listening comprehension anxiety: students' reported...

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Listening Comprehension Anxiety: Students' Reported Sources and Solutions Anita Jones Vogely Binghamton University ABSTRACT The anxiety that accompanies the listening comprehension (LC) task is dificult to detect, but potentially one of the most debilitating, because in order to interact verbally the listener must first understand what is being said. With the instructional emphasis on input pm cessing, LC anxiety merits closer examination. Research shows that in order to be effective lis- teners, learners must be able to actively and strategically participate in the listening process within a lowanxiety classroom environment. Recognizing the effect of anxiety on listening is the first step; the next is to uncover the sources of LC anxiety and propose solutions. 7his study presents the sources and solutions to LC anxiety as reported by foreign language students and discusses the pedagogical implications that relate to the results. In the field of education, listening has long been recognized as the most frequently used language skill in the classroom (Taylor 1964) and has been shown to contribute to acade mic success more than reading skills or acade mic aptitude (Conaway 1982). Consequently, many researchers have focused on making listening comprehension (LC) an integral and active part of the foreign language (FL) class- room (Byrnes 1982; Dunkel 1986; Weis- senrieder 1987; Lund 1990; Feyten 1991; Harlow and Muyskens 1994; Vogely 1995; among others). In the study by Harlow and Muyskens (1994), LC was ranked by the stu- dents as the second most important goal for in- termediatelevel instruction. Because LC had become an "extremely important modality in language learning," Lund (1990) developed "a taxonomy for teaching second language lis- tening"(l05). What was once generally viewed as simply a question of understanding had in- creasingly become recognized as "a process of constructing meaning based on multidimen- sional relationships between the leamer and all of the internal and external influences and the intrinsic and extrinsic elements involved in that learner's reality" (Vogely 1995, 43). Re Anitu Jones Vogeb (Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is Assistant Professor of Education at Binghamton University, Bingharnton, NY. search in foreign or second language learning has begun to show that anxiety directly under- mines motivation and creates a negative affec- tive response to the foreign language being studied (Gardner et al. 1987). Therefore, ad- dressing foreign language listening compre- hension anxiety is fast becoming a priority in the classroom. In most of the literature on language leam- ing anxiety, students have reported that speaking in the foreign language produces the most anxiety (Young 1990; Phillips 1992). Slowly, within the studies of speaking anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety has begun to surface as a problematic area for students. Krashen (in Young 1992) acknowledged that, although speaking is cited as the most anxiety-producing skill, LC is also "highly anx- iety provoking if it is incomprehensible" (168). According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), listening anxiety occurs when students feel they are faced with a task that is too difficult or unfamiliar to them. This anxiety is exacerbated if the listeners are under the false impression that they must understand every word they hear. Many learners believe that in order to be "good" at a language they need perfect pro- nunciation, massive amounts of vocabulary, extensive grammar knowledge, ovemas expe rience, and a natural aptitude for language b e Foreign Language Annals, 31, No. 1, 1998

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Listening Comprehension Anxiety: Students' Reported Sources and Solutions

Anita Jones Vogely Binghamton University

ABSTRACT The anxiety that accompanies the listening comprehension (LC) task is dificult to detect, but potentially one of the most debilitating, because in order to interact verbally the listener must first understand what is being said. With the instructional emphasis on input p m cessing, LC anxiety merits closer examination. Research shows that in order to be effective lis- teners, learners must be able to actively and strategically participate in the listening process within a lowanxiety classroom environment. Recognizing the effect of anxiety on listening is the first step; the next is to uncover the sources of LC anxiety and propose solutions. 7his study presents the sources and solutions to LC anxiety as reported by foreign language students and discusses the pedagogical implications that relate to the results.

