The Effect of Teachers’ Use of L1 on EFL Learners’ Anxiety and Enjoyment in Emergency Online Language Classrooms

Subject Areas : Research in English Language Pedagogy

Reza Bakhsheshi Atigh ¹ , Mohammad Mohammadi ² , Salva Kazemipour Khabbazi ³

1 - Department of English language and literature, faculty of literature and humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
2 - Department of English language and literature, faculty of literature and humanities, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
3 - Department of English Language and Persian Literature, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

Received: 2022-09-10 Accepted : 2022-12-13 Published : 2023-02-01

Keywords: Positive Psychology, First Language Use, Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, Foreign Language Enjoyment, Emergency Online Language Classrooms,

Abstract :

Emergency online teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has called for new research. The pandemic situation has increased the importance of creating a low-anxiety atmosphere and enhancing learners’ enjoyment levels. As a result, this study aimed to investigate the level of language learners’ emotions; that is, foreign language enjoyment (FLE) and foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) in online education together with the effect of teachers’ L1 use on these two effects. Participants were 81 intermediate English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in four intact classes, in two of which the teacher used both their first language (L1) and English, while in the other two, he only used English as the medium of instruction. They then completed a questionnaire, consisting of two parts, one designed by Horwitz et al. (1986) and the other one by Dewaele and MacIntyre (2014), which reveal the levels of FLCA and FLE, respectively. The paired t-test indicated higher levels of FLE compared to FLCA reported by the participants. The correlation analysis pointed to a significant negative correlation between FLE and FLCA, implying that as enjoyment increases, anxiety level decreases. Furthermore, according to the independent t-test, learners in both groups reported similar levels of FLE and FLCA. Thus, it could be concluded that teachers’ use of L1 did not affect the levels of FLE and FLCA in online education. The current study provides significant pedagogical implications for EFL practitioners.

References:

Anwar, K. & Adnan, M. (2020). Online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Students’ perspectives.  Journal of Pedagogical Research, 1(2), 45-51.

Bailey, K. (1983). Competitiveness and anxiety in adult second language acquisition: Looking at and through the diary studies. In H. Seliger and M. Long (Eds.), Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 67–103). Newbury House.

Balemir, S. H. (2009). The sources of foreign language speaking anxiety and the relationship between proficiency level and the degree of foreign language speaking anxiety [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Bilkent University.

Bruen, J. & Kelly, N. (2014). Using a shared L1 to reduce cognitive overload and anxiety levels in the L2 classroom. The Language Learning Journal, 45(3). DOI: 10.1080/09571736.2014.908405.

Butzkamm, W. (2003). We only learn a language once. The role of the mother tongue in FL classrooms: Death of a dogma. Language Learning Journal, 28(1), 29–39.

Cicekci, M.A. & Sadik, F. (2019). Teachers’ and students’ opinions about students’ attention problems during the lesson. Journal of Education and Learning, 8(6), 15-30. DOI:10.5539/jel.v8n6p15.

Cook, G. (2010). Translation in language teaching. OUP.

Cook, V. (2008). Second language learning and language teaching (4th edition). Hodder Education.

Cuéllar, L., & Oxford, R. (2018). Language teachers’ emotions: Emerging from the shadows. In J. de Dios Martínez Agudo (Ed.), Emotions in second language teaching: Theory, research, and teacher education (pp. 53–72). Springer.

Dewaele, J. -M. (2005). Investigating the psychological and the emotional dimensions in instructed language learning: Obstacles and possibilities. Modern Language Journal, 89, 367–380.

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., Magdalena, A. F., & Saito, K. (2019). The effect of perception of teacher characteristics on Spanish EFL learners’ anxiety and enjoyment. The Modern Language Journal, 103(2), 412-427.

Dewaele, J. -M., & Li, C. (2018). Emotions in SLA (editorial special issue). Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8, 15–19

Dewaele, J. -M. & MacIntyre, P.D. (2014). The two faces of Janus? Anxiety and enjoyment in the foreign language classroom. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 4, 237–274.

Dewaele, J. -M., & MacIntyre, P. D. (2016). Foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety: The right and left feet of FL learning? In P. D. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen, & S. Mercer (Eds.), Positive psychology in SLA (pp. 215–236).  Multilingual Matters.

Dewaele, J. -M., & Pavlenko, A. (2002). Emotion vocabulary in interlanguage. Language Learning, 52, 265-324.

Dewaele, J. -M., Petrides, K. V., & Furnham, A. (2008). Effects of trait emotional intelligence and sociobiographical variables on communicative anxiety and foreign language anxiety among adult multilingual: A review and empirical investigation. Language Learning, 58(4), 911-960.

Dörnyei, Z., & Taguchi, T. (2009). Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing (2^nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203864739.

Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. Routledge.

Douglas, S. P., & Craig, C. S. (2007). Collaborative and iterative translation: An alternative approach to back translation. Journal of International Marketing, 15(1), 30–43. https://doi.org/10.1509/jimk.15.1.030.

Elliott, A. R. (1995). Foreign language phonology: field independence, attitude, and the success of formal instruction on Spanish pronunciation. Modern Language Journal, 79(4), 530–42.

Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. OUP.

