The two faces of Janus? Enjoyment & Anxiety in the Foreign Language Classroom Jean-Marc Dewaele Birkbeck, University of London, UK Peter MacIntyre Cape.

The two faces of Janus? Enjoyment & Anxiety in the

Foreign Language Classroom

Jean-Marc Dewaele Birkbeck, University of London, UKPeter MacIntyre

Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

to appear in a special issue Positive psychology in SLA (guest eds Peter MacIntyre & Tammy Gregersen) Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, July 2014

• ancient Roman mythology: Janus, god of beginnings & transitions• Perfect god for FL learners ... endless beginnings followed by a very long

succession of transitions

Enjoyment Anxiety

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FLE & FLA

• Foreign language anxiety (FLA)= “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using a second language” (MacIntyre, 1994: 27)

• Foreign language enjoyment (FLE) = the fun of learning or using a foreign language

Positive psychology

• Recently dedicated sub-field of psychology that

focuses on the empirical study of what goes well in

life, the factors that lead people to thrive in their

surroundings and flourish in their activities (Lake,

2013, Peterson, 2006)

Too much focus on the negative!

• FLA = strong predictor of success or lack of it in FL learning (MacIntyre 1999, Horwitz 2010)

• Positive emotions not entirely neglected, but embedded in the complex of motivation, which is more than a simple emotion, as is involves a journey towards a goal

• However: desire for FLL is close to affect, “but in a more concrete sense than just emotional reactions or metaphysical illuminations of the soul” (Kramsch 2009: 16).

Positive vs negative

• Negative emotions: anger => urge to destroy obstacles, fear

=> protective behaviours

• Positive emotions: different type of response: joy, interest,

contentment, pride, love share ability to broaden people's

momentary thought-action repertoires, build their enduring

personal resources, ranging from physical & intellectual

resources to social & psychological resources” (Fredickson,

2003, 2007)

• Positive emotion can dissipate lingering effects of negative

emotional arousal, promotes personal resiliency in face of

difficulties

Positive power

• Gregersen & MacIntyre (2014) Positive emotions “can broaden

the field of attention and build resources for the future” (p. xiv).

• Positive emotions can help learners “build relationships,

personal strength, and tolerances for the moments when things

become difficult” (p. xiv) => broadens learners’ perspective,

opening the person to absorb FL (MacIntyre & Gregersen,

2012)

• “emotion may be the key to the motivational quality of the

imagined future self” (p. 193)

Positive emotions & learning

• Positive emotions such as “interest-enjoyment” are associated

with better learning, while negative emotions are negatively

related to it (Ryan‚ Connell & Plant‚ 1990).

• Positive & negative emotions were related directly to text

comprehension in the L1, which in turn directly predicted

subsequent recall

• Effect of emotions was maintained even when variation in

verbal ability was taken into account

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Independent variables linked to FLA

• Anxiety of interlocutor (Kormos & Dörnyei 2000)• Age, academic achievement, visits to foreign

countries, high school experience with FLs, grade, perceived scholastic competence & self-worth (Onwuegbuzie, Bailey & Daley 1999)

• Number of languages known to speaker (Dewaele Petrides & Furnham 2008)

• Typological relatedness of FL (Dewaele, 2010)

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Psychological links with FL(C)A

• Trait Emotional Intelligence: significant negative effect on FLA in all languages of multilinguals (Dewaele, Petrides & Furnham 2008)

• Extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism (Dewaele 2013), emotional stability and social initiative (Dewaele & Al Saraj to appear)

• L2 Tolerance for Ambiguity inversely linked to FLA (Dewaele & Tsui Shan Ip, 2013)

• Perfectionism positively linked to FLA (Gregersen & Horwitz 2002; Dewaele, Finney, Kubota & Almutlaq 2014)

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Research questions

• 1) Do learners experience more joy in FL classes than anxiety?

• 2) Are FLE and FLCA linked?• 3) What is the effect of number of

languages known, number of FLs studied, general level in the FL, relative standing in group, education level, age group, gender & nationality on FLE & FLCA?

• 5) What characterizes positive episodes in the FL class?