In the field of education, listening has long been recognized as the most frequently used language skill in the classroom (Taylor 1964) and has been shown to contribute to acade mic success more than reading skills or acade mic aptitude (Conaway 1982). Consequently, many researchers have focused o n making listening comprehension (LC) an integral and active part of the foreign language (FL) class- room (Byrnes 1982; Dunkel 1986; Weis- senrieder 1987; Lund 1990; Feyten 1991; Harlow and Muyskens 1994; Vogely 1995; among others). In the study by Harlow and Muyskens (1994), LC was ranked by the stu- dents as the second most important goal for in- termediatelevel instruction. Because LC had become an "extremely important modality in language learning," Lund (1990) developed "a taxonomy for teaching second language lis- tening"(l05). What was once generally viewed as simply a question of understanding had in- creasingly become recognized as "a process of constructing meaning based on multidimen- sional relationships between the leamer and all of the internal and external influences and the intrinsic and extrinsic elements involved in that learner's reality" (Vogely 1995, 43). R e

Anitu Jones Vogeb (Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin) is Assistant Professor of Education at Binghamton University, Bingharnton, NY.

search in foreign or second language learning has begun to show that anxiety directly under- mines motivation and creates a negative affec- tive response to the foreign language being studied (Gardner et al. 1987). Therefore, ad- dressing foreign language listening compre- hension anxiety is fast becoming a priority in the classroom.

In most of the literature on language leam- ing anxiety, students have reported that speaking in the foreign language produces the most anxiety (Young 1990; Phillips 1992). Slowly, within the studies of speaking anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety has begun to surface as a problematic area for students. Krashen (in Young 1992) acknowledged that, although speaking is cited as the most anxiety-producing skill, LC is also "highly anx- iety provoking if it is incomprehensible" (168).

According to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), listening anxiety occurs when students feel they are faced with a task that is too difficult or unfamiliar to them. This anxiety is exacerbated if the listeners are under the false impression that they must understand every word they hear. Many learners believe that in order to be "good" at a language they need perfect pro- nunciation, massive amounts of vocabulary, extensive grammar knowledge, ovemas expe rience, and a natural aptitude for language b e

Foreign Language Annals, 31, No. 1, 1998

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANN- SPRING 1998

fore they even open their mouths (Horwitz 1987). As a result, the anxiety that arises during the listening process often springs from what Joiner (1986) calls a negative "listening self- concept," that is, a low level of selfconfidence in the area of listening.

The anxiety that accompanies the LC task is the one that is most easily ignored because the goal of most classroom activities focuses on the speaking skill. When considered a stepping- stone to speaking, LC is more often than not treated as a passive skill that will "happen" dur- ing the regular classroom activities. With speak- ing, teachers anticipate anxiety on the part of the students and expect them to stumble and hesitate. To remedy the situation, teachers en- gage in all kinds of structured practice d e signed to help the students overcome their fear of speaking. LC anxiety can undermine speech production because, in order to interact ver- bally, the listener must first understand what is being said. Therefore, LC anxiety should not be ignored, but actively addressed.

According to a study by Vogely (1995), for learners to become effective listeners, they must actively and strategically participate in the learning process. To provide the kind of learning environment that promotes active participation on the part of the learner, Young (1991) emphasizes the need to create a "learnercentered, low-anxiety classroom en- vironment." In their edited volume, Horwitz and Young (1991) bring the discussion of lan- guage anxiety to the forefront of language learning, but generally in terms of the anxiety that arises from speaking the FL. The chapter in that volume by Price (101) presents the re- sults of her qualitative research in which she examined "the question of foreign language anxiety from the perspective of the anxious language learner" (102). All of the reported classroom sources of anxiety had to do with either the speaking skill, experiential variables (e.g., beliefs, past FL classeslinstructors, the discrepancy between effort and results) or personality variables (e.g., perfectionism, fear of public speaking). When LC anxiety was mentioned, it was, more often than not, in very general terms.

To date, little research has been done to empirically document the extent to which stu- dents experience LC anxiety in the FL class, and the classroom sources of their LC anxiety. Consequently, with emphasis on input pro- cessing and the popularity of introductory textbooks that give LC an increasingly signifi- cant role in FL learning, LC anxiety merits closer examination. In order to explore the sources of and possible solutions to LC anxi- ety, this study, like the study by Price, tapped into the most reliable source we have avail- able to us: the foreign language students themselves.