Gkonou, C., & Mercer, S. (2017). Understanding emotional and social intelligence among English language teachers. British Council.

Gregersen, T. & MacIntyre, P.D. (2014). Capitalizing on language learners’ individuality: From premise to practice. Multilingual Matters.

Harbord, J. (1992). The use of the mother tongue in the classroom. ELT Journal, 46, 350-355

Hall, G. (2017). Exploring English language teaching: Language in action. Routledge.

Horwitz, E. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal, 72, 283–94.

Horwitz, E.K. (2010) Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154–167.

Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70, 125–32.

Huang, H. (2004). The relationship between learning motivation and speaking anxiety among EFL non English major freshmen in Taiwan [Unpublished master’s thesis]. The Chaoyang University of Technology.

Jiang, Y., & Dewaele, J.M. (2019). How unique is the foreign language classroom enjoyment and anxiety of Chinese EFL learners? System, 82, 13–25.

Khajavy, G. H., MacIntyre, P. D. & E. Barabadi (2018). Role of the emotions and classroom environment in willingness to communicate: Applying doubly latent multilevel analysis in second language acquisition research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 605-624.  10.1017/S0272263117000304

Klimova, B. (2021). An insight into online foreign language learning and teaching in the era of COVID-19 pandemic. Procedia Computer Science, 192, 1787–1794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2021.08.183

Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: issues and implications. Longman.

Levine, G. S. (2003). Student and instructor beliefs and attitudes about target language use, first language use, and anxiety: Report of a questionnaire study. The Modern Language Journal, 87(3), 343-364.

Liao, P. (2006). EFL learners’ beliefs about and strategy use of translation in English learning. RELC, 37(2), 191-215.

Liu, M., & Jackson, J. (2008). An exploration of Chinese EFL learners’ unwillingness to communicate and foreign language anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 92(1), 71-86.

Long, M. (1983). Inside the “Black Box”’. In H. Seliger and M. Long (Eds), Classroom oriented research in second language acquisition (pp. 3–36). Newbury House.

Long, M. (2004). Acquisition and teaching. In M. Byram (ed.), Routledge encyclopedia of language teaching and learning (pp. 4–5). Routledge.

MacIntyre, P. D. (2002). Motivation, anxiety, and emotion in second language acquisition. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed language learning (pp. 45–68). John Benjamins.

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

MacIntyre, P. D., Dewaele, J.M., Macmillan, N. & Li, C. (2021). The emotional underpinnings of Gardner’s Attitudes and Motivation Test Battery. In P. D. MacIntyre & A. Al-Hoorie (Eds.), Contemporary language motivation theory: 60 years since Gardner and Lambert (1959). Multilingual Matters.

Macaro, E. (2001). Analyzing student teachers’ codeswitching in foreign language classrooms: theories and decision making. The Modern Language Journal, 85(4), 531–48.

Macaro, E. (2005). Codeswitching in the L2 classroom: A communication and learning strategy. In E. Llurda (ed.), Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges, and contributions to the profession (pp. 63–84). Springer.

Mendi, H. B. (2009). The relationship between reading strategies, motivation and reading test performance in foreign language learning [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Marmara University.

Moussu, L. (2010). Influence of teacher-contact time and other variables on ESL students’ attitudes towards native- and non-native-English-speaking teachers. TESOL Quarterly, 44, 746–768.

Oxford, R. (1999). Anxiety and the language learner: New insights, in J. Arnold (ed.), Affect in Language Learning ( pp. 58–67). CUP.

Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford University Press.

Piniel, K., & Albert, A. (2018). Advanced learners' foreign language-related emotions across the four skills. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8, 127-147. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.6.

Plonsky, L., & Oswald, F. L. (2014). How big is “big”? Interpreting effect sizes in L2 research. Language Learning, 64, 878-912.  10.1111/lang.12079

Purcell, E., & Suter, R. (1980). Predictors of pronunciation accuracy: a reexamination. Language Learning, 30, 271–87.

Saito, K., Dewaele, J. M., Abe, M., & In’nami, Y. (2018). Motivation, emotion, learning experience, and second language comprehensibility development in classroom settings. Language Learning, 68, 709–743.

Schleicher, A. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on education insights from education at a glance 2020. Retrieved from: https://www. oecd. org/education/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-education-insights-education-at-a-glance-2020. pdf.

Split, J. L., Koomen, H. Y. Y., & Jak, S. (2012). Are boys better off with male and girls with female teachers? A multilevel investigation of measurement invariance and gender match in teacher–student relationship quality. Journal of School Psychology, 50, 363–378.

Teimouri Y., Plonsky L., Tabandeh F. (2020). L2 grit: passion and perseverance for second-language learning. Language Teaching Research, 26(5). Doi: 10.1177/1362168820921895

Tian, L. & Macaro, E. (2012). Comparing the effect of teacher code-switching with English-only explanations on the vocabulary acquisition of Chinese university students: A lexical focus-on form study. Language Teaching Research, 16(3), 367–91.

Widdowson, H. (2003). Defining issues in language teaching. OUP.

Zhang, X. (2019). Foreign language anxiety and foreign language performance: A meta‐analysis. The Modern Language Journal, 103(4), 763-781.