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1.Introduction
Language learning situations are very easily affected by anxiety arousal(Price，1991). Consequently，both teachers and students usually feel that anxiety is a chief barrier to be overcome in learning another language，and several recent approaches to foreign language teaching are explicitly adopted to reduce learners’ anxiety(Horwitz & Young，1991). As a second language practitioner，I often notice that some of my students feel anxious in their English language learning. Sometimes they are anxious about speaking English before their peer classmates. Some of them are very nervous whenever I ask them to answer questions，even if they know the answer to the question. In addition，some other students are anxious about their abilities to learn English well enough. Consequently，they experience great anxiety when a language test comes. With the purpose of learning more about the language anxiety and helping my students to reduce their anxiety，I take on this topic as my research question. The aim is to consider the causes and effects of language anxiety，and strategies for overcoming it. I conclude by recommending how to help the students to reduce the anxiety.
2.Definitions and context
According to psychologists，anxiety is usually described as an incomprehensible or vague fear，maybe only implicitly associated with an object，or a state of nervousness(Scovel，1978). Spielberger (1983) argued that anxiety is the personal feeling of tension，apprehension，nervousness，and worry related to an arousal of the autonomic anxious system. Foreign language classroom anxiety has been viewed as different from other sorts of anxiety(Foss & Reitzel，1988). It is seen as a combination of other types of anxiety which consists of communication apprehension，fear of negative assessment and test anxiety(Horwitz & Young，1991). Foreign language anxiety refers to situation—specific anxiety arising from a shortfall in foreign language ability and is different from trait anxiety which is linked to personality(Gass & Selinker，2001). Anxiety can have a negative effect on their language learning experience in many ways and reducing their anxiety can facilitate language acquisition and increase the motivation of language learning (Renee，1998).
3.Causes of language anxiety
Generally speaking，research shows that language anxiety has many causes. For example，it may be the students，the instructors，the methodology or even the process of teaching. Anxiety may also result from low self-esteem，unrealistic beliefs on the target language，pessimistic experience from the target language or culture (Renee，1998).
Sometimes foreign language class itself can arouse anxiety. Horwitz & Young(1991) maintain that foreign language class may be more demanding and harder than other courses，therefore causing higher anxiety than other courses. At the same time，students who are worried about exams may perform badly under great pressure by their teachers and/or parents. These environmental influences also can increase students’ anxiety (Rotenberg，2002). Since speaking in the target language seems to be the most threatening part of foreign language learning，Horwitz & Young(1991) demonstrate that the present emphasis on the development of communicative competence create great difficulties for the anxious students. Besides，quantitative studies have shown the correlation between foreign language anxiety and certain variable in personality such as perfectionism and fear of public speaking.
4.Negative effects of language anxiety
Although language teachers have known for long that many students experience discomfort in their learning，researchers haven’t described a clear picture of how anxiety have effects on language learning (Horwitz & Young，1991). Nevertheless，MacIntyre(1999) summarizes research on the effects of language anxiety in four areas: academic，cognitive，social and personal. Trylong(1987) found that，although aptitude，attitude，and anxiety all interrelate in the language learning practice，anxiety contributes much more than the other two. In terms of the negative effects on different language skills，MacIntyre & Gardner (1991) reveal that anxiety restricts short-term and long-term memory and causes diminished performance on a number of tasks including listening，speaking，reading，and comprehension. He suggests powerfully that anxiety may have a negative effect on the language learning process. In particular，many researches offer support on these aspects. Research in speech communication suggests anxiety can affect a person’s performance，for example，the quality of a person’s communication or motivation to communicate(Daly & Stafford，1984). Speech communication is not the only field in which researchers have identified that anxiety can have negative effects on language learners. Daly & Millers’ (1975b) study writing apprehension suggests that anxiety may not only produce less proficient writing; it may also be reflected in occupation choice and other wide-ranging consequences. Moreover，Ely(1986) found that anxiety had a negative effect on the classroom participation，which as a result affects attainment in language learning.
5.Teaching strategies to reduce language anxiety
Since the negative effect of anxiety makes many students uncomfortable in their foreign language learning and accordingly causes the low efficiency of classroom teaching，something must be done to decrease the learners’ anxiety. The consciousness of the problem of foreign language anxiety should be enhanced and taken seriously by both teachers and students to help instructors and learners to improve the language learning experience(Renee，1998). As Horwitz & Young(1991) suggest，reducing the anxiety related to language learning will require the joint efforts of both teachers and students. We must help students realize why they become anxious and recommend strategies to them to cope with anxiety. To begin with，we must recognize students’ feelings of lack of confidence and let them know that their worry is not only shared by other language learners but also acknowledged by their teachers. Most important of all，we must listen to our students when they tell their own feelings on language learning.