The Study The 140 participants of the study reported

here included all of the students registered for the first three semesters of university-level Spanish courses. The purpose of the study was to report descriptive research, rather then inferential or quantitative research; therefore the questionnaire was distributed immedi- ately after the LC part of the exam, so that the likelihood of the students experiencing LC anxiety was high, and there was a 100 percent return of responses. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire (see A p pendix A) that elicited the following informa- tion: (1) whether they were experiencing listening anxiety or not; (2) if they did, what made them anxious when participating in a LC exercise; and (3) what types of settings, ex- ercises, or activities helped to lower their anx- iety level. Of the 140 participants, only nine percent reported that they did not experience LC anxiety. The size of this number empha- sizes the need to address directly the LC anxi- ety experienced by the other 91 percent of the students.

The 140 questionnaires generated 220 r e sponses addressing sources of anxiety (see Table l), and 165 suggestions on ways to a l le viate LC anxiety (see Table 2). The analysis of the questionnaire consisted of two parts: (1) analysis of students' responses about sources of LC anxiety and (2) examination of sugges tions for reducing LC anxiety. In determining sources of LC anxiety, students' comments

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FDREIGN LANGUAGE ANN-PRING 1998

Category

Input

Process

TABLE 1

Students' Reported Sources of LC Anxiety (N=220)

Sources

Nature of the speech Level of difficulty Lack of clarity Lack of visual support Repetition of input

Inappropriate strategies Lack of time to process Can't "study" for LC Can't check answers

Instructional Factors Lack of LC practice "The test thing" Uncomfortable environment

% OF responses

28% 11% 5% 4% 3%

Total 51%

24% 3% 2% 1%

Total 30%

3% 2% 1%

Total 6%

Personal Factors Fear of failure 10% Nerves 2% Instructor's personality 1%

Total 13%

TABU 2

Students' Suggestions for Alleviating LC Anxiety (N= 165)

Category Suggestion % OF responses

Input Make input comprehensible 18% Use variety of input 6% Structure tasks 7%

Total 31%

Process Focus on strategies needed Notetakinghe of English

Instructional Factors Increase class time for LC Combine LC with other skills Provide regular feedback Create outafclass opportunities

Personal Factors Experience small successes Meditatiodbreathing, etc.

3% 1%

Total 4%

39% 16% 4% 1%

Total 60%

4% 1%

Total 5%

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS- SPRING 1998

clustered around the following four general categories:

a) LC anxiety associated with characteris-

b) LC anxiety associated with processing-re

c ) LC anxiety associated with instructional

d) LC anxiety associated with attributes of

tics of FL input;

lated aspects of FL,

factors; and

the teacher or learner.

Within each of the categories above, stu- dent responses fell into several subcategories. These responses were summarized by per- centages under each category (see Table 1 and Table 2 for these summaries). Appendix B documents a sample of comments students made about each of the reported sources of LC anxiety. Selection of the sample comments was made by the author and was based on the author’s subjective opinion of which com- ments would be most informative to the for- eign language teacher.

The Results The results of the study will be discussed by

first presenting the sources of anxiety reported by the students, based on the four major ca t e gories and the subcategories, The students’ suggestions for reducing LC anxiety are pre- sented in conjunction with the reported source of anxiety. The final section consists of a brief discussion of the pedagogical implica- tions based on the results of the study.

LCAnxiety Associated with CYtamcteristics of Input

Fiftyane percent of the students’ responses focused on some characteristic of input as being a source of LC anxiety.

Nature of the speech. Of the 28 percent that reported the nature of speech as a source of anxiety, 22 percent reported that speech that was too fast created the most anxiety. The other six percent claimed poor enunciation, different accents, and teachers that spoke too softly as sources of anxiety.

Level of diKculty. Students expressed anxi- ety and frustration with LC exercises that were too difficult. Students associated the level of difficulty of input in terms of the use of vo- cabulary that was unfamiliar or beyond the level of the student, the use of complicated syntax, and the use of texts based on unfamil- iar topics.

