AFFECTIVE FACTORS IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

SELF-ESTEEM

Self-esteem is a term used in psycohology  to reflect a person’s  overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "I am competent" or "I am incompetent") and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. A person's self-esteem may be reflected in their behaviour, such as in assertiveness, shyness, confidence or caution. Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension (for example, "I believe I am a good writer, and feel proud of that in particular") or have global extent (for example, "I believe I am a good person, and feel proud of myself in general").

Dr Stanley Coopersmith (1967: 4-5), defined self-esteem as:

…a personal judgement of worthiness that is expressed in attitudes that the individual holds towards himself, …and indicates the extent to which the individual believes in himself to be capable, significant and worthy.

     Research has shown that a student who feels good about himself is more likely to succeed. Holly (1987) compiled a summary of many studies and pointed out that most indicated that self-esteem is the result rather than the cause of academic achievement. In addition, Dr Martin Covington (1989)from the University of California carried out an extensive review of the research on the relationship between self-esteem and achievement, concluding that “self-esteem can be modified through direct instruction and that such instruction can lead to achievement gains. ”This statement is consistent with the experience of the writer, who has conducted two research projects (Andres, 1993, 1996)in the area of self-esteem, and the findings have led her to conclude that self-esteem can be modified and enhanced in the foreign language classroom, and that significant gains can be observed in the area of EFL/ESL learning. This point is considered to be of the utmost importance in the classroom: as teachers we can exert an influence both on the performance and well-being of our students. As Brown (1994)says, good teachers succeed “because they give optimal attention to linguistic goals and to the personhood of their students. ”

ATTRIBUTION THEORY and SELF-EFFICACY 

Attribution theory (Weiner, 1980, 1992) is probably the most influential contemporary theory with implications for academic motivation. It incorporates behavior modification in the sense that it emphasizes the idea that learners are strongly motivated by the pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about themselves. It incorporates self-efficacy theory in the sense that it emphasizes that learners' current self-perceptions will strongly influence the ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts and hence their future tendency to perform these same behaviors.

According to attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to explain success or failure can be analyzed in terms of three sets of characteristics:

• First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment.
• Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the we believe cause is stable, then the outcome is likely to be the same if we perform the same behavior on another occasion. If it is unstable, the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.
• Third, the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do not believe we can easily alter.

There are four factors related to attribution theory that influence motivation in education: ability, task difficulty, effort, and luck  

•     Ability is a relatively internal and stable factor over which the learner does not exercise much direct control. 

•    Task difficulty is an external and stable factor that is largely beyond the learner's control. 

•     Effort is an internal and unstable factor over which the learner can exercise a great deal of control. 

•      Luck is an external and unstable factor over which the learner exercises very little controL

WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE

In SLA, willingness to communicate (WTC) refers to the idea that language students (language learners) who are willing to communicate in the second language (L2) actually look for chances to communicate; and furthermore, these learners actually do communicate in the L2. Therefore, "the ultimate goal of the learning process should be to engender in language education students" the willingness to communicate (MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei & Noels: 1998). Language programs that do not instil this are therefore failed programs.  

Pyramid Model

A pyramid model has been established that describes learners' use of the L2. As the learner moves up the pyramid, the learner has more control over the act of communicating in the target language.

The model, with six layers, has a total of twelve constructs. The layers, from top to bottom, are:

• Communication behaviour
• behavioural intention
• situated antecedents
• motivational propensities
• affective-cognitive context
• social and individual context

 INHIBITION

Inhibition is closely related to self-esteem: the weaker the self-esteem; the stronger the inhibition to protect the weak ego. Ehrman (1993)suggests that students with thick, perfectionist boundaries find language learning more difficult than those learners with thin boundaries who favour attitudes of openness and the tolerance of ambiguity. As Brown (1994)noted, language learning implies a great deal of self-exposure as it necessarily involves making mistakes. Due to the defence mechanisms outlined above, these mistakes can be experienced as threats to the self. It can be argued that the students arrive at the classroom with those defences already built and that little can be done to remove them. However, classroom experience shows that the teacher 's attitude towards mistakes can reinforce these barriers creating, in the long run, learning blocks, or the self-fulfilling prophecy: “I can't do it. I 'm not good at it. ” In short, , this produces in the learner a deep-seated fear of inadequacy and deficiency. Fortunately, we are witnessing that a growing number of language teachers are becoming increasingly aware that focusing on students' strengths rather than weaknesses is a powerful way to break down learning blocks and overcome inhibition.

