Socio-affective strategies for reducing foreign language anxiety levels in university students

Abstract

The main objective of the research is to analyse the impact it has the use of socio-affective strategies employed by university students to gain confidence and reduce foreign language anxiety when performing monologues. The participants of the study were students of Basic English of a language centre from a southeast Mexican university. Some authors argue that success in learning a foreign language depends on students’ attitude towards it. Such attitude implies high levels of motivation and low levels of anxiety. Therefore, in order to enhance students’ language performance teachers should employ classroom activities that lower students’ Foreign Language Anxiety levels. The methodological design adopted an action research approach. The stages of the action research were developed since the beginning of the English Basic lessons. Then, it was designed the intervention by applying socio-affective strategies and monologues. The outcomes were that English Basic students reduced their levels of Foreign Language Anxiety.