Examining the relationships between foreign language anxiety and attention during conversation tasks

Abstract

This study explored the association between Foreign Language Anxiety and sustained attention during two conversation tasks. Participants were twenty-nine EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners who completed a role play task in a classroom practice condition and a real-world situated condition. Attention levels were measured using Neurosky’s EEG headset during the task. Self-perceived language anxiety was measured using questionnaire after the task. Correlation analyzes show there was a negative correlation between attention levels and states of language anxiety in the classroom practice condition but there was a positive correlation between attention levels and states of language anxiety in the real-world situated condition. Findings suggest that students who experience low anxiety tend to sustain better attention during the language task; however, their attention can be enhanced when they feel more anxiety resulting from a more challenging task. Implications for language instructors and system developers are discussed.