RISK-TAKING

        Linguists defined risk-taking as an ability of being eager to try out new information intelligently regardless of embarrassment in linguistics. Risk-taking is not only the third affective domain in personality factors but also one of the important parts in learning second language. Because of a strong intention of achieving success on learning something they yearn for mastering, language learners are willing to absorb new knowledge from their teacher spontaneously but how to interact with teacher? The easiest manner is to take the risk. Although it may be impulsive and too awkward to make a mistake, a good learner should require this characteristic to succeed in Second Language Acquisition. According to Brown, “interaction requires the risk of failing to produce intended meaning, of failing to interpret intended meaning, of being laughed at, of being shunned or rejected. The rewards, of course, are great and worth the risks” (2001, p. 166). In other words, risk-taking is a crucial interactive process to learn a language in the ESL/EFL classroom. Therefore, if a language learner interacts with the teacher automatically, he/she can acquire a foreign language without any difficulty.

According to Brown, “The key to risk-taking as a peak performance strategy is not simply in taking

the risks. It is in learning from your ‘failures’. When you risk a new technique in the classroom, try a new approach to a difficult student, or make a frank comment to a supervisor, you must be willing to accept possible ‘failure’ in your attempt. Then, you assess all the facets of that failure and turn it into an experience that teaches you something about how to calculate the next risk” (2001, P.428). In this case, it is essential to accept the fiasco and internalize it as the learning experience. Afterward, language learners can master that language gradually. 

ANXIETY

As learners we have all encountered this feeling, which is no doubt closely linked with self-esteem and inhibition. Any task that involves a certain degree of challenge can expose the learner to feelings of self-doubt, uneasiness or fear. Behind these emotions lies the question: shall I succeed? As second language learning is a highly demanding task, it is very likely to raise anxiety in the learner. Anxiety can be considered a negative factor in language learning, and several teaching methodologies in modern approaches indicate that anxiety should be kept as low as possible.

    Brown (1994)makes the distinction between trait anxiety —the permanent predisposition to be anxious —and state anxiety as the feeling that is experienced in relation to some particular situation. Many studies (e. g. Horwitz et al. 1986; MacIntyre and Gardner 1991; Young 1991; Phillips 1992)conducted on state anxiety indicate that foreign language anxiety can have a negative effect on the language learning process. Conversely, Bailey (1983, in Brown, 1994)notes that a certain concern or anxiety is a positive factor. This kind of anxiety is described as facilitating the learning process. In her actual classroom experience, the writer has witnessed that just as tasks without a certain amount of challenge can undermine the learner 's interest, assignments without balance and enough support can be disheartening as they can submerge the learner into a state of emotional dullness or paralysis. In sum, a certain degree of concern, anticipation and curiosity can be useful and even necessary to achieve, but too much anxiety can have an inhibiting effect and impede the process of successful language learning. 

 EMPATHY

Empathy, the ability to put oneself in another's shoes, is also predicted to be relevant to acquisition in that the empathic person may be the one who is able to identify more easily with speakers of a target language and thus accept their input as intake for language acquisition (lowered affective filter). Empathy appears to interact with other attitudinal factors. Schumann (1975) suggests that "... the natural factors that induce ego flexibility and lower inhibitions (assumed to relate to increased empathy) are those conditions which make the learner less anxious, make him feel accepted and make him form positive identifications with speakers of the target language"

