Using CBT with Anxious Language Learners: The Potential Role of the Learning Advisor

Abstract

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) can be a crippling condition for many students, preventing them from taking an active part in the classroom, and also retarding their L2 use in wider communicative situations. Providing learners with the tools to overcome anxiety on an individual basis is an area which needs further investigation. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a widespread counselling practice used to treat anxieties. It shares similarities with some techniques employed in Advising in Language Learning (ALL) for helping students with language goals, and it is worthwhile investigating and raising awareness of how it can be used for FLA. The article describes major characteristics of FLA and also CBT, and then describes four functions which CBT and ALL share: goal-setting, guided discovery, Socratic questioning and use of reflection. Preliminary research also demonstrates how some of the practices associated with CBT could be applied by Learning Advisors to help students to overcome FLA.