Emotions are a fleeting experience, sometimes lasting only moments before dissipating. Prior research in SLA has either ignored emotions, underestimated their relevance, or has studied them as a relatively stable individual difference variable. In contrast, the present study takes an idiodynamic approach to examine the rapidly changing…

The defining feature of immersion language learning is the omnipresent pressure to communicate in the second language (L2), even as incipient skills are being acquired. This study uses the focused essay technique to investigate ambivalence about communicating among adolescent French immersion students (12-14 years of age). Students described…

The present study examines the relative ability of variables from three motivational frameworks to predict four non-linguistic outcomes of language learning. The study examines Action Control Theory with its measures of (1) hesitation, (2) volatility and (3) rumination. The study also examined Pintrich's expectancy-value model that uses measures…

Hypothesized that orientations toward language learning (L2) as well as social support would influence students willingness to communicate (WTC) in a second language. Grade 9 L2 students of French immersion participated in the study. Results showed endorsement of all five orientations (travel, job related, friendship with Francophones, personal…

Testing of a model intended to help students focus on positive aspects of second-language learning to reduce language anxiety found that the use of a focused essay, forcing students to concentrate on their reactions to events, helped to alter students' self-perceptions of their language learning ability. (63 references) (CB)

This study examined the language anxiety level felt during 3 stages in the second-language acquisition process (input, processing, and output) among 97 college students learning French as a Second Language. It found that language anxiety and language proficiency were strongly related in each of the stages. (37 references) (MDM)

Factor analysis of 23 scales assessing language and other forms of anxiety identified three separate factors of social evaluation, state, and language anxiety and found some correlations between scores based on those factors and measures of memory and vocabulary production in both native and second language. (46 references) (Author/CB)

Four issues concerning aspects of the validity of the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery are examined: (1) whether the subtests assess the attributes claimed; (2) the relationship of the subtests to higher order constructs; (3) whether the strategy for measuring affective variables influences correlations with achievement measures; and (4)…

Examines perceived competence in a second language (L2) as a function of actual competence and language anxiety. Anglophone college students with varied competency in French completed scales of language anxiety and a modified version of the "can-do" test, which assessed their self-perceptions of competence on 26 French tasks. Findings indicate…

This cross-sectional investigation focused on second language (L2) communication among students in a junior high French late immersion program. Effects of language, sex, and grade on willingness to communicate, anxiety, and perceived communication competence, on frequency of communication in French, and on attitudes and motivation variables were…

Reports a cross-sectional study of second language communication among students in a junior high French late immersion program. Effects of language, sex, and grade on willingness to communicate (WTC), anxiety, perceived communication competence, and frequency of communication in French and on attitude/motivation variables are examined globally and…