Observing Anxiety in the Foreign Language Classroom: Student Silence and Nonverbal Cues

Abstract

This study looked at multiple forms of silence and nonverbal cues of language anxiety in the foreign language classroom to explore their functions from the perspectives of students. Using the Classroom Oral Participation Scheme (COPS) developed by King (2013), 18 hours of observation produced data on learners’ verbal and non-verbal participation behaviours in Japanese university EFL classes. The data was analysed using the COPS participatory categories. Three recurring forms of silent L2 behaviour were identified: short responses, use of L1, and non-talk. Semi-structured follow-up interviews were carried out with 14 studentswhose silent behaviour was observed and transcribed into a corpus of 43,711 words. In addition to facilitative functions of silence such as cognitive processing, interviewees reported using silence to navigate interpersonal interactions with their classmates and fear of negative evaluation by peers. Findings illustrate how anxious learners may limit social exchanges in the target language for image protection purposes. For example, some students used short responses to avoid revealing a different opinion to their partner that might lead to an awkward interaction. The results suggest that awareness of nonverbal cues and silent behaviour - with multiple forms and functions, should be explored further as an approach to detecting language anxiety in EFL contexts.

Reframing silence: Insights into language learners’ thoughts about silence and speaking-related anxiety

“…An anxious learner may fear making a mistake and avoid speaking as they do not want to show a less than perfect performance (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002;Kitano, 2001). They may also fear that if they try to speak but are silent, their classmates will feel uncomfortable or bored by their behaviour and negatively react to them, for example, a facial expression showing their annoyance (Maher, 2020;Maher & King, 2020). Self-focus image thoughts are where anxious learners become hyperaware of their target language performance and how others perceive them.…”

“…To illustrate the possible forms of classroom silence, Fig. 2 (Maher & King, 2020) provides an overview of silent behaviours observed in foreign language learning environments (Bao, 2014;Gilmore, 1985;Harumi, 2015;Jaworski, 1993;King, 2013;McVeigh, 2002;Nakane, 2007;Peng, 2012;Saville-Troike, 1985;Tannen, 1985). King's (2013) study, where he observed 900 hours of Japanese foreign language university classes, recorded multiple forms of student silence, such as not initiating talk, taking on the listener role and making short utterances.…”

Toward the Role of EFL/ESL Students’ Silence as a Facilitative Element in Their Success

“…The positive and facilitative role of student silence in English language learning was empirically proved by several recent studies (e.g., Hanh, 2020;Harumi, 2020;Humphries et al, 2020;King et al, 2020;Maher, 2020;Maher and King, 2020;Peng, 2020). For instance, Harumi (2020) investigated classroom silence, its consequences, and different appropriate approaches to interact with this phenomenon.…”

“…Besides, the findings of this review have some pedagogical implications for teacher trainers. Given the significance of the silent behavior of students in their success (Maher, 2020;Maher and King, 2020;Peng, 2020;Tsui and Imafuku, 2020), teacher trainers should alter teachers' attitudes toward this phenomenon and instruct them how to appropriately interact with their students' silence.…”

“…Given the significance of classroom silence in second language learning, several empirical studies have been carried out to investigate the role of this factor in English language learning (e.g., Bista, 2012;Bao, 2014;Banks, 2016;Min, 2016;King and Smith, 2017;Juniati et al, 2018;King et al, 2020;Maher and King, 2020;Hongboontri et al, 2021). However, most of the researchers have chosen to probe into the impeditive role of students' silence in their learning.…”