The purpose of this study was to examine L2 learners’ perceived writing anxiety and the usefulness of freewriting in improving L2 writing fluency. Seventeen L1-Korean preservice English teachers enrolled in a teacher education program at a university participated. An L2 writing anxiety survey, 170 freewritings, and 17 reflective writings were analyzed. The participants showed a moderate level of L2 writing anxiety, mostly due to a lack of confidence. Across 10 freewriting practice sessions, participants’ words per minute gradually increased, with high and low fluency groups showing a similar upward trend. Participants’ written reflections revealed that they perceived the freewriting practice useful in boosting confidence and improving skills. Expressing ideas freely without concern for accuracy alleviated their L2 writing anxiety most. Participants reported they had difficulty writing in English continuously for several minutes, and disliked absence of teacher feedback.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of a two-week English-language orientation program at a Korean university on first-year students’ perceptions of English. This quantitative study contributes to the local literature by documenting the changes on a preand post-course survey that measured participants’ willingness to communicate, foreign language anxiety, attitudes towards English, and perceptions of English as a global language. Key results of independent-samples t-tests indicated that student perceptions showed statistically significant changes on five of the six scales, and that the biggest influences of the program were on willingness to communicate and lessening student anxiety. The study also investigated the link between program satisfaction and experience of studying English abroad, finding that there was no relation between them. However, a one-way ANOVA and correlation analysis indicated that there was a relationship between program satisfaction and students’ self-rated proficiency, finding that the lower-proficiency students were slightly less satisfied than those rating themselves as “average” or “good” English speakers. The study concludes with recommendations for future studies and for planning English-language orientation programs in Korean universities.

This study examined the effects of peer feedback combined with teacher feedback on L2 writing. From a review of related studies, several factors were selected as predictors of L2 writing proficiency: L2 knowledge and composition skills, L2writing anxiety, and metacognitive knowledge on L2 writing. Participants were 75college students, who were randomly assigned to the experimental or the control group. Both groups received teacher feedback, while the experimental group performed peer feedback activities, and the control group did self-reflective revision in addition. Data were collected from teacher and peer feedback, timed writing, an L2writing anxiety survey, and evaluation of a sample essay. A statistical analysis revealed differences between teacher and peer feedback. Peer feedback combined with teacher feedback appeared to be beneficial for increasing L2 knowledge and lowering L2 writing anxiety. In the regression analysis, writing anxiety predicted the level of L2 knowledge and composition skills. Based on the findings, implications for L2 writing class and suggestions for future studies are presented.

This experimental study investigated whether language anxiety differentially influences the extent to which two corrective feedback (CF) techniques of recasts and prompts affect the L2 learning process and its outcome. Four experimental groups were formed according to their anxiety level and the type of CF received during question recall tasks they completed: the high-anxiety recasts-receiving group, the low-anxiety recasts-receiving group, the high-anxiety prompts-receiving group, and the low-anxiety prompts-receiving group. Two high- and low-anxiety control groups were additionally formed, who did not engage in the tasks. Learners’ anxiety level was judged based on their responses to a language anxiety questionnaire. CF efficacy in processing L2 was measured by examining the extent to which CF induced modified output and repair. Learners’ L2 knowledge was assessed at explicit and implicit levels on pretests, immediate posttests, and delayed posttests. Results revealed that language anxiety had no impact on prompts’ efficacy but displayed some influence on recasts’ efficacy. Recasts were more effective in promoting repair and L2 explicit knowledge for low-anxiety learners. It was also found that the differential effects of learner language anxiety were closely related to the level of anxiety aroused by the way the tasks were implemented. The finding highlights the significance of considering both learner language anxiety and task anxiety in providing CF.

This study examines the effects of Korean EFL learners’ motivation and anxiety on their English speaking skills with a structural equation approach. The participants of the study are 193 college students enrolled in English conversation classes. The questionnaire on learning orientations, attitudes toward the community of native speakers of English, motivational intensity, class satisfaction and anxiety are given to the college students and their English speaking skills are assessed in terms of IATEFL’s criteria: Range, ease of speech, attitude, delivery, and interaction. Reliability and factor analysis are employed to confirm the internal consistency of questionnaire items and the validity of construct, and a structural equation model is run to examine the relation of Korean EFL learners’ affective aspects to their English speaking skills. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) while Korean learners’ attitudes toward native speakers of English and their community do not contribute to their desire to learn English, their learning orientations are found to affect their desire to learn English. (2) class satisfaction and desire to learn English are found to affect learners’ efforts to learn English, while anxiety is found to negatively contribute to leaners’ motivation intensity. (3) both integrative orientation and anxiety have direct effects on English speaking skills, integrative orientation affirmatively but anxiety negatively. Based on the findings, some suggestions are given for effective second language learning and teaching.