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Abstract：This paper studies the definition of affective variables and relevant researches of affective variables in foreign language learning.
Key Words: research, affective variables, foreign language learning
1． Definition of Affective Variables
Since the 1970s, the research on foreign language learning has been transferred from "how to teach" to "how to learn". Affective variables in foreign language learning have been more and more concerned about. According to Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982, see Arnold, 2000), one's affect toward a particular thing or action or situation or experience is how that thing or that action or that situation or that experience fits in with one's needs or purposes, and its resulting effect on one's emotions. The term affect has to do with aspects of our emotional being (Arnold, 2000). Then, affect is a term that refers to the purposive and emotional sides of a person's reactions to what is going on (Arnold, 2000). In foreign language teaching, the term affect refers to aspects of emotion, feeling, mood or attitude which condition behavior in the process of foreign language learning. According to Gardner and MacIntyre, affective variables are defined as emotionally relevant characteristics of individual that influence how she/he would respond to any situation (Gardner and MacIntyre, 1993).
2. Relevant Researches of Affective Variables in Foreign Language Learning
There are two kinds of misunderstandings about the aspect of affect in the present education. One is to attach importance to knowledge and intelligence development and ignore affect development so as to the emergency of emotional illiteracy, which leads to the students to be the persons whose relationship becomes indifferent and who are not the persons of sound mind and sound body. Another misunderstanding is to neglect the relationship between affective side of learning and the cognitive side of learning. Some researches show that the cognitive activities can stop automatically or haven't the actual effect when a person is in the states of passive affective variables. Learners' learning behavior and learning result are affected directly by their affective states. The affective side of learning is not in opposition to the cognitive side. The two sides cannot be separated from the other. After years of clinical and experimental work, Damasio affirms that certain aspects of the process of emotion and feeling are indispensable for rationality (Damasio, 1994, see Arnold, 2000). If the learners are lacking of positive affective variables, their cognitive abilities can be reduced. If the affective side of learning and the cognitive side of learning are used together, the learning process may be constructed on a stronger foundation.
With the growth of humanistic psychology in the 1960s, the affect-related factors among education are attached more and more importance to. Many language experts and researchers think that the affective side of learning must be combined with the cognitive side of learning in order to promote students' overall development. The writing of Dewey, Montessori and Vygotsky in the first part of the last century gained its importance (Rogers, 1969, see Arnold, 2000). Among the applying of humanistic psychology to education, George Isaac Brown (1971) and Gloria Castillo (1973) stressed the need to unite the cognitive and affective domains in order to educate the whole person (Arnold, 2000). In the late 1970s and 1980s, second and foreign language teachers and researchers expressed the same concerns to the applications of humanistic psychology to language learning and teaching. They began to discuss and emphasize various second and foreign language acquisition theories, such as Schumann's Acculturation Model (1978, see Freeman, 2000), Giles's Accommodation Theory (1977, see Freeman, 2000), and Krashen's Monitor Model (1982), which showed the important role of affective factors in foreign language learning. Among these theories, Krashen's Monitor Model has obtained the most prominent place in SLA research. The famous Affective Filter Hypothesis is one of the five central hypotheses in Krashen's theory. The hypothesis deals with how affect-related factors, such as learners' motivation, self-confidence, attitude and anxiety state, relate to SLA. According to Krashen, there exists a mental block caused by these factors, the filter controls how much input the learners come into contact with and how much input is changed into intake. As Krashen states that, "acquirers with a low affective filter seek and get more input they receive. On the other hand, anxious acquirers have a high affective filter, which prevents acquisition from taking place" (Bech, 1985: 3). In addition, in the past three decades, there arose many language teaching methods related to the need to acknowledge affect in language learning, such as Suggestopedia, Silent Way, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, The Natural Approach, which take into account the affective side of language learning in a very central manner. (Asher 1997; Curran 1976; Gattegno 1972; Larsen-Freeman 1986; Lozanov 1979; Richards and Rodgers 1986; and Stevick 1998, see Arnold, 2000).
There are two main reasons to understand the importance of affect in language learning. The first reason for focusing attention on affect in the language classroom is also one of the most important aspects of promoting students' development, which reaches beyond language teaching. Ehrman states that it has become increasingly evident that the purpose of classroom learning is not only to convey content information (Ehrman 1998: 102, see Arnold, 2000). And Stevick thinks that the deeper aims of language teaching are to pursue new life goals, not just for reaching language goals (Stevick, 1998: 166, see Arnold, 2000). Therefore, when teaching language, both students' cognitive and affective natures and needs should be concerned with. The second reason is to pay attention to affective aspects can lead to more effective language learning. In the process of foreign language teaching, both positive and negative affective variables need to be taken into consideration. When dealing with the affective side of language learners, language teachers should give attention both to how to create and use more positive affective variables, such as self-esteem, empathy and motivation and to how to overcome problems created by negative emotions, such as anxiety, fear, stress, anger and depression. Anxiety can wreak havoc with the neurological conditions in the prefrontal lobe of the brain, preventing memory from operating properly and thus greatly reducing learning capacity (Stevick, 1998, see Arnold, 2000).
