The Subtle Effects of Language Anxiety on Cognitive Processing in the Second Language

TLDR

Language anxiety has been linked to overall language achievement, including course grades. The study aimed to investigate how language anxiety affects specific cognitive processes within a three‑stage learning model (Input, Processing, Output). The authors used nine tasks to isolate the Input, Processing, and Output stages and developed a stage‑specific anxiety scale to measure anxiety at each stage. Significant correlations between stage‑specific anxiety and corresponding tasks were found, indicating that language anxiety has pervasive yet subtle effects across learning stages.

Abstract

Previous research has shown language anxiety to be associated with broad‐based indices of language achievement, such as course grades. This study examined some of the more specific cognitive processes that may be involved in language acquisition in terms of a three‐stage model of learning: Input, Processing, and Output. These stages were represented in a set of nine tasks that were employed to isolate and measure the language acquisition stages. A new anxiety scale was also developed to measure anxiety at each of the stages. Generally, significant correlations were obtained between the stage‐specific anxiety scales and stage‐specific tasks (e.g., output anxiety with output tasks) suggesting that the effects of language anxiety may be both pervasive and subtle.