Japanese language study among American university students has dramatically increased since 1986. However, despite initial enthusiasm, high attrition rates have been reported. One reason often cited for this attrition is the perceived degree of difficulty of the Japanese language because of its “truly foreign” nature (Jorden and Walton 1987), which can be initially anxiety‐provoking for students whose first language is English. In the present study, the role of language learner anxiety, among other affective variables of students studying Japanese, is examined in relation to students' language performance at three different instructional levels. The results of the study indicate that with these students of Japanese the predictive variable of their performance was different from the beginning level to the intermediate‐ and the advanced‐level students. For beginning students, the Year in College was identified as the best predicting factor, while Language Class Anxiety was the best predictor for both intermediate‐and advanced‐level students. The results of the present study corroborate earlier anxiety studies in the commonly taught languages: in the finding that foreign language anxiety can have a negative impact on Japanese learners' performance. The present study, however, reveals that the influence of foreign language anxiety becomes more important as Japanese learners' instructional levels increase. It is clear that in order to reduce the debilitating effect of language class anxiety, teachers of Japanese need to become aware of these differences in terms of the learners' affective states and respond to them accordingly.

Although historically much teaching of English has been done by nonnative‐English‐speaking teachers (NNESTs), research on their concerns as English educators has been neglected. This article takes as its central focus the narrative of NNESTs in the context of critical praxis. It discusses a graduate seminar offered for perhaps the first time in a TESOL program for NNESTs. The article presents the process of interrogating the nativeness paradigm among NNESTs themselves via their own experiences and self‐representation. It discusses the validity of conceptual tools designed to overcome disempowering discourses that may exist in TESOL programs and centers on the construction of identity among NNESTs that neither prescribes a limited role for them in the profession nor specifies definite boundaries to their capacities therein. The study suggests that the process of empowerment of NNESTs is neither linear nor simple but can nevertheless be generated within and by teachers engaged in critical praxis. It also demonstrates that many of the participants found a new relationship with their contexts, analyzed the causes of their powerlessness, and generated a new sense of agency as teachers and scholars in the field.

Learning a less commonly taught language or a “noncognate” language such as Japanese can be a daunting task for American students. The number of American students who are studying Asian languages at the university level‐in particular Japanese and Chinese‐is skyrocketing. Unfortunately, however, the attrition rate among these students is also very high. The present study explored the possible relationships between affective variables (e.g., attitudes, motivation, classroom personality) and students' linguistic performance in beginning Japanese classes. It was hypothesized that the high difficulty level of this noncognate non‐IndoEuropean language would trigger strong negative affective reactions that would, in turn, affect their linguistic performance. The results of the study indicate that motivation and attitudinal factors are critical in predicting students' success in Japanese. Classroom personality factors such as risktaking and discomfort were also found to be determinants of the students' final grades. In addition, negative changes in the students' attitude and motivation were observed when the results of the autumn quarter were compared with those of the spring quarter. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to enhance students' motivation and attitude toward learning Japanese.

This study suggests that identity-formation is related to the social process of identityassignation in the mother tongue context. The case studies of four English speakers are summarized in this study. The four English speakers, who were all born outside the mother tongue context, bend categories in various ways. This uncovers the ways in which mother tongue speakers situate other English users and how such social attitudes help shape the identities of those users. The findings support the contention that nativeness and nonnativeness among English users constitute non-elective socially constructed identities rather than linguistic categories.