Jacet Kansai J. 12 (2010), 104‑115. c Kansai Chapter, JACETISSN 1880‑2281 Printed in Japan

Coping2010

with anxiety and improving learning strategies:
Japanese

ESL learners in the UK
KayoYoshidaKonan

University

ABSTRACTThe purpose of thisstudy is to explore the roles of anxiety in language learning as well as skillsand
strategies to manage

anxiety in a study‑abroad ESL

context by examining
research employed

Japanese students learning English

in the UK

Language)at twodifferent British universities. Further

conducted with six students in the courses mentionedof the courses. The

fieldwork was donein MayThis

students who

wereinterviews werealso

above and four teachers who

and July of the samedata for the retrospective research. The

classroom(United Kingdom).

questionnaires to study the experiences of 35 Japanesecurrently learning English

comparative(English as a Second

were in charge

year in order to obtain

Japanese students felt anxiety in particularwhile speaking English in the classroom and identifiedsimilar negative effectsthat were similar to
those reported in earlierSLA
students often employedlearners changed(Second Language

Acquisition) research. It was also found that many

learning strategies to copeover a learning period ‑ morewith their anxiety and the perceptions ofstudents becameless nervous and got used to thenewteaching style and activitiesfor learning English in the UK

environment.

Keywords: anxiety, learning strategies,study‑abroad, communication

skillsI. INTRODUCTIONAs

our society has become

moreglobal, it has become

increasingly common

students to learn foreign languages abroad. The focus of this study is, from
ESL

classroom, Japanese students who aim to improve

one year. A number

for Japanesethe standpoint of thetheir English by staying in the UK

for nearlyof researchers have pointed out that students tend to feel fear or anxiety in thesecond language classroom(Horwitz et al.,1986; McCoy,

1979). However

there are not manystudies which focus on students in a study‑abroad context. The main purposes of thisresearch are to
examinethe language‑learning anxiety experienced by Japanese students, especially in speaking

and communicating
for managing

during their courses, and to suggest someappropriate techniques and strategies

their anxiety.On the basis of these aims, the following questions are addressed:

1. How

does anxiety affect Japanese students in the English classroom?

2. Whatkind of learning strategiesdo Japanese students use to overcome

to learning difficulties?

their anxiety related

Coping

3. Whatwith anxiety and improving

learning strategies:Japanese ESL

are the main difficultiesexperienced by teachers whenlearners in the UK

teaching English to Japanese

students?
4. Howdo teachers overcome

problems of interactionwith Japanese students?

This articleis divided into five sections.In this section, the purpose of the study is presented.
The next section considers the literatureon language learning anxiety in order to define and clarify
the relationship between

anxiety and second language

learning. Then, the research methods

tocollect and analyze data are described. The following section introduces the resultsof the study anddiscusses them with regard to the research questions. The final section presents a summary
mainof thefindings, the limitationsof thisstudy and suggestions for further research.

n. LITERATURE
2.1 Notion

REVIEWof 'anxiety' in language

A large number
and have emphasizedHorwitz

learningof studies have found that anxiety may

interfere with many

types of learning

its important role in the fields of education and psychology. For instance,

et al.(1986) stress that anxiety is a major obstacle to overcomein learning to speak anotherlanguage, although the levels of anxiety vary according to individual learners and their motivation.
However,anxiety is not necessarily only a debilitating factor which

prevents the learner fromachieving the expected goals, but it can also be a strong motivational variable,which

can stimulate

learners (Zhang, 2001). Several studies also support this positive relationship between

anxiety andsecond language achievement(1989: 115)

(Chastain, 1975; Kleinmann,

1977). In particular,Skehan

points out that "someanxiety may

determine howthese positive effectsof anxiety contribute to the totallanguage performance.

much

2.2 Anxiety in foreign language
Is there something
McCoy

be beneficial and energizing." However

it maybe difficultto

classrooms

specific about anxiety in relation to the foreign language

classroom?

(1979:185) mentions that, "students frequently enter the second language classroom

fears andanxieties." Horwitz

communication

et al. (1986)

examined

whetherwithlanguage anxiety is related toapprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation by classmates and theteacher. The results indicate that foreign language anxiety can be distinguished from other types ofanxiety and that it can have a negative effect on both the language learning process and production.
Therefore, it is worth exploring here which aspects of learning languages are the main
anxiety, whatcauses ofkinds of problems anxious students tend to suffer from in foreign language classes

and what aspects of the classroom environment

are likely to increase learners' anxiety.

