Keywords
learner beliefs
target language use
foreign language anxiety
sense of agency
How to Cite
Number of views: 1355
Number of downloads: 1084
Abstract
This study investigates how Swedish learners make sense of and perceive English instruction and the process of foreign language learning in a target language-only primary school classroom. In small group discussions, 26 learners aged 9-10 were audio recorded while discussing questions related to their language learner beliefs and their classroom experiences. Learners expressed a strong consensus about the importance of both the teacher’s extensive target language input and the learners’ oral engagement, in alignment with the beliefs of the teacher. However, the analysis identified three mismatches among high anxiety learners in this context, related to incomprehensible teacher talk, social fear of making mistakes and classroom organization. As their voiced beliefs were at odds with their emotionally guided behavior of refraining from asking questions or volunteering to speak, their sense of agency was reduced. In this context, the target language-only approach appeared to have a negative impact on the emotional, organizational and instructional dimensions of foreign language instruction for many of the young learners. The findings illustrate the interrelated dynamics of beliefs, emotions and classroom context, and contribute to our understanding of learners’ foreign language anxiety and sense of agency in the primary foreign language classroom.
References
Aragão, R. (2011). Beliefs and emotions in foreign language learning. System, 39(3), 302-313.
Arnold, J. (2011). Attention to affect in language learning. Anglistik. International Journal of English Studies, 22(1), 11-22.
Aro, M. (2009). Speakers and doers: Polyphony and agency in children’s beliefs about language learning (Doctoral dissertation). Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä. https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/19882/9789513935320.pdf
Barcelos, A. M. F., & Kalaja, P. (2013). Beliefs in second language acquisition: Teacher. In A. C. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. http://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal10083
Brown, A. V. (2009). Students’ and teachers’ perceptions of effective foreign language teaching: A comparison of ideals. Modern Language Journal, 93(1), 46-60.
Copland, F., Garton, S., & Burns, A. (2014). Challenges in teaching English to young learners: Global perspectives and local realities. TESOL Quarterly, 48(4), 738-762.
Copland, F., & Ni, M. (2019). Languages in the young learner classroom. In S. Garton & F. Copland (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners (pp. 138-153). New York: Routledge.
Csizér, K. & Kálmán, C. (2019). A study of retrospective and concurrent foreign language learning experiences: A comparative interview study in Hungary. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 225-246.
Dufva, H. (2003). Beliefs in dialogue: A Bakhtinian view. In P. Kalaja & A. M. F. Barcelos (Eds.), Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches (pp. 131-151). New York: Springer.
Dufva, H. (2013). Language learning as dialogue and participation. In E. Christensen, L. Kuure, A. Mörch, & B. Lindström (Eds.), Problem-based learning for the 21st century: New practices and learning environments (pp. 51-72). Aalborg: Aalborg University Press.
European Commission. (2012). First European survey on language competences: Final report. https://crell.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/files/eslc/ESLC_Final%20Report_210612.pdf
García-Ponce, E. E., Crawford, T., Lengeling, M. M., & Mora-Pablo, I. (2018). Complexity and likely influence of teachers’ and learners’ beliefs about speaking practice: Effects on and implications for communicative approaches. International Journal of Language Studies, 12(1), 125-146.
Garton, S., & Copland, F. (2019). Introduction. In S. Garton & F. Copland (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners (pp. 1-10). New York: Routledge.
Gkonou, C. (2015). Agency, anxiety and activity: Understanding the classroom behavior of EFL learners. In P. Deters, X. Gao, E. R. Miller, & G. Vitonova (Eds.), Theorizing and analyzing agency in second language learning (pp. 195-212). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Gkonou, C. (2017). Towards an ecological understanding of language anxiety. In C. Gkonou, M. Daubney, & J.-M. Dewaele (Eds.), New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications (pp. 136-156). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Graneheim, U. H., & Lundman, B. (2004). Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: Concepts, procedures and measures to achieve trustworthiness. Nurse Education Today, 24(2), 105-112.
Horwitz, E. K. (1988). The beliefs about language learning of beginning university foreign language students. Modern Language Journal, 72(3), 283-294.
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132.
Kalaja, P., & Barcelos, A. M. F. (2013). Beliefs in second language acquisition: Learner. In A. C. Chapelle (Ed.), The encyclopedia of applied linguistics. http://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal10083
Kalaja, P., Barcelos, A. M. F., & Aro, M. (2018). Revisiting research on learner beliefs: Looking back and looking forward. In P. Garrett & J. M. Cots (Eds.), Routledge handbook of language awareness (pp. 222-237). New York: Routledge.
Kalaja, P., Barcelos, A. M. F., Aro, M., & Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. (2016). Beliefs, agency and identity in foreign language learning and teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Kolb, A. (2007). How languages are learnt: Primary children’s language learning beliefs. International Journal of Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 1(2), 227-241.
Kuchah, K., & Pinter, A. (2012). “Was this an interview?” Breaking the power barrier in adult-child interviews in an African context. Issues in Educational Research, 22(3), 283-297.
Macaro, E., & Lee, J. H. (2013). Teacher language background, codeswitching, and English‐only instruction: Does age make a difference to learners’ attitudes? TESOL Quarterly, 47(4), 717-742.
Mahn, H., & John-Steiner, V. (2002). The gift of confidence: A Vygotskian view of emotions. In G. Wells & G. Claxton (Eds.), Learning for life in the 21st century: Sociocultural perspectives on the future of education (pp. 46-58). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Mercer, S. (2011). Understanding learner agency as a complex dynamic system. System, 39(4), 427-436.
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (2009). Individual differences in early language programmes. In M. Nikolov (Ed.), The age factor and early language learning (pp. 199-226). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (2012). Attitudes and motivation in early foreign language learning. Ceps Journal, 2(3), 55-74.
Mihaljević Djigunović, J. (2015). Individual differences among young EFL learners: Age- or proficiency-related? A look from the affective learner factors perspective. In J. Mihaljević Djigunović & M. Medved Krajnović (Eds.), Early learning and teaching of English: New dynamics of primary English (pp. 10-36). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Muñoz, C. (2014). Exploring young learners’ foreign language learning awareness. Language Awareness, 23(1-2), 24-40.
Muñoz, C. (2017). Tracing trajectories of young learners: Ten years of school English learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 37, 164-184.
Nilsson, M. (2019). Foreign language anxiety: The case of young learners of English in Swedish primary classrooms. Apples: Journal of Applied Language Studies, 13(2), 1-21.
Ravet, J. (2007). Enabling pupil participation in a study of perceptions of disengagement: Methodological matters. British Journal of Special Education, 34(4), 234-242.
Spyrou, S. (2011). The limits of children’s voices: From authenticity to critical, reflexive representation. Childhood, 18(2), 151-165.
Sylvén, L. K. (Ed.). (2019). Investigating content and language integrated learning: Insights from Swedish high schools. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Swedish National Agency for Education. (2011). Syllabi for upper secondary school in English. https://www.skolverket.se/download/18.4fc05a3f164131a74181056/1535372297288/English-swedish-school.pdf
Yim, S. Y., & Yu, Y. (2011). Validating the English learning anxiety scale for primary school students in Korea. English Teaching, 66(2), 101-121.
Yoshida, R. (2013). Conflict between learners’ beliefs and actions: Speaking in the classroom. Language Awareness, 22(4), 371-388.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.