This study investigated speaking anxiety among advanced Korean language learners in Korean Language Institution classrooms, and the strategies they used to overcome it. The study employed qualitative methodology using online interviews for data collection. The sampling technique involved purposive sampling by selecting 13 Korean learners who had completed an advanced Korean course at TOPIK Levels 5 or 6, with Level 6 being the highest. The interview questions addressed various aspects, including comparisons of speaking skills, anxiety in Korean classrooms, fear of making mistakes, concerns about classmates’ reactions, and anxiety induced by teachers. Thematic analysis was performed by generating initial codes, grouping related codes to uncover potential themes, and highlighting recurring patterns in the participants’ responses. The results revealed three factors that contribute to speaking anxiety: personal reasons, teachers’ classroom approaches, and teaching methods. Advanced learners manage anxiety through three coping strategies: preparation, positive thinking, and seeking support from peers. The study concludes with discussions on the pedagogical implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research in advanced Korean language learning classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes of language anxiety in EFL classroom and relation between the change in anxiety and learners’ performance. The participants were 76 first-year non-English majors from various disciplines of a Korean university. Demographic information questionnaire, English performance test, and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale were administered to the participants at two time points during a 12-week interval. Mean differences of quantitative data from Time 1 and Time 2, effects of gender and self-perceived proficiency level on anxiety, and the relationship between anxiety and performance were statistically analyzed. The results revealed significant decrease in English anxiety over time, significant effect of self-perceived proficiency level on anxiety, and negative correlation between variation of anxiety level and successful performance. This study suggests that reducing learners’ anxiety level might help their language improvement, and self-perceived language proficiency might be correlated to changes in language anxiety in EFL classroom. Possible implications for English instructors and limitations for future research were presented.

This study analyzes the results of ten foreign language anxiety (FLA) research papers from the Korean post-secondary EFL context. Its aim is to identify some of the methodological limitations that persist in such research in an effort to influence the epistemological perspectives and methodological approaches of future studies. A comprehensive summary of the FLA-associated factors, variables, and pedagogical implications reported in the respective research papers is presented. Discussions include a critical analysis of the traditional cognitivist approach to FLA research, addressing issues associated with attempts to isolate and objectively quantify the cognitive states of the students. Highlighted is the argument that, when the socio-cultural dimension of language learning is adequately accounted for, many of the underlying assumptions inherent to traditional FLA research become inescapably problematic. The study concludes by emphasizing the need to adopt holistic, interpretive, and social constructivist research perspectives through which the dynamic and ever-changing nature of human activity can be more fully accounted for, and by which the pedagogical implications remain deeply entwined with, rather than detached from, the context in which the language learning activity takes place.

Yang, Myung-hee & Kim, Bo-hyeon. 2017. “A Study on Korean Language Anxiety in the Classrooms of Advanced-level Korean Language Learners for Academic purposes: With Chinese Students in Graduate School in Korea”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 25(1). 119~141. The aim of this study is to examine the level of and the factors for Korean language anxiety in the classrooms of advanced-level Korean language learners for academic purposes. To this end, 60 Chinese students attending graduate school participated in the survey with the questionnaires: i.e., PRCA and FLCAS. The results suggest as follows. First, the Korean language anxiety level in the classrooms of the Chinese students is likely to be high. Also, it is not because of the participants’ traits, but because of the classroom environment. Second, there are 5 factors for Korean language anxiety in the classrooms; communication anxiety with native speakers, communication anxiety, fears of negative evaluation and failing in class, Korean proficiency anxiety, and negative attitudes toward class. Especially, the forth factor suggests that Korean learners needs an educational intervention of Korean, even after they enter undergraduate or graduate institutions. Third, there is a negative correlation between Korean language anxiety in the classroom and a residence period in Korea. That is, it is necessary to give them as many opportunities as possible for being exposed to Korean by a Korean educational intervention.

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 investigated the relationship among foreign language learning anxiety, achievement goals, and multidimensional perfectionism.Incorporating approach and avoidance into mastery goal and performance goal, a 2X2 framework of achievement goals comprised mastery approach, mastery avoidance, performance approach, and performance avoidance in this article. Three factors, self-oriented, others-oriented, and socially-prescribed perfectionism, were explored to understand the relationship between perfectionism and foreign language learning anxiety. Results indicated that all factors of achievement goals and only socially-prescribed perfectionism were correlated to the foreign language learning anxiety. Analysis of the regression between the scale of language learning anxiety and the other factors showed that master approach, mastery avoidance, and performance approach could predict the language learning anxiety significantly

This study attempts to examine the existence of foreign language anxiety in e-Learning situations, and then identify relationships between the anxiety and learner background factors. A total of 162 EFL learners participated in the survey. Their anxiety was measured by the e-Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (e-FLCAS). The results suggest that foreign language learners do indeed experience anxiety in e-Learning classrooms. A majority of the participants acknowledged having experienced specific kinds of anxiety in cyber classes: worry over e-Learning education, online test anxiety, learning style conflicts, and apprehension of native teachers. In addition, e-Learning anxiety was found to be significantly related to three background factors (gender, academic backgrounds, and English proficiency). The results also provide a potential explanation of anxiety-producing contexts in cyber classrooms, the sources of anxiety, and coping strategies that students use to lower their anxiety.

This study investigated the foreign language listening test anxiety of 66 Korean high school students. The subjects were randomly assigned to Non-test Group (absence of a test atmosphere) and Test Group (presence of a test atmosphere). Foreign language listening test anxiety in both groups was measured by the foreign language listening test anxiety scale I (FLLTAS I) and they answered questions related to the FLLTAS II after taking a listening test. Based on the change in mean scores of the FLLTAS I and II, the data were analyzed with repeated measures and the results suggested that the subjects indeed felt foreign language listening test anxiety and significantly experienced an increase in anxiety levels after taking a listening test regardless of the absence or presence of a test atmosphere and subject's differences in listening proficiency levels. Regarding the relationship between foreign language listening test anxiety and foreign language listening test performance, the results revealed that they are negatively related. Also, a factor analysis showed that 'tension over English listening or English listening tests' and 'lack of confidence over English listening or English listening tests' are the main factors contributing to foreign language listening test anxiety.