2.3 Tasks which cause the most anxiety
Manystudents feel anxious whenclass (Donley, 1999). Horwitz

speaking a foreign language or being called on in language

et al. (1986) reveal that speaking publicly in the target language isextremely 'anxiety‑provoking.' Students in their study endorsed the following items (bracketing'strongly agree' and 'agree');"I startto panic when105

I have to speak without preparation in language

Kayo Yoshidaclass" (49%), "I get nervous and confused when

I am

speaking in mylanguage class" (33%), "I

always feel that the other students speak the foreign language better than I do" (31%). Theynote that anxious students tend to fear making

also

mistakes while speaking and feel frustrated about

their inabilityto present their ideas and express themselves in the target language. Price (1991)
examined

what madestudents most anxious in foreign language classes and found that speaking aforeign language in front of other students resulted in the greatest anxiety. The
feared "being laughedat" or "making

about their non‑native accent and making
lower

performancepronunciation errors.A

or course grades (Aida, 1994; Saito &significant correlation between

anxiety andperformance

numberSamimy,of studies link anxiety to1996). Many

studies found ain oral examinations(Phillips, 1992;

Young, 1986). Foss and Reitzel (1988: 438) explain the difference between
with foreign language learning and general communication

Languagelearners have

performing

in it, whereas

students mainly

fools of themselves." He also reports that students worry

the anxiety associatedanxiety:

the dual task not only of learning a second
anxious speakers in a communication

languageclassroom

but ofgenerally have

only performance concerns. In addition, second language learners may have difficulty
understanding others, a problem that usually is not common
for native speakers. Furthermore,
foreign language anxiety entails a risk to self beyond
because the speaker knows

Thusthat experienced by a native speaker

he or she cannot present the self fullyin the new language.

the anxiety experienced by native speakers of a language is not as same as that experienced by

non‑native speakers.

2.4 Japanese

students and their anxiety in language learning

Japanese

students tend to have anxiety about speaking in front of other students and they arelikely to be afraid of 'taking risks.'They

often do not speak until they are called on (Kobaet al.,

2000). This tendency of Japanese students to remain silent has been attributed to several culturalfeatures such as:･ Japanese people value harmony and avoid opposing anyone directly.
･ Japanese tend to be indirectin theircommunication.
･ Theyoften interpretfeelingsand convey a minimumof verbalmessages and a maximumofnonverbal ones, so thatthe communicator's feelingsor attitudes
are crucial.
(Ishii et al.,1978 cited in Lucas, 1984: 595)

Regarding

English educationin Japan, Lucas(1984: 594)

points out the poor

speaking ability of Japanese students and the negative aspects of "teaching methods
heavily on tightly controlled drills andexercises." Koba

teaching in Japan stillfocuses on grammar

Englishwhich

et al. (2000) also stress that English

and translation exercises, although there is more
106

rely

and

Copingmoredemandwith anxiety and improving

to improve communicative

learning strategies:Japanese ESL

learners in the UK

competence.

IH. METHOD
3.1 Questionnaires
3.1.1 Participants
Thein ESL

respondents to the survey were 35 Japanese students who

experienced learning English

classrooms in the UK. They belonged to the following two groups:

1) 21 students aged 18‑31 (average age, 19) in a one‑year foundation course at a university in
Wales
2) 14

(University W) in April, 2003. This course included 21 hours of lessons per week.

students aged 20‑35 (average age, 24) who

started a one‑year study abroad program

April, 2003. The course included pre‑sessional foundation modules
per week at a university in England

3.1.2 Procedureinand 23 hours of lessons(University E).

and design

This research was conducted at the end of May and July, 2003, in order to obtain comparativeand retrospective data. Both questionnaires were written in Japanese and included open‑ and closed‑questions. The

closed‑questions were

either "often, sometimes,Morefollowed by a four‑point rating scale, with the choices ofseldom, never" or "strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree."than half of the questions were taken from the model questionnaires introduced by Horwitz etal. (1986), Clement

et al. (1994), Oxford(1990), Gardner(1985) and Dornyei (2001). The

from the closed‑questions was entered in the statisticsprogram, SPSS
Cohen

and Manion(1994), it is reasonable to employ

data

Version 11.5. According

a statisticalsurvey whentothere are 30 or moreparticipants.

3.2 Interviews
3.2.1 ParticipantsThis survey was conductedin the same courses where the questionnaires were administered.

The interviewees were 4 native English‑speaking teachers who

were in charge of teaching English

to Japanese students and 6 Japanese students learning English.

Teachers'names
Students'names

UniversityE
UniversityW
Geoff (m),Mike (m)Helen (f),Sandra(f)Tomo (f),Miki (f),Kaori(f) Takao (m),Ken (m),Yumi (f)Figure3.2.2 Procedure

1. Participants of interviewees

and design

The interviews with the teachers were conducted in English and with the students in Japaneseon the days the questionnaires were filled in. Semi‑structured interviews were employed

to provide

an appropriate levels of flexibilityand yet keep the interview on the right track (Wallace, 1998).
Everyinterview was held individually for about 30 minutes and audio‑recorded with the permission

107Kayo Yoshidaof the interviewees. The following topics were raised in the main part of the interview:

Teachers'

interviews

Students' interviews

1. General impression of Japanese students
2. Difficultiesin teaching Japanese students

1. General impression of learning English
in the UK
2. Difficultiesin learning English

in the classroom
3. Problems and causes of the difficulties

3. Ways of dealing with the difficulties

4. Ways of dealing with the difficulties
5. Suggestions for Japanese students
6. Individual differences among students

4. Affective matters (e.g.How do you feel
when you have to speak in English in class?)
5. Activitiesin which you feel comfortable

7. Cultural differences between them and theirstudents

and confident
6. Cultural differences between them and8. Other information

their teachers
7. Suggestions for encouraging other students

Figure 2. Question topics for interviews

Retrospective versions of the interviews that were carried out in July 2003 with both teachers andstudents had almost the samecontents, but there were several additional questions concerning the

progress of the students and changes in the courses.