Even though there seem to be no easy or straightforward ways to solve the problem of language anxiety，techniques and strategies can be found to make some of the activities less worrying and frightening (Renee，1998). For example，teachers could include a number of small-group or one-to-one activities in their everyday language teaching. They can provide the anxious students more opportunities to practise the target language without the whole class as an audience. When the anxious students are speaking in a big group situation，teachers’ corrections should be made as it should be. In this way，the anxious students would never feel ridiculed(Horwitz & Young，1991). In foreign language classroom settings，some practical strategies can be used to lessen the amount of situational nervousness which a student feels.
Firstly，the literature recommends not to seat students in alphabet order; secondly，do not require the students to do oral performances，but let them do it voluntarily; subsequently，do not ask the students to answer questions randomly，because even if the anxious students are prepared，the randomness of the questioning and also the unpredictability of the talk still makes him or her more apprehensive. Lastly，never punish classroom talk. A better strategy is to reward appropriate talk，and when you punish any sort of talk in public tell the students that talks are welcome as long as they are task relevant(Horwitz & Young，1991). In addition，Horwitz & Young(1991) suggest that instructors can reduce students’ anxiety by giving them more positive reinforcement，encouraging them to make mistakes，and helping them to build up more reasonable expectations of themselves. What is more，they would feel more relaxed if the teacher were more like a friend helping them than an authority figure making them perform.
With respect to language evaluation，alternative assessments are likely to lower test and foreign language anxiety and produce opportunities for students to experience success，obtain strategic skills and take control of their own learning process (Rotenberg，2002).
6.Conclusion
As is shown above，many questions are associated with foreign language learning and anxiety from every aspect of this field. Anxiety has many causes，and it has negative effects on language learning. Nevertheless，some practical teaching strategies can help to reduce learners’ anxiety in the classroom. Although this paper considers a small proportion of the research in this area，it has constructed a more clearly understanding of language anxiety and，most important of all，offered some guidance for its reduction. In conclusion，I would recommend that teachers should pay serious attention to the hard problem and help the students to reduce their anxiety.
References:
Campbell，C. M.，& Ortiz，C. A. (1991). Helping students overcome foreign language anxiety: A foreign language anxiety workshop. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (pp. 153-168). Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Daly，J. A.，& Miller，M. D. (1975b). The empirical development of an instrument to measure writing apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English，9，242-256
Daly，J. A.，& Stafford，L. (1984). Correlates and consequences of social communicative anxiety. In J. A. Daly & J. C. McCroskey (Eds.)，Avoiding communication: Shyness，reticence，and communication apprehension (pp. 125-144). Beverly Hills，CA: Sage
Ely，C. M. (1986). An analysis of discomfort，risktaking，sociability，and motivation in the L2 classroom. Language Learning，36，1-25
E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications. Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Foss，K. A.，& Reitzel，A. C. (1988). A relational model for managing second language anxiety. TESOL Quarterly，20，559-562
Gass，S. M.，& Selinker，L. (2001). Second language acquisition. Mahwah，NJ: Erlbaum
MacIntyre，P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In D. J. Young (Ed.)，Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere，(pp. 24-45). Boston: McGraw-Hill
MacIntyre，P. D.，& Gardner，R. C. (1991). Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature. Language Learning，41，85-117
Price，M. L. (1991). The subjective experience of foreign language anxiety: Interviews with highly anxious students. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications. Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Renee，V. W. (1998). An investigation of students’ perspectives on foreign language anxiety. Ph. D. Dissertation，George Mason University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 479986)
Rotenberg，A.M.，(2002). A classroom research project: The psychological effects of standardized testing on young English language learners at different language proficiency levels. Reports-research. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 472651)
Scovel，T. (1978). The effect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. Language Learning，28，129-142
Spielberger，C. (1983). Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI-Form Y). Palo Alto，CA: Consulting Psychologists Press
Trylong，V. L. (1987). Aptitude，attitudes，and anxiety: A study of their relationships to achievement in the foreign language classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation，Purdue University，West Lafayette，IN
Language learning situations are very easily affected by anxiety arousal(Price，1991). Consequently，both teachers and students usually feel that anxiety is a chief barrier to be overcome in learning another language，and several recent approaches to foreign language teaching are explicitly adopted to reduce learners’ anxiety(Horwitz & Young，1991). As a second language practitioner，I often notice that some of my students feel anxious in their English language learning. Sometimes they are anxious about speaking English before their peer classmates. Some of them are very nervous whenever I ask them to answer questions，even if they know the answer to the question. In addition，some other students are anxious about their abilities to learn English well enough. Consequently，they experience great anxiety when a language test comes. With the purpose of learning more about the language anxiety and helping my students to reduce their anxiety，I take on this topic as my research question. The aim is to consider the causes and effects of language anxiety，and strategies for overcoming it. I conclude by recommending how to help the students to reduce the anxiety.