In an attempt to understand affect in second language learning more clearly, it can be looked at from two perspectives: one is that which focuses on the learner as a participant in a socio-cultural situation and another is that which is concerned with the language learner as an individual. When teaching foreign languages, not only the language, the learners and their particular cognitive and affective characteristics are dealt with, but also the related aspects of learning a new language, such as empathy, classroom transactions, cross-cultural processes, must be taken into account. Empathy is one of the most important factors in the harmonious coexistence of individuals in society. If teachers move into closer contact with their own feelings, they would be better able to model empathetic behavior when dealing with students and to lead them to greater cross-cultural empathy. Francis Bailey refers to the social structure of the classroom as "a kind of 'culture', which is created out of the communal interactions among course participants " (Francis Bailey, 1996, see Arnold, 2000). In the classroom, the affective dimension of the relationships among the learners and the teachers can greatly influence the direction and outcome of the language learning. According to Lambert, learners "must be both able and willing to adopt various aspects of behavior, including verbal behavior, which characterizes members of the other linguistic-cultural group" (Lambert 1967: 102, see Arnold, 2000). Schumann suggests that the combination of social and affective factors is a significant causal variable in SLA, since learners will learn the language to the degree that they acculturate. (Schumann, 1986, see Arnold, 2000). Language learning activities can concentrate on working through affective problems encountered in the language learning process in order to adapt to the new culture and language.
Although learning a language is an interactive activity that depends on various kinds of relationships with others and with the culture as a whole, the language learning is greatly influenced by individual internal factors, such as, extroversion-introversion, inhibition, motivation, learner styles and anxiety. Anxiety is the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process. Anxiety is associated with negative feelings, such as, uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension and tension. When anxiety exists among the students in the classroom, there is a negative effect on language learning. Anxiety makes the students nervous and afraid, then they may perform in language learning poorly: this can in turn create anxiety and even worse performance. The feelings of fear and nervousness are closely connected to the cognitive side of anxiety, which is worry. Worry wastes energy that should be used for memory and processing on a type of thinking which in no way facilitates the task at hand (Eysenck, 1979, see Arnold, 2000).
Bibliography
Arnold, J. (2000). Affect in Language Learning. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Bech, A. T. & Emery, G.. (1985) Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognition Perspective. New York: Basic Book.
Freeman, D. L. & Horwitz E. K. (2000). An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Gardner, R. C. & MacIntyre, P. D. (1993). A Student's contributions to second language learning. Language Teaching, 26, 1-11.
Key Words: research, affective variables, foreign language learning
1． Definition of Affective Variables
Since the 1970s, the research on foreign language learning has been transferred from "how to teach" to "how to learn". Affective variables in foreign language learning have been more and more concerned about. According to Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982, see Arnold, 2000), one's affect toward a particular thing or action or situation or experience is how that thing or that action or that situation or that experience fits in with one's needs or purposes, and its resulting effect on one's emotions. The term affect has to do with aspects of our emotional being (Arnold, 2000). Then, affect is a term that refers to the purposive and emotional sides of a person's reactions to what is going on (Arnold, 2000). In foreign language teaching, the term affect refers to aspects of emotion, feeling, mood or attitude which condition behavior in the process of foreign language learning. According to Gardner and MacIntyre, affective variables are defined as emotionally relevant characteristics of individual that influence how she/he would respond to any situation (Gardner and MacIntyre, 1993).
2. Relevant Researches of Affective Variables in Foreign Language Learning
There are two kinds of misunderstandings about the aspect of affect in the present education. One is to attach importance to knowledge and intelligence development and ignore affect development so as to the emergency of emotional illiteracy, which leads to the students to be the persons whose relationship becomes indifferent and who are not the persons of sound mind and sound body. Another misunderstanding is to neglect the relationship between affective side of learning and the cognitive side of learning. Some researches show that the cognitive activities can stop automatically or haven't the actual effect when a person is in the states of passive affective variables. Learners' learning behavior and learning result are affected directly by their affective states. The affective side of learning is not in opposition to the cognitive side. The two sides cannot be separated from the other. After years of clinical and experimental work, Damasio affirms that certain aspects of the process of emotion and feeling are indispensable for rationality (Damasio, 1994, see Arnold, 2000). If the learners are lacking of positive affective variables, their cognitive abilities can be reduced. If the affective side of learning and the cognitive side of learning are used together, the learning process may be constructed on a stronger foundation.