Luck of clarity. The students reported feeling anxious when they did not know what kind of text they were listening to, why they were lis- tening to it, what they were supposed to be lis- tening for, and what they were supposed to do once they were through listening. Although the students’ comments were geared toward often- confusing directions provided by the teacher, Lund (1990) pointed out that the issue of text difficulty that sterns from the nature of the text itself (e.g., authentic vs. edited) can impact the listeners’ orientation to the text, and, ultimately, their comprehension of the text.

Luck of visual support. Although mentioned as a source of anxiety by only a small number of students, some learners felt as if they lacked the footing necessary to even make an edu- cated guess without some type of visual input.

Luck of repetition. Students expressed frus- tration toward the traditional approach to LC practice where input is presented only twice. This feeling was especially strong in a testing situation where the student must decipher the question to be answered, then come up with, or select, the correct response. Anxiety was as- sociated with the “two strikes and you’re out” approach to LC tasks.

Suggestions for Reducing LCAnxiety Associated with Input Characteristics

Thirtyane percent of students’ suggestions for reducing LC anxiety focused on input-re lated variables.

Make input comprehensible. Many students (18 percent) felt that input would be more comprehensible to them if it were based on fa- miliar, meaningful topics and vocabulary.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE M N U P M N G 1998

Many suggested alleviating anxiety by making the input more informal, and ungraded, rather than formal, graded activities. In other words, students wanted to practice LC, but did not want to be graded each time they practiced it. Others felt that dictation and translation exer- cises would make input more Comprehensible.

Use uariefy of input. Numerous students sug- gested incorporating games and other fun ac- tivities into the classroom as the vehicle for listening activities. Their suggestions for activ- ities included the following:

(a) "use smaller group activities and less formalized Spanish on topics more ex- citing to students";

(b) "have Spanishspeaking people, other than our own professor, occasionally speaking Spanish to the class";

(c) "practice with listening without watch- ing, such as hearing music in Spanish from a tape or the radio";

(d) "talk more interactively in groups"; and (e) "hear the students' cassette tapes in class."

Structure tasks. The students in this study wanted to know what they were doing. They felt that clear instructions, advanced organiz- ers, and structured tasks would alleviate some anxiety because they would know where to begin and in what direction to go. A few stu- dents offered possible ways of structuring LC activities:

(a) "have a person speaking in Spanish while the class writes down in English and in Spanish what the person said. Then review the different responses";

(b) "someone could speak all class period and we could each try to write down what we hear, then compare weak- nesses. Maybe there are some com- mon ones that could be cleaned up";

(c) "have more actual test situation prac- tice because it's very different from in- class listening with stress on the impor- tant words and numerous repetitions until we figure it out";

(d) "repeat the passage, repeat the pas- sage, repeat the passage."

In sum, for these students, LC anxiety stemmed from certain characteristics of the input (unfamiliar or difficult text, unclear di- rections, no visual support) and specific fea- tures of the delivery of the input (too fast, poor enunciation, lack of time or repetitions to process information, minimal practice and feedback). To minimize LC anxiety associated with input, students suggested, in essence, making input comprehensible using a variety of input for LC activities, structuring the LC tasks with clear instructions, and offering a specific purpose for the task.

LC Anxiety Associated with PmcessRelated Aspects of LC

Thirty percent of student responses com- mented on process-related aspects of FL learn- ing as a source of LC anxiety.

Inappropriate strategies. A review of stu- dents' comments indicates that many saw comprehension as the process of understand- ing or translating every word, as opposed to understanding the message. Students re- ported feeling anxious when they try to trans- late one part of what they hear and then miss the next part. If students perceive LC as word- for-word decoding, frustration and anxiety be come a regular part of the LC process.

Some students feared that they would not "understand"contextua1ly what they were lis- tening to, or that they would miss key words. Other students feared they would hear the "wrong thing" and assume that the text was about one topic when it is actually about something else. Others mentioned having weak spelling and retention skills.

Lack of processing time. Some students r e ported feeling anxious when asked to respond immediately to the listening text and the teacher did not allow them enough time to process the information in the text or the ques- tions about the text.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANN- SPRING 1998

Can't study LC. Several students stated that, unlike a test on grammar, it was difficult to study for a LC test. They expressed frustration at not knowing exactly what or how to prepare.