Empathy in oral performance of second language acquisition

   Empathy refers to people’s willingness and ability t identify with others .it is thought to be relevant to second

language learning, because learning a second language involves taking one new identity. This also has correlation with learner’s personality. The biggest step in taking on this new identity is learning to pronounce the second language in a more or less native speaker way. This is a very major step, because for all of us, as adolescents and adults, how we speak and pronounce our first language is an essential feature of our identity. Thus in China, for example, speaking with a Hunan or Bejing accents is an essential part of a person’s identity as a Hunanese and Bejinger. When learners pronounce the second language in a more or less second language way, they temporarily lose their first language identity and take on that of another person—they empathize. The ease with which learners are able to empathise depends on the flexibility of their ego boundaries. Some people are more flexible and less inhibited than others and they find it easier to accommodate two identities, the first language and the second language. Various experiments have been carried out to try to measure the level of learner empathy and match it with ability at pronouncing the second language. The results are very mixed. No definite connection between empathy and second language oral performance has been established. This paper holds the idea that it does , however ,seem likely that learners who are naturally open , flexible and adaptable and who are sensitive to and interested in other people , are more likely to feel comfortable using the second language(taking on the second language identity) than learners with very fixed and inflexible personalities.

EXTROVERSION/ INTROVERSION

     The notion of extroversion/introvertion stems from trait theories of personality developed  in psychology.  Trait theorists try to identify this in a human being’s personality that is relatively stable, and it is believed, at least partly innate. The majority of studies on the personality research in SLA have looked at the relationship between the extraversion-introversion dimension of personality and different linguistic variables relating to oral performance. To some extent, extrovertion-introvertion dimension of learners’ personality indeed affects the oral performance of their second language. The effect of the extraversion-introversion dimension on second language learners is obvious and remains stable over time.

A typical extravert is someone who is sociable, likes parties, has many friends, needs to have many people to talk to, craves excitement, takes chances, often sticks his neck out, acts on the spur of the moment, and is generally an impulsive individual.’  On the other hand, they described a typical introvert as someone who ‘is a quiet, retiring sort of person, introspective, fond of books rather than people: he is reserved and distant except to intimate friends. He tends to plan ahead, ‘‘looks before he leaps,’’ and distrusts the impulse of the moment. He does not like excitement . . . ’ (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1964, p. 8). These characteristics of learners’ personality will accordingly affects their thoughts and lives , of course ,including the learners’ activities for acquiring their second language. This study gives a close attention to the effects of extroversion on second language acquisition. 

Many SLA theorists claimed that extraverts are the better language learners. Extraverts, who tend to be sociable, are more likely to join groups, more inclined to engage in conversations both inside (Cook, 1991) and outside the classroom (Swain, 1985). As such they take full advantage of language-use opportunities. It has been suggested that extroverted learners will find it easier to make contact with other users of the L2 and therefore will obtain more input. The classroom learner may also benefit from being extroverted by getting more practice in using the L2. Furthermore extraverts are believed to be prone to risk-taking and are likely to try out a larger amount and variety of different word types and grammatical structures at a higher speech rate.  In recent years, a more nuanced perspective on the relationship between extraversion and SLA has emerged. In reviewing the literature on effects of extraversion on second language acquisition, two major positions are identified. The first advocates that“ extroverted learners will do better in acquiring basic interpersonal communication skills”. The second maintains that: “introverted learners will do better at developing cognitive academic language ability”.

Since extraversion is considered to be stable personality variable, its effect should appear in both L1 and L2 languages. Most studies reveal a positive relation between degree of extraversion and various measures of L1 fluency, and a positive relationship between extraversion and oral fluency is also shown by some experiments, such   as measuring a pictorial stimulus test on a sample of Spanish speaking adolescents who learn English as a second language (Rossier ,1976).  There are positive correlations between extraversion scores   and utterance length, amount   of filled pauses and speech rates.

 The linguistic variables that have most commonly been investigated are fluency , accuracy, and

complexity. This paper suggests that extraverted individuals may be more fluent when speaking in a second language. When fluency in oral performance is concerned, people can feel obviously that extraverted students achieve greater fluency in an oral production task compared to introverts. Significant correlations were also found between extraversion and global impression scores, and state anxiety and clause accuracy scores. Participants who are more extraverted produced better global impressions and those who were experiencing higher levels of state anxiety made more errors in their spoken use of clauses.