With the growth of humanistic psychology in the 1960s, the affect-related factors among education are attached more and more importance to. Many language experts and researchers think that the affective side of learning must be combined with the cognitive side of learning in order to promote students' overall development. The writing of Dewey, Montessori and Vygotsky in the first part of the last century gained its importance (Rogers, 1969, see Arnold, 2000). Among the applying of humanistic psychology to education, George Isaac Brown (1971) and Gloria Castillo (1973) stressed the need to unite the cognitive and affective domains in order to educate the whole person (Arnold, 2000). In the late 1970s and 1980s, second and foreign language teachers and researchers expressed the same concerns to the applications of humanistic psychology to language learning and teaching. They began to discuss and emphasize various second and foreign language acquisition theories, such as Schumann's Acculturation Model (1978, see Freeman, 2000), Giles's Accommodation Theory (1977, see Freeman, 2000), and Krashen's Monitor Model (1982), which showed the important role of affective factors in foreign language learning. Among these theories, Krashen's Monitor Model has obtained the most prominent place in SLA research. The famous Affective Filter Hypothesis is one of the five central hypotheses in Krashen's theory. The hypothesis deals with how affect-related factors, such as learners' motivation, self-confidence, attitude and anxiety state, relate to SLA. According to Krashen, there exists a mental block caused by these factors, the filter controls how much input the learners come into contact with and how much input is changed into intake. As Krashen states that, "acquirers with a low affective filter seek and get more input they receive. On the other hand, anxious acquirers have a high affective filter, which prevents acquisition from taking place" (Bech, 1985: 3). In addition, in the past three decades, there arose many language teaching methods related to the need to acknowledge affect in language learning, such as Suggestopedia, Silent Way, Community Language Learning, Total Physical Response, The Natural Approach, which take into account the affective side of language learning in a very central manner. (Asher 1997; Curran 1976; Gattegno 1972; Larsen-Freeman 1986; Lozanov 1979; Richards and Rodgers 1986; and Stevick 1998, see Arnold, 2000).
There are two main reasons to understand the importance of affect in language learning. The first reason for focusing attention on affect in the language classroom is also one of the most important aspects of promoting students' development, which reaches beyond language teaching. Ehrman states that it has become increasingly evident that the purpose of classroom learning is not only to convey content information (Ehrman 1998: 102, see Arnold, 2000). And Stevick thinks that the deeper aims of language teaching are to pursue new life goals, not just for reaching language goals (Stevick, 1998: 166, see Arnold, 2000). Therefore, when teaching language, both students' cognitive and affective natures and needs should be concerned with. The second reason is to pay attention to affective aspects can lead to more effective language learning. In the process of foreign language teaching, both positive and negative affective variables need to be taken into consideration. When dealing with the affective side of language learners, language teachers should give attention both to how to create and use more positive affective variables, such as self-esteem, empathy and motivation and to how to overcome problems created by negative emotions, such as anxiety, fear, stress, anger and depression. Anxiety can wreak havoc with the neurological conditions in the prefrontal lobe of the brain, preventing memory from operating properly and thus greatly reducing learning capacity (Stevick, 1998, see Arnold, 2000).
In an attempt to understand affect in second language learning more clearly, it can be looked at from two perspectives: one is that which focuses on the learner as a participant in a socio-cultural situation and another is that which is concerned with the language learner as an individual. When teaching foreign languages, not only the language, the learners and their particular cognitive and affective characteristics are dealt with, but also the related aspects of learning a new language, such as empathy, classroom transactions, cross-cultural processes, must be taken into account. Empathy is one of the most important factors in the harmonious coexistence of individuals in society. If teachers move into closer contact with their own feelings, they would be better able to model empathetic behavior when dealing with students and to lead them to greater cross-cultural empathy. Francis Bailey refers to the social structure of the classroom as "a kind of 'culture', which is created out of the communal interactions among course participants " (Francis Bailey, 1996, see Arnold, 2000). In the classroom, the affective dimension of the relationships among the learners and the teachers can greatly influence the direction and outcome of the language learning. According to Lambert, learners "must be both able and willing to adopt various aspects of behavior, including verbal behavior, which characterizes members of the other linguistic-cultural group" (Lambert 1967: 102, see Arnold, 2000). Schumann suggests that the combination of social and affective factors is a significant causal variable in SLA, since learners will learn the language to the degree that they acculturate. (Schumann, 1986, see Arnold, 2000). Language learning activities can concentrate on working through affective problems encountered in the language learning process in order to adapt to the new culture and language.
Although learning a language is an interactive activity that depends on various kinds of relationships with others and with the culture as a whole, the language learning is greatly influenced by individual internal factors, such as, extroversion-introversion, inhibition, motivation, learner styles and anxiety. Anxiety is the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process. Anxiety is associated with negative feelings, such as, uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension and tension. When anxiety exists among the students in the classroom, there is a negative effect on language learning. Anxiety makes the students nervous and afraid, then they may perform in language learning poorly: this can in turn create anxiety and even worse performance. The feelings of fear and nervousness are closely connected to the cognitive side of anxiety, which is worry. Worry wastes energy that should be used for memory and processing on a type of thinking which in no way facilitates the task at hand (Eysenck, 1979, see Arnold, 2000).
Bibliography
Arnold, J. (2000). Affect in Language Learning. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Bech, A. T. & Emery, G.. (1985) Anxiety Disorders and Phobias: A Cognition Perspective. New York: Basic Book.
Freeman, D. L. & Horwitz E. K. (2000). An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Gardner, R. C. & MacIntyre, P. D. (1993). A Student's contributions to second language learning. Language Teaching, 26, 1-11.