Can't check answers. Students reported feeling anxious about LC tasks because, un- like reading comprehension, LC is a "one-shot deal."

Sqgestion for Reducing LCAnxiety Associated with Pmcesdtelated Aspects of LC

The low percentage (four percent) of sug gestions under this category indicates that per- haps students are not sure of how to decrease their anxiety in these instances. In other words, perhaps they are unsure of what it means to be a strategic listener.

Focus on the strategies needed. At least some of the students in this study knew that knowl- edge about effective strategies could increase their LC abilities and reduce their LC anxiety. They suggested that the teacher "help the stu- dents to be able to be aware of their skills."

Notetakinghe ofEnglish. Many students felt that they end up being evaluated on "the lan- guage they produced in the answer rather than their comprehension" of the text. Taking notes while listening was considered effective for some, while others felt that being able to an- swer questions in English would counterbal- ance the anxiety they experienced when they lacked adequate target language to express what they actually comprehended. A study done by Lee (1986) supports the use of native language to test reading comprehension. Lee observed that "recall protocols written in the subjects' native language contained statistically significantly more of the passage than recall protocols written in the subjects' target lan- guage" (350). Applicability to LC would seem plausible, although not yet proven.

Some students wanted to hear more English from the instructor and suggested that "when speaking Spanish, they [the instructors] trans- late into English sometimes, especially with common phrases."

In sum, students reported LC anxiety asso ciated with this category as not having enough time to process input, not using appropriate LC strategies to understand input, not know- ing how to prepare for a LC test, and not knowing how to confirm whether what they understood was accurate or not.

In terms of suggestions, students reported that their LC anxiety would decrease if the teacher would train them to use LC strategies, if they could take notes during a LC task, and if their comprehension skills were evaluated on the basis of their native language, not the FL. In addition, some students felt they would benefit from having the teacher translate more into English.

Listening Comprehension Anxiety Associated with Instructional Factors

This category surfaced as the least-reported source of anxiety (13 percent), but paradoxi- cally was the category that comprised 60 per- cent of the students' suggestions for alleviating LC anxiety.

Luck ofLCpractice. Students reported feeling anxious when little or no class time had been devoted specifically to LC practice, which left them "feeling incompetent and unprepared."

" f i e test thing." Some students reported be coming anxious just because it is a test, rather than an activity-perhaps because under test conditions, they cannot replay the LC passage as many times as they need, and they are not able to go back to the questions when read aloud.

Uncomfortable environment. Students re ported that their physical surroundings, such as a room being too hot or too cold, were im- portant and often interfered with LC. Others reported becoming anxious if the room is too noisy, lacks oxygen, or is small and cramped.

Suggestions for Reducing LC Anxiety Associated with Instructional Factors

A majority (60 percent) of the suggestions students offered focused on instructional factors.

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE A N N W P R f N G 1998

Increase class time For LC practice. To d e velop the listening skill, many students stated that there must be "more class activities that focus specifically on the LC skill."

Receive regular feedback. The students in this study expressed a need to know if they un- derstood correctly or not. Most agreed that the more immediate the feedback, the better.

Combine LC with other skills. Students re- ferred specifically to combining listening with reading, that is, combining auditory input with written input. Their comments included these examples:

1. "Have someone say the words as I'm reading/looking at it."

2. "Practice reading out loud in class would help my pronunciation and listening skill."

3. "It would help to be able to read it as I was going along."

Create out-ofclass opportunities. Having in- formal, social interactions with native speak- ers was reported as a way in which students could experiment with the language in a non- threatening situation. They suggested bringing native speakers into the classroom so they could feel more confident about approaching native speakers outside the classroom.

In sum, students associated LC anxiety with a lack of LC practice, LC tests, and lack of a corn fortable physical environment. To reduce their LC anxiety, they suggested having more LC practice in class, receiving feedback about their LC skills regularly, combining LC with other skills, and having opportunities to listen to na- tive speakers and not just their FL teachers.

