The Authenticity-anxiety Paradox: The Quest for Authentic Second Language Communication and Reduced Foreign Language Anxiety in Virtual Environments

Abstract

In this amplification of an earlier comparative study into technical and foreign language anxiety in a virtual environment and the traditional classroom, the authenticity of the virtual environment and of the communicative interaction that occurs within that environment stand out as a significant factors associated with reduced foreign language anxiety. Students’ feelings about the authenticity of typed text-chat and of communication with their non-player character interlocutors in the virtual environment in comparison to real world communication is highly related to the foreign language anxiety they experience: the more similar they perceive these two contexts, the more likely they are to transfer feelings of anxiety related to speaking a foreign language to the virtual environment, even though perceived similarities between the real and virtual world were found to lead to greater engagement in learning in the virtual environment.