Decreasing Anxiety and Frustration in the Spanish Language Classroom.

Abstract

This report describes instructional strategies to decrease anxiety and frustration in the Spanish classroom. Participants were five 7th grade Spanish classes in two suburban middle schools. Student interventions included a study skills guide; partner and group presentations, skits, and activities; and group oral reading. Teacher interventions included the use of total physical response, authentic correction, and creation of a nonthreatening classroom environment. Anxiety and frustration were documented through direct observations by teachers, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, and student questionnaires and interviews. Analysis of probable cause data was documented through a review of literature and methods of assessment by the researchers. Results indicated that several activities caused foreign language anxiety (oral communication, writing, and reading in the target language). Posttest data indicated a decrease in anxiety and frustration at both schools. Students were able to identify their own feelings of anxiety and frustration and gain self-confidence as they took risks in revealing themselves by speaking Spanish in the presence of other students and the teacher. Post-test, students showed less test anxiety, communication apprehension, and fear of negative evaluation in the classroom, and less anxiety and frustration in the area of oral communication, which had previously hindered their full acquisition of the language. (Contains 55 references.) (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Decreasing Anxiety and Frustration in the Spanish Language Classroom Joanna Haskin Maria de Lourdes Hernandez Smith Margaret Racine An Action Research Project Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Teaching and Leadership U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 4(This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. CJ 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality.

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