LC Anxiety Associated with Personal Attributes of Teacher and Learner

Thirteen percent of the students' comments focused on personal and interpersonal attrib- utes as sources of LC anxiety.

Fear of failureherves. Many students walk

into a FL classroom feeling nervous and fear- ing failure or ostracism. This emotional state of mind might stem from a negative past ex- perience or from the belief that they lack the prerequisites necessary to be a "good" lan- guage learner.

Instructor's personality. Although few, the responses in this category were insightful. They reported experiencing LC anxiety when teachers had unrealistic expectations, that is, when they expected everything to be perfect and were critical when students did not an- swer correctly. Teachers that were inaccessi- ble and "don't show any reaction to your performance" also inspired anxiety in their students. One student referred to a "hostile" environment created by personality clashes between students, or between students and teacher. In short, instructors that put students on the spot, press for answers, and openly demonstrate frustration when the correct an- swer is not forthcoming create anxiety.

Suggestions for Reducing LC Anxiety Associated with Personal Attributes of Teacher and Learners

within this category. Only five percent of the responses fell

Mrience small successes. One student re ported being able to "develop language confi- dence" in LC by experiencing small successes. Another stated that "the more I understand, the less anxious I am."

Using anxiety-reducing techniques. Many students reported using meditation, breathing exercises, or "self-affirmations" to reduce LC anxiety. Others found that "thinking about something less stressful was useful." One stu- dent reported resorting to "prayer."

In sum, students reported LC anxiety due to variables like learner selfconfidence and instructor's "harsh" teaching manners. To re- duce LC anxiety, they suggest developing language confidence through small suc- cesses and through the use of anxiety-reduc- ing techniques.

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Pedagogical Implications Make input comprehensible. Many of the

students reported that their anxiety would be alleviated if instructors would just slow the speed of their speech. If we decrease the speed at which we speak, however, we end up supporting the belief that listening com- prehension is equivalent to word-for-word translation. Rather than slowing down speech, a more effective technique would be to break the discourse down into natural segments, or phrases, and deliver them as "chunks" of speech that present an idea unit and maintain all of the natural intonations, emphases, and pauses (Lee and VanPatten 1995).

Use students' background knowledge. Ac- cording to Ausubel (1968), "the most impor- tant single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly" (vi). Long (1989) un- derlined the importance of being able to con- struct meaning during the comprehension process, then to match that intake with "exist- ing linguistic and world knowledge" (32). In a listening activity, both task schemata and topic schemata should be activated. For ex- ample, if the students know that the task is to determine what kind of food is served at a s p e cific type of restaurant, the listeners are less anxious about who or what the source of in- formation might be. Another source of back- ground knowledge is the linguistic knowledge of their first language that learners bring with them. They know about word boundaries, ex- aggerated intonation, and use of gestures. They know how to request repetition and r e statements. They have experienced language simplification and conversational adjustments in their native language, and recognize them as strategies that facilitate comprehension.

Use visual materials. A frequently cited way to reduce LC anxiety mentioned by students was to use visuals in LC activities. According to some neuroscientists (Fiske and Taylor 1984; Nisbett and Ross 1980), concrete, vivid images exert the most powerful influences on learners' behavior. The visual input does not

have to be the focus of the activity in order to be effective. Peripheral input, like posters and models, not only offer listeners a variation on the LC input but also can have as strong an im- pact as centrally located visual input (Caine and Caine 1994). Visual support not only makes the topic more accessible to listeners who are more visual or spatial learners but also helps all listeners to relate personally with the topic, thus reducing the anxiety that can occur when they think they "don't know what's being talked about."