Method: participants

• 1746 multilinguals (1287 females, 449 males)• Mean age = 24 years, SD = 8.5• 91 intermediate high school, 113 high school

diploma, 994 BA, 450 MA, 94 PhD• majority (n = 1322) studying 1 FL, some 2 FLs (n =

215) or 3 FLs (n = 37)• 24% low intermediate, 6% intermediate, 42% high

intermediate, 28% advanced• Relative standing in FL group: 2% described

themselves as far below average, 10% below average, 44% average, 36% above average, 7% far above average

Method: participants 2• 90 different nationalities: largest groups Belgians

(n= 365), Brits (n = 244), Chinese (n= 174), & Americans (n = 118) followed by many smaller groups (n < 80)

• Nationality groups were created: Europeans (86%), Asians (13%), North Americans (9%), South Americans (5%) & Arabs (5%)

• Studied English as a FL (49%), followed by French (16%), Spanish (13%), Dutch (9%) German (8%)

• Bilinguals (26%), trilinguals (32%), quadrilinguals (24%), pentalinguals (12%), sextalinguals (4%)

Instruments• Biographical info• 21 FLE items (Likert scales) • 8 items from FLCA - Horwitz et al, 1986) • Scale analysis: FLCA & FLE scales (Cronbach alpha =

0.86)• Final open question: “Describe one specific event or

episode in your FL class that you really enjoyed, and describe your feeling in as much detail as possible”

• 52,471 words from 1076 participants => content analysis => 7 themes (Classroom activities, Peer recognition, Other, Teacher recognition, Realisation of progress, Teacher skills, Authentic use of FL)

Why “enjoyment”?My experience in karate, where enjoyment was a powerful motivator to continue up to black belt, despite anxieties about performance & dangers of combat

Foreign Language Enjoyment scale

• Interest/Enjoyment is one of 7 subscales of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory that assesses participants’ subjective experience related to a target activity in laboratory experiments (enjoyment, fun, interest, boredom) (Ryan, Connell & Plant‚ 1990)

• = kernel of new FLE scale: the 7 items were specifically adapted to FL environment

• Rephrased : not 1 activity at 1 point in time but global judgment of past FL classes

• + items: dealing with FL mistakes in public, identity, improvement in FL use, pride in own performance, group membership, social environment & cohesiveness, attitudes towards the learning of the FL, presence of laughter, judgments about peers & teacher

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FLE scale To what extent do you agree with the following statements? Strongly disagree=1/ Disagree=2 /Undecided=3/ Agree=4 /Strongly agree=5

• 1) I can be creative• 2) I can laugh off embarrassing mistakes in the FL• 3) I don’t get bored• 4) I enjoy it • 5) I feel as though I’m a different person during the FL class• 6) I learnt to express myself better in the FL• 7) I’m a worthy member of the FL class• 8) I’ve learnt interesting things• 9) In class, I feel proud of my accomplishments• 10) It’s a positive environment• 11) It’s cool to know a FL• 12) It’s fun• 13) Making errors is part of the learning process• 14) The peers are nice• 15) The teacher is encouraging• 16) The teacher is friendly• 17) The teacher is supportive• 18) There is a good atmosphere • 19) We form a tight group• 20) We have common “legends”, such as running jokes• 21) We laugh a lot

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FLCA scale (Horwitz et al 1986) To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

Strongly disagree=1/ Disagree=2 /Undecided=3/ Agree=4 /Strongly agree=5

• 1) Even if I am well prepared for FL class, I feel anxious about it

• 2) I always feel that the other students speak the FL better than I do

• 3) I can feel my heart pounding when I'm going to be called on in FL class

• 4. I don't worry about making mistakes in FL class (reverse-coded)

• 5. I feel confident when I speak in FL class (reverse-coded)

• 6) I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in my FL class

• 7) I start to panic when I have to speak without preparation in FL class

• 8) It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my FL class

• One-sample Kolmorogov-Smirnov test (Z = 2.84, p < .05): slight skew toward scores on high end of distribution.

• No difference between parametric & non-parametric approaches• One-way ANOVAs & t-tests tolerate moderate violations to normality

assumption rather well (skewed distributions) and allow for more detailed post hoc tests

Results(df = 1745, t = -41.1, p < .0001)

Link between FLE & FLCA

• Significant negative Pearson correlation

between FLE & FLCA (N = 1746, r = -.36, p

< .0001) => these two variables share 12.9%

of variance, very small effect size (Cohen

1992)

Effect of independent variables (F values of ANOVAs)

Effect of number of languages known on FLE & FLCA

eta2 = .022 & eta2 = .032

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

two three four five six+

Number of languages known

FLCA

FLE

Effect of number of FLs under study on FLE & FLCA eta2 = .004, FLCA=ns

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

one FL two FLs three FLs

Number of FLs under study

FLE

FLCA

Effect of general level in FL on FLE & FLCA eta2 = .062 & eta2 = .099

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Low intermediate Intermediate High intermediate Advanced

