

 Personality types

- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Myers, 1962)

 : the Myers-Briggs test proposed to assess one’s various prevailing personality styles.

- Four (presumably) dichotomous styles of functioning are covered in the MBTI

 (1) introversion  vs. extroversion

 (2) sensing vs. intuition

 (3) thinking vs. feeling

 (4) judging vs. perceiving

 

Table 6.1 Myers-Briggs character types

 

Extroversion (E)	Introversion (I)
Interaction Multiplicity of relationships Interest in external events	Concentration Limited relationships Interest in internal reaction
Sensing (S)	Intuition (N)
Experience Realistic Practicality	Hunches Speculative Ingenuity
Thinking (T)	Feeling (F)
Objective Principles Analysis	Subjective Values Sympathy
Judging (J)	Perceiving (P)
Organize one’s life Closure-Oriented Deadline!	Let life happen Keep options open What deadline?

 

- Lawrence (1984) stressed the importance of personality types for understanding students.

   - More pedagogically useful was Ehrman’s (1989) list of both assets and liabilities of each side of the 

     Myers-Briggs continuum.

 

 

 

Table 6.2 Assets and liabilities of Myers-Briggs types (adapted from Ehrman, 1989)

 

 

Assets
Extroversion (E)	Willing to take conversational risks
Introversion (I)	Concentration, self-sufficiency
Sensing (S)	Systematic work, attention to detail
Intuition (N)	Inferencing, guessing from context
Thinking (T)	Analysis, self-discipline
Feeling (F)	Bonding with teachers, social interaction
Judging (J)	Punctual, complete assignments
Perceiving (P)	Open, flexible, adaptable to new experiences

 

Liabilities
Extroversion (E)	Dependent on outside interaction, “shoot from the hip”
Introversion (I)	Need processing time before speaking, risk avoidance
Sensing (S)	Hindered by lack of clear objectives, syllabus, structure
Intuition (N)	Inaccuracy, missing important details
Thinking (T)	Performance anxiety, excessive need for control
Feeling (F)	Discouraged if not praised, disrupted by lack of social harmony
Judging (J)	Rigidity, intolerance of ambiguous language and tasks
Perceiving (P)	Missing deadlines, inconsistent pacing, disrupted by schedules

 

 

- Several theoretical issues

  ⦁ the operational definitions of each of the 16 types remain rather tentative, and their understanding is based more on experience than on scientific validation.

  ⦁ the pairs of types are clearly not dichotomous, as a person can easily manifest characteristics of both sides of the presumed continuum.

   - the most successful learners (and people) are able to contextualize their strategic options, regardless of 

     their general proclivities and preferences.

   - Although the Myers-Briggs model has weaknesses…

     (1) it helps people to ponder personality differences that they never considered

     (2) it helps teachers to contemplate yet another set of individual differences among their students, and to 

          vary their classroom activities to embrace a number of different possible student characteristics.

 

  

Motivation

- Countless studies and experiments in human learning have shown that motivation is a key to learning in    

   general.

 

1) Defining Motivation

  - three different perspectives of defining motivation

      (1) From a behavioral perspective, motivation is quite simply the anticipation of reward. Driven to 

           acquire positive reinforcement and by previous experiences of reward, we act to achieve further 

          reinforcement.

 

     (2) In cognitive terms, motivation emphasizes the individual’s decisions, “the choices people make as to 

          what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that 

          respect”

 

Some cognitive psychologists see underlying needs or drives as the compelling force behind our decisions

 

 List of needs:

   ⦁ Exploration, to see “the other side of the mountain,” opening new vistas

   ⦁ Manipulation, to persuade, and cause change in one’s environment

   ⦁ Activity, for movement and exercise, both physical and mental

   ⦁ Stimulation, by people, ideas, feelings, and the environment

  

           ⦁ Knowledge, to explore, learn, resolve contradictions, and solve problems

   ⦁ Ego enhancement, to be accepted and approved of by others

 

 

   (3) A constructivist view of motivation places prime emphasis on social context as well as individual personal choices. Maslow’s (1970) hierarchy of needs included community, belonging, and social status. Motivation is derived as much from our interactions with others as it is from our self-determination.

 

Behavioral	Cognitive	Constructivist
Anticipation of reward   Desire to receive positive reinforcement   External, individual forces in control	Driven by basic human needs: ex) exploration, manipulation   Degree of effort expended   Internal, individual forces in control	Social context   Community   Social status   Security of group   Internal, interactive forces in control

  Table 6.3 Three views of motivation