Use clear and concise structured tasks. Struc- tured input activities consist of steps that "guide and focus learners' attention when they process input" (Lee and VanPatten 99). Structured tasks effectively alleviate LC anxi- ety because the listeners know why they are listening, where to begin, and in what direc- tion to go. In designing structured tasks, first determine the purpose of the task at hand and its relation to the end goal. Begin at a level at which the students will experience small suc- cesses, then build upon those skills. Guide them through the LC text by focusing their at- tention on one thing at a time, and by con- stantly relating the new information to the old information. Lund (1990) provides teachers with a taxonomy that promotes the develop ment of listening skills as a progression through functions in a cyclic rather than a lin- ear manner. Based on this taxonomy, Omag- gio-Hadley (1993) emphasizes that this "cyclic" approach should include "learning to do new functions with familiar texts or per- forming lower-level functions with more diffi- cult texts" (173). This can be done by carefully structuring the tasks and using texts "recurrently." One way to structure the tasks would be to focus on layers of comprehen- sion where students move from forced choice responses and either/or choices in the FL to openended or sentencecompletion tasks.

Introduce students to LC strategies. Tradi- tionally, listening has been combined with other activities and is treated as an auxiliary skill to writing and speaking (Meyer 1984). Ac-

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNAU-SPRING 1998

cording to Mendelsohn (1984), developing LC through "osmosis" is not sufficient. For learn- ers to become effective listeners, they must ac- tively and strategically participate in the listening process. Recent research by Thomp son and Rubin (1997) confirmed their hy- pothesis that "systematic instruction in the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies will result in the improvement of listening com- prehension" (336). The fact that so few of the students in this study recognized strategy de- velopment as an important learning tool, should alert teachers to the need to incorpo- rate strategy training into their activities.

Be understanding and sensitive to student fears about FL learning and LC. According to McKeachie (1994), an important instructor characteristic that can go a long way in reliev- ing personal anxiety is a sympathetic attitude towards the problems and fears of the stu- dents. An important step, therefore, is to cre- ate a positive, nonthreatening atmosphere within the classroom. The climate of the class room is directly related to the attitudes, ex- pectations, and physical presence of the instructor, which, in turn, determine the way in which the instructor and students interact. I f we want students to experience success in FL learning, we must not ignore their beliefs, perceptions, fears, obstacles, and anxieties.

One way to expose students' fears about FL learning, and LC in particular, would be to have them list the sources of LC anxiety on the board. Students would see that listening anxi- ety is shared by nearly everyone and that most of the other students experience similar fears of failure. Knowing that others share their b e liefs can motivate the students to overcome their own anxiety. Crookall and Oxford (1991) provide numerous activities to help determine and deal with the anxiety learners experience in the FL classroom.

Understand the nature of the LC process. When listening, we are faced with a sponta- neous and instantaneous ingression of infor- mation. With reading and writing, there is a time element that can be controlled or ma-

nipulated. With listening, on the other hand, the opportunity to process the information tends to be fleeting and transitory. On top of that, listeners are often expected to respond quickly to the situation. The very nature of the LC process can evoke anxiety in learners.

Conclusion In general terms, the students in this study

associated LC anxiety with the characteristics of LC input (51 percent) and process-related factors (30 percent), more so than instruc- tional factors (six percent) and personal and interpersonal variables (13 percent). Their so- lutions for alleviating LC anxiety involved in- structional factors (60 percent) and input characteristics (31 percent). This disparity could be due to the lack of control and un- derstanding students have about the LC process and the emotional variables that con- tribute to LC anxiety; therefore, they identified factors that are more obvious to them, such as speed of input, lack of LC practice, and room temperature. It is important to recognize the limitations of this study. Because no inferen- tial statistics were involved, the findings should not be generalized beyond the context of the sample used in the study. What the findings can provide is information about potential causes of LC anxiety and possible solutions to alleviate that anxiety.

By listening to what the students reported about LC anxiety, the study sought to illustrate the practices in LC that evoke anxiety in the students, to report solutions offered by stu- dents to alleviate LC anxiety, and to discuss several pedagogical implications that might help instructors address LC anxiety in their classroom. The limited pedagogical sugges tions offered here can be modified to fit the level and dynamics of most FL classes. The first step should be to decrease LC anxiety by in- creasing selfconfidence in the FL classroom.

LC activities that address listening anxiety will empower both the teacher and the learner. When teachers and students make the shift from listening for correctness to lis- tening for a message, the motivation to under- stand increases and the fear of being "wrong"

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decreases. Learners that are motivated to lis- ten and learn will have positive attitudes to- ward the target language and its speakers.