General level

FLE

FLCA

Effect of relative standing on FLE & FLCA eta2 = .059 & eta2 = .128

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Far belowaverage

Belowaverage

Average Aboveaverage

Far aboveaverage

Relative level

FLCA

FLE

Effect of education level on FLE & FLCAeta2 = .017 & eta2 = .009

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

Midhighschool

Highschool BA MA PhD

Education level

FLE

FLCA

Effect of age on FLE & FLCA eta2 = .026 & eta2 = .017

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

pre-teens teenagers twenties thirties forties fifties sixties

Age groups

FLE

FLCA

Effect of participant’s sex on FLE & FLCA t (1734) = 3.1, p < .002 & t (1734) = 2.8, p < .004

2,5

2,7

2,9

3,1

3,3

3,5

3,7

3,9

Women Men

FLE

FLCA

Effect of nationality group on FLE & FLCAeta2 = .024 & eta2 = .021

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

4,5

NAmerican SAmerican Arab European Asian

Nationality group

FLE

FLCA

Main themes in feedback of 1076 participants on FL enjoyable episodes

Selection of data extracts

• Most representative of the category, most poignant & most interesting

• Some extracts in other languages, to give voice to those who do not feel comfortable in English

• Good idea of participant in context, with the enjoyment arising from a unique confluence of internal & externals factors

• Some concise statements

Classroom activity: debates, role plays, making films, interviews, music…

• LE, female, 24: Es gracioso cuando tenemos que hacer diálogos con los compañeros, y más cuando uno el otro responde cosas equivocadas. o cuando en los diálogos una realmente imita a el personaje que le corresponde. (‘It’s nice when we have dialogues with our peers, and when the interlocutor answers something wrong, or when in the dialogues one can really imitate the corresponding character’).

Peer recognition

DX, male, 20: I was telling my fellow students about my 3 month

stay in Cuba and I noticed that they really enjoyed listening to

what I have experienced, so I kept talking and I felt quite

proud of how fluent I can tell a story. I felt confident and

enjoyed "showing off" my own skills.

Teacher recognition

MG, female, 16: I love it when I do a writing activity to the best of

my ability, using time phrases and specialist vocabulary and I

get a great comment and mark, it makes me feel like I’m good

at a skill that enjoy, which makes me very happy.

Realisation of progress

CL, female, 24: When I nailed the pronunciation on a sentence I

read out loud in my seminar group.

Teacher skills

GB, female, 21: I really like the participation part where the

teacher is asking our opinion. Being able to express our

thoughts and making students active rather than passive

members is going to aid the learning process.

The authentic use of the FL SX, female, age 11: In French we pretended we were in a

sandwich shop and had to order our own sandwich. I really enjoyed it as it was a good way to practice our skills. I felt really confident doing this and in the end I got a nice sandwich for my efforts!

CR, male, 20: What I like is to use the language, to find someone in the street and to talk to him.

FLE & FLCA: 2 faces of Janus?

• FLCA => Phobus, Greek God of Fear• FLE => Laetitia, Roman Goddess of Joy

Summing up

Independent variables reflecting experience with

languages & level attained + education level

positively linked to FLE & negatively to FLCA

• Female participants: more FLE & FLCA

• Cultural differences: not to be over-interpreted

Conclusion• More FLE than FLCA• Ratio of positive to negative emotion might be more

important than absence or presence of one or the other

• Many participants aware of maxim “We have to learn to walk before we can run”: first successful steps or first run in the FL which filled them with pride

• Not overgeneralize descriptions of episodes or fit them into ‘laws’ of effective FL teaching => unique contexts

• Savouring small successes is good advice for long term health of both teachers & learners (Seligman, 2006)

Some references• Arnold, J. (1999). Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: CUP

• Dewaele, J.-M. (2011). Reflections on the emotional and psychological aspects of foreign language learning and use. Anglistik. International Journal of English Studies 22, 23-42.

• Dewaele, J.-M. (2013a). Emotions in Multiple Languages. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd ed.

• Dewaele. J.-M. (2013b). The link between Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety and Psychoticism. Extraversion and Neuroticism among adult bi- and multilinguals. The Modern Language Journal 97, 670-684.

• Dewaele, J.-M. & MacIntyre, P. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and Enjoyment in the Foreign Language Classroom. Special issue Positive Psychology in Second Language Acquisition (guest eds P. MacIntyre & T. Gregersen), Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, July 2014.

• Fredrickson, B. L. (2006). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. Selega (Eds.), A life worth living: Contributions to positive psychology (pp. 85-103). New York: OUP.

• Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign & SL anxiety. Language Teaching 43, 154-167.

• MacIntyre, P. & Gregersen, T. (2012). Emotions that facilitate language learning: The positive-broadening power of the imagination. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching 2, 193-213.

• Peterson, C. (2006). A Primer in Positive Psychology. New York: OUP