2.Definitions and context
According to psychologists，anxiety is usually described as an incomprehensible or vague fear，maybe only implicitly associated with an object，or a state of nervousness(Scovel，1978). Spielberger (1983) argued that anxiety is the personal feeling of tension，apprehension，nervousness，and worry related to an arousal of the autonomic anxious system. Foreign language classroom anxiety has been viewed as different from other sorts of anxiety(Foss & Reitzel，1988). It is seen as a combination of other types of anxiety which consists of communication apprehension，fear of negative assessment and test anxiety(Horwitz & Young，1991). Foreign language anxiety refers to situation—specific anxiety arising from a shortfall in foreign language ability and is different from trait anxiety which is linked to personality(Gass & Selinker，2001). Anxiety can have a negative effect on their language learning experience in many ways and reducing their anxiety can facilitate language acquisition and increase the motivation of language learning (Renee，1998).
3.Causes of language anxiety
Generally speaking，research shows that language anxiety has many causes. For example，it may be the students，the instructors，the methodology or even the process of teaching. Anxiety may also result from low self-esteem，unrealistic beliefs on the target language，pessimistic experience from the target language or culture (Renee，1998).
Sometimes foreign language class itself can arouse anxiety. Horwitz & Young(1991) maintain that foreign language class may be more demanding and harder than other courses，therefore causing higher anxiety than other courses. At the same time，students who are worried about exams may perform badly under great pressure by their teachers and/or parents. These environmental influences also can increase students’ anxiety (Rotenberg，2002). Since speaking in the target language seems to be the most threatening part of foreign language learning，Horwitz & Young(1991) demonstrate that the present emphasis on the development of communicative competence create great difficulties for the anxious students. Besides，quantitative studies have shown the correlation between foreign language anxiety and certain variable in personality such as perfectionism and fear of public speaking.
4.Negative effects of language anxiety
Although language teachers have known for long that many students experience discomfort in their learning，researchers haven’t described a clear picture of how anxiety have effects on language learning (Horwitz & Young，1991). Nevertheless，MacIntyre(1999) summarizes research on the effects of language anxiety in four areas: academic，cognitive，social and personal. Trylong(1987) found that，although aptitude，attitude，and anxiety all interrelate in the language learning practice，anxiety contributes much more than the other two. In terms of the negative effects on different language skills，MacIntyre & Gardner (1991) reveal that anxiety restricts short-term and long-term memory and causes diminished performance on a number of tasks including listening，speaking，reading，and comprehension. He suggests powerfully that anxiety may have a negative effect on the language learning process. In particular，many researches offer support on these aspects. Research in speech communication suggests anxiety can affect a person’s performance，for example，the quality of a person’s communication or motivation to communicate(Daly & Stafford，1984). Speech communication is not the only field in which researchers have identified that anxiety can have negative effects on language learners. Daly & Millers’ (1975b) study writing apprehension suggests that anxiety may not only produce less proficient writing; it may also be reflected in occupation choice and other wide-ranging consequences. Moreover，Ely(1986) found that anxiety had a negative effect on the classroom participation，which as a result affects attainment in language learning.
5.Teaching strategies to reduce language anxiety
Since the negative effect of anxiety makes many students uncomfortable in their foreign language learning and accordingly causes the low efficiency of classroom teaching，something must be done to decrease the learners’ anxiety. The consciousness of the problem of foreign language anxiety should be enhanced and taken seriously by both teachers and students to help instructors and learners to improve the language learning experience(Renee，1998). As Horwitz & Young(1991) suggest，reducing the anxiety related to language learning will require the joint efforts of both teachers and students. We must help students realize why they become anxious and recommend strategies to them to cope with anxiety. To begin with，we must recognize students’ feelings of lack of confidence and let them know that their worry is not only shared by other language learners but also acknowledged by their teachers. Most important of all，we must listen to our students when they tell their own feelings on language learning.
