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This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary grammar school males and females do not differ in their levels of language anxiety, although nonapprehensive males experience significantly lower language anxiety than their female peers. It is argued that the finding can be attributed to developmental patterns, gender socialization processes, classroom practices, and the uniqueness of the FL learning process, which is a stereotypically female domain.
EN
Ewa Piechurska-KucielInstitute of EnglishOpole University Abstract In adolescents the main groups of social support are their family, peers and teachers with whom they interact most frequently. They play a buffering role between stress and psychological well-being by helping to cope with adverse challenges, and by providing social integration. Consequently, it is believed that in the situation of stress caused by the necessity to learn a foreign language (FL) as a compulsory subject, social support can be viewed as an important factor that may positively influence learners’ academic achievement, exposing the role of the perceived availability of significant others’ help in achieving FL success. To date, in spite of the call for research on the general functioning of the language learner as a member of the society, the study on the role of social support in the process of foreign language learning is still scarce. The existing research has tough proved that perceived social support significantly predicts resilience in foreign language learning. The feelings of closeness and support the learners receive from the support network protect them from stressors, and they validate the feelings of self-esteem, competence, and personal control in the face of stressful situations. The three main support groups (parents, teachers and peers) help learners develop their social competence, problem-solving skills, autonomy, and sense of purpose. Keywords: social support, parental support, teacher support, peer support
EN
The teacher’s role is vital, both in respect to achieving academic goals, and with regard to the regulation of emotional and social processes. Positive perceptions of teacher support can endorse psychological wellness, and help maintain students’ academic interests, higher academic achievement and more positive peer relationships. The teacher who shows understanding, empathy and consistency in their behavior helps students start forming an identity, which will assist them in coping with stress and anxiety directly connected with the foreign language learning process (language anxiety). The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between teacher support and language anxiety levels. It is speculated that teacher support functions as a buffer from the effects of negative emotions, such as language anxiety experienced in the foreign language learning process. The participants of the study were 621 secondary grammar school students whose responses to a questionnaire were the main data source. The results of the study demonstrate that students with higher levels of teacher support experience lower language anxiety levels in comparison to their peers with lower levels of teacher support. Students who have a feeling that they can count on the instructor’s help, advice, assistance, or backing manage the learning process more successfully. They evaluate their language abilities highly and receive better final grades. Nevertheless, gender and residential location do not moderate teacher support and language anxiety due to the specificity of the sample consisting of novice secondary grammar school students.
EN
Reflection is understood as an activity which enables the reproduction of past experiences, reflection and meditation about them and their evaluation. One of the most significant features shaping learner reflection may be willingness to communicate in a foreign language – one’s volitional readiness to enter a communicative event in this language. In spite of a wealth of research conducted in this area, it is still unclear why some students are willing to start communication in a foreign language, while others are adamant to avoid it. For the purpose of this paper a qualitative-quantitative study was performed, focusing on four students with very low levels of willingness to communicate in English, and four with very high levels. The research results demonstrate that high willingness is connected with feelings of safety, a tendency to achieve high proficiency and learning satisfaction. On the other hand, low willingness to communicate in English coexists with feelings of threat and unavoidable necessity to surrender to the demands of the educational system.
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EN
The paper aims at analysing the methodological perspectives applied in studies on language anxiety. First, the sample selection procedures and characteristics are presented, followed by the analysis the main research tools applied in this area, and by the outline of the most popular research designs and the description of basic data analyses. The paper finishes with an attempt to depict methodological research perspectives concerning further investigations of language anxiety.
EN
The teacher’s role is vital, both in respect to achieving academic goals, and with regard to the regulation of emotional and social processes. Positive perceptions of teacher support can endorse psychological wellness, and help maintain students’ academic interests, higher academic achievement and more positive peer relationships. The teacher who shows understanding, empathy and consistency in their behavior helps students start forming an identity, which will assist them in coping with stress and anxiety directly connected with the foreign language learning process (language anxiety). The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between teacher support and language anxiety levels. It is speculated that teacher support functions as a buffer from the effects of negative emotions, such as language anxiety experienced in the foreign language learning process. The participants of the study were 621 secondary grammar school students whose responses to a questionnaire were the main data source. The results of the study demonstrate that students with higher levels of teacher support experience lower language anxiety levels in comparison to their peers with lower levels of teacher support. Students who have a feeling that they can count on the instructor’s help, advice, assistance, or backing manage the learning process more successfully. They evaluate their language abilities highly and receive better final grades. Nevertheless, gender and residential location do not moderate teacher support and language anxiety due to the specificity of the sample consisting of novice secondary grammar school students.
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EN
“Attributions” make up a psychological process that allows the individual to interpret and understand the behavior of others. As such, attributions refer to communicative behavior, enabling us to explain and understand the diversity of meanings given to communicative acts. Foreign language learners’ attributions regarding communication in L2 may be shaped by their willingness to communicate (WTC) in that language. The participants in this study were 609 secondary grammar school students. The results demonstrated that high levels of L2 WTC allow for responsible, internally driven, and stable behavior, firmly grounded in the student’s self-confidence. Learners willing to communicate in L2 demonstrate an unfaltering belief in their own abilities, and can take control of their own learning and fully rely on their hard work, irrespective of the hardships of the FL process. They are able to adapt to new challenges and new resources — a fact that makes them valuable assets to modern society. Conversely, students with low L2 WTC levels display serious maladaptive behaviors. They are not only convinced of their inferior abilities, but also reject investing more effort into their language learning processes. In effect, their self-confidence is extremely low, while their lack of volitional control makes them victims of blind fate governed by an FL context that they cannot understand or countenance. Ultimately it is very hard for them to adapt to new challenges, possibly resulting in fewer chances for success in adulthood.
EN
This paper analyzes the relationship between communication apprehension and language anxiety from the perspective of gender. As virtually no empirical studies have addressed the explicit influence of gender on language anxiety in communication apprehensives, this paper proposes that females are generally more sensitive to anxiety, as reflected in various spheres of communication. For this reason, language anxiety levels in communication apprehensive females should be higher, unlike those of communication apprehensive males. Comparisons between them were made using a student t test, two-way ANOVA, and post-hoc Tukey test. The results revealed that Polish communication apprehensive secondary grammar school males and females do not differ in their levels of language anxiety, although nonapprehensive males experience significantly lower language anxiety than their female peers. It is argued that the finding can be attributed to developmental patterns, gender socialization processes, classroom practices, and the uniqueness of the FL learning process, which is a stereotypically female domain.
10
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Editorial

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EN
With this volume, we propose to join the discussion on the role of affect in the process of second/foreign language learning. We hope to make a contribution to academic, and especially linguistic, research which has previously focused mostly on cognitive aspects of language acquisition but also, at its best, on the strategies (many of them affective ones) necessary for developing language competence. In our view, emotional factors do not deserve the role of “the Cinderella of mental functions” (Arnold & Brown, 1999, p. 1), because the complex processes taking place in the brain originate in the interplay of affect and cognition (e.g., Duncan & Barrett, 2007; Panksepp, 2003; Paradis, 2004). Consequently we cannot be fully understood without attending to our emotional profiles. Like Scovel (2000), we also believe that “the great irony is that they (i.e., emotions) could very well end up being the most influential force in language acquisition, but SLA researchers have not even come close to demonstrating such a claim” (p. 140).
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