3.3 Observations
Observations
Eachwere carried out before the questionnaires were distributed in the classroom.

observed lesson lasted approximately

40 minutes. The

researcher used the non‑participant

type of observation and mainly took note of the following points: interactions, teacher's actions,student's actions, the use of materials,tasks and activities,and other matters (classroom settings,
environment,

atmosphere etc.).

IV. FINDINGSThis section mainly reports the results from the questionnaires which
comparesthe responses from

include 25 items andthe two different months. These questions are all closed‑ended andcategorized under the following six themes: feeling & attitudetoward second language class [Ql‑5],
speech anxiety &fear of negative evaluation [Q6‑9], managing

one's emotions[Q10&11],

confidence & comfortable feeling in the second language classroom [Q12‑16], learning with others[Q17‑19], and compensating

for missing knowledge[Q20‑25], Each

item has a four‑point rating

scale with the choices of either "strongly agree (SA), agree (A), disagree (D), strongly disagree(SD)"or "often (O), sometimes

manystudents chose each alternativeanswer.

Table

1. Theme

1:

Feeling&(So), seldom

attitude

Scale: SA A D
1. I

feel that the level of my English
May 6 15

toward(Se), never (N)." The numbers

secondlanguageclass

current English

ability.

SDclass is higher
13

than that of my
1

108

below

indicate howCoping

2. Thewith anxiety and improving

learners in the UK

way English is taught here is differentfrom that of Japan. (July: I have gotten used to the English teaching method here.)
May 9

20 6 0July 1 30
3. I

learning strategies:Japanese ESL

am

4 0

used to being taught English by native‑speaker teachers. (July: I have gotten used to being taught English by native‑

speaker teachers.)

July 10
4. I

feel it is rude

25 0 0to ask questions

while

the teacher

July 2 12
5. I

19

is speaking.

2

feelcomfortable staying quiet [not presenting my opinions] during my English class.

July 6 1415

The answers to question 1 show

0that 60%of the students (21 out of 35) feltin May

that the level of

their English class was higher than their own, but only a third of students had this feeling in July.
The majority of the students (83%) also feltin the beginning that the English teaching methodUK

was different from that in Japan [Q2]. However,used to the English teaching methodthat they wereof the students had already gottenin their courses. Similarly, well over half of the students said

used to being taught English by native‑speaker teachers in May,

students had adjusted to the new
comfortable

by July 89%

in thebut all of theteaching style by July [Q3]. In addition, the students felt lessstaying quiet during their class in July [Q5]. Yet, morethan a third of the students still

felt even in July that itwas rude to interrupt teachers with questions while they were talking [Q4].

Table

2. Theme

2: Speech

Scale: O
6. I

anxietySo̲N

I have to speak in English.

July 5 22

8 1

tend to feel that the other students
May 199. I

Seget nervous and confusedwhen I am speakingin my Englishclass.

I get uneasy when

8. I

& fear of negative evaluation

12

speak

Englishbetter than I do

3 1

am afraid thatother students might laugh at me when
May 4 9 15

I speak English.

7109

Kayo Yoshida

Accordingto the answers to questions 6 and 7, it is clear that the degree of the learners' nervousness

and uneasiness had decreased by July. For example, 40%
seldomgot nervous and confused when

students also often feltuneasy whensix students who

felt the sameof the students said in July that they

speaking, while only 14%

did so in May.

they had to speak in English in May, whereas

in July (17%). The answers to question 8 show

students often felt inferiorto other students both in May

and July. However,40%of thethere were onlythat nearly half theless than half of thestudents were worried about being laughed at by others while speaking [Q91.

Table

3. Theme
Scale:

10. I

3: Managing
O So

try to relax wheneveryouremotionsSe== N

I feel afraid of speaking English.

Mav 3 22 8

11. I

2

encourage myself to speak English even when I am afraid of making a mistake.

Responses

to these two questions indicate that students consciously tried to control their feelings inspeaking. Over

half of the students sometimes

English in both months. In addition, moretried to relax when

they felt afraid of speaking

than a third of the students often tended to encouragethemselves to speak English in spite of the possibilitiesof making mistakes.

Table 4.Theme

4: Confidence and comfortable feelingin the second language classroom

Scale: SA A D