Foreign Language Anxiety: A Review on Definition, Causes, Effects and Implication to Foreign Language Teaching
Open accessAbstract
Foreign language proficiency is now required for international collaboration and communication in the age of globalization. To interact with others in communication, commerce, scholarly discourse, and education, people must overcome linguistic and cultural boundaries. Foreign languages are still relevant in the age of globalization. However, when people study and utilize foreign languages, they frequently experience foreign language anxiety. In the fields of psychology and education, discussion of foreign language anxiety is essential. The paper studies the concept of foreign language anxiety, its causes, its effects, and its implications for teaching and learning foreign languages through a review of the literature. As a result of the particularities of the language learning process, foreign language anxiety is characterized as a distinct and complicated structure of self-perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors associated with classroom language acquisition. Three variables connected to academic performance—concern over assessments, communication anxiety, and worry linked to an unknown foreign language test—are the root causes of foreign language anxiety. Academic, cognitive, and social effects are the three basic categories into which the effects of foreign language anxiety may be divided. Teachers need to place more emphasis on formative assessment and feedback than summative evaluation at the end of the term in order to lessen students' anxiety about making errors. As a result, it is advised that foreign language teachers encourage student engagement in class activities and create an environment that promotes and supports students' foreign language learning in order to lessen language anxiety.
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Foreign language anxiety affects academic achievement.
“Indeed, it has been determined that foreign language anxiety affects academic achievement (Hashemi, 2011; Song, 2024), and students with high anxiety levels struggle with vocabulary learning (Kühl and Wohninsland, 2022).”
From Incidental vocabulary learning from digital games: the predictive role of game playing time, foreign language motivation, and anxiety (2026) · cites this paper as Song, 2024
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Influential
- Authors
- Song, Z.
- Affiliations
- Anhui Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Song, Ziyi
- ORCID
- Song, Ziyi
- Venue
- Journal of Education Humanities and Social Sciences
- Publisher
- Darcy & Roy Press Co. Ltd.
- Published
- 2024-03-02
- Volume
- 26
- Pages
- 795-799
- ISSN
- 2771-2907 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4395072230
- Cited by
- 16
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10
- FWCI
- 25.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Education Humanities and Social Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Communication in Education and Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Second Language Learning and Teaching
- Keywords
- foreign language anxiety, causes of anxiety, foreign language teaching, assessment anxiety, communication apprehension, test anxiety, formative assessment, feedback, classroom climate, student engagement
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