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APPENDIX A

Listening Comprehension Anxiety Questionnaire

This questionnaire is part o f a research project that will provide important information about how instructors can help lower the anxiety level o f language learners when doing listening comprehension tasks. Thank you for your participation.

Please answer as specifically as possible.

Do you experience anxiety when you are participating in listening comprehension activity?

0 Yes 0 N o

What makes you anxious when you are participating in a listening comprehension activity?

What types of exercises, settings, or activities help to lower your anxiety level?

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APPENDIX B

Student Comments by Category and Subcategory

LC Anxiety Assodated witb Characteristics of Input

Nature of the speech.

"People speak too quickly and you panic that you won't catch it all."

"If they speak too fast, there isn't enough time to process or translate information in one's head and write it down."

"Often when 1 cannot watch the lips of the person who is speaking (if they mumble) I get somewhat anxious and block out what I hear, even if it is understandable to me."

"I am afraid a person might pronounciate [sic] the words differently from the way I do, leading me to misunderstand the passage being read."

Level of difficulty.

"The teacher uses too many big words."

"Even though 1 study all of my vocabulary, there would be words that I have never heard before."

"I know many spoken words individually, but as they are conjugated and spoken they mix together and become jumbled and I can't separate the words from each other."

"I fear that 1 will not understand the topic or don't know anything about the topic."

Lack of clarity.

"Terrible directions and unclear layout of activities."

"This continual progression without instituting the previous material makes it harder to remember."

Lack of visual support.

"I fear that I wouldn't recognize it said out loud. 1 could recognize it written but not orally."

"I need to visualize the words in order to translate well."

"Sometimes it is difficult for me to get hold of the words being spoken let alone understand them."

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Luck of repetition.

"You can only hear the activities twice, so it is do or die. If you happen to miss something, you're screwed."

"Two strikes and you're out."

LC Anxiety Associated with Processrelated Aspects of LC

Inappropriate strategies.

"Although you can try to catch every word, you don't know which is a key word or most important."

"I get caught up on a word or two and miss the rest."

"I'm afraid I might hear the wrong thing and think the teacher is talking about a different topic than she is."

"It takes m e a minute to take in words and translate them in my head, let alone under- stand sentences."

"If you miss a couple of words or blank out for just a few seconds you blow the grade."

"I'm afraid I will not be able to remember what she said long enough to answer the ques- tions."

"I get anxious when I find myself focusing on the process rather than the input."

"I become more focused on showing my comprehension and pay less attention to what I am actually listening to."

"I panic when I am not able to hear or understand everything the person is saying."

"I'm not sure I have enough skill to listen and be able to write out of my head."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to remember what she said long enough to answer the q u e s tion."

Luck of time to process the input.

"If I don't answer fast enough the teacher keeps repeating the question in a louder voice. Then I go blank."

"If I don't have time to think about what has been said to me, I answer quickly and usu- ally wrong."

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Can 't study LC.

"It is difficult to study or otherwise prepare for a listening comprehension test."

"It bothers me that I don't know what to study for specifically."

Can't check answers.

"Listening is different from reading because you can't take your time to listen."

"There is no way to see it again."

"You can't go back and listen at your own pace."

LC Anxiety Associated with Instructional Factors

Lack of LC practice.

"We don't do enough activities in class that practice specifically listening comprehen- sion. Then when it comes to a test, I feel totally unprepared."

"The test thing."

"No matter what, you will feel some sort of stress."

"You freeze up, knowing that you don't get to go back to the question."

Uncomfortable environment.

"If the room is too hot, I become very agitated."

LC Anxiety Associated with Attributes of the Teacher or Learner

Fear of failureheroes.

"1 am always afraid of not achieving excellence."

"I am afraid of making mistakes and being ostracized."

"I feel like everyone else except me understands perfectly."

"My anxiety level cannot be lowered."

Instructor's personalify.

"A teacher who expects everything to be perfect and is critical of errors."

"A teacher who doesn't say anything or show any reaction to your performance."

ao