Even though there seem to be no easy or straightforward ways to solve the problem of language anxiety，techniques and strategies can be found to make some of the activities less worrying and frightening (Renee，1998). For example，teachers could include a number of small-group or one-to-one activities in their everyday language teaching. They can provide the anxious students more opportunities to practise the target language without the whole class as an audience. When the anxious students are speaking in a big group situation，teachers’ corrections should be made as it should be. In this way，the anxious students would never feel ridiculed(Horwitz & Young，1991). In foreign language classroom settings，some practical strategies can be used to lessen the amount of situational nervousness which a student feels.
Firstly，the literature recommends not to seat students in alphabet order; secondly，do not require the students to do oral performances，but let them do it voluntarily; subsequently，do not ask the students to answer questions randomly，because even if the anxious students are prepared，the randomness of the questioning and also the unpredictability of the talk still makes him or her more apprehensive. Lastly，never punish classroom talk. A better strategy is to reward appropriate talk，and when you punish any sort of talk in public tell the students that talks are welcome as long as they are task relevant(Horwitz & Young，1991). In addition，Horwitz & Young(1991) suggest that instructors can reduce students’ anxiety by giving them more positive reinforcement，encouraging them to make mistakes，and helping them to build up more reasonable expectations of themselves. What is more，they would feel more relaxed if the teacher were more like a friend helping them than an authority figure making them perform.
With respect to language evaluation，alternative assessments are likely to lower test and foreign language anxiety and produce opportunities for students to experience success，obtain strategic skills and take control of their own learning process (Rotenberg，2002).
6.Conclusion
As is shown above，many questions are associated with foreign language learning and anxiety from every aspect of this field. Anxiety has many causes，and it has negative effects on language learning. Nevertheless，some practical teaching strategies can help to reduce learners’ anxiety in the classroom. Although this paper considers a small proportion of the research in this area，it has constructed a more clearly understanding of language anxiety and，most important of all，offered some guidance for its reduction. In conclusion，I would recommend that teachers should pay serious attention to the hard problem and help the students to reduce their anxiety.
References:
Campbell，C. M.，& Ortiz，C. A. (1991). Helping students overcome foreign language anxiety: A foreign language anxiety workshop. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications (pp. 153-168). Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Daly，J. A.，& Miller，M. D. (1975b). The empirical development of an instrument to measure writing apprehension. Research in the Teaching of English，9，242-256
Daly，J. A.，& Stafford，L. (1984). Correlates and consequences of social communicative anxiety. In J. A. Daly & J. C. McCroskey (Eds.)，Avoiding communication: Shyness，reticence，and communication apprehension (pp. 125-144). Beverly Hills，CA: Sage
Ely，C. M. (1986). An analysis of discomfort，risktaking，sociability，and motivation in the L2 classroom. Language Learning，36，1-25
E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications. Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Foss，K. A.，& Reitzel，A. C. (1988). A relational model for managing second language anxiety. TESOL Quarterly，20，559-562
Gass，S. M.，& Selinker，L. (2001). Second language acquisition. Mahwah，NJ: Erlbaum
MacIntyre，P. D. (1999). Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers. In D. J. Young (Ed.)，Affect in foreign language and second language learning: A practical guide to creating a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere，(pp. 24-45). Boston: McGraw-Hill
MacIntyre，P. D.，& Gardner，R. C. (1991). Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature. Language Learning，41，85-117
Price，M. L. (1991). The subjective experience of foreign language anxiety: Interviews with highly anxious students. In E. K. Horwitz & D. J. Young，(Eds.) (1991). Language Anxiety: From theory and research to classroom implications. Englewood Cliffs，NJ: Prentice- Hall
Renee，V. W. (1998). An investigation of students’ perspectives on foreign language anxiety. Ph. D. Dissertation，George Mason University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 479986)
Rotenberg，A.M.，(2002). A classroom research project: The psychological effects of standardized testing on young English language learners at different language proficiency levels. Reports-research. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 472651)
Scovel，T. (1978). The effect on foreign language learning: A review of the anxiety research. Language Learning，28，129-142
Spielberger，C. (1983). Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI-Form Y). Palo Alto，CA: Consulting Psychologists Press
Trylong，V. L. (1987). Aptitude，attitudes，and anxiety: A study of their relationships to achievement in the foreign language classroom. Unpublished doctoral dissertation，Purdue University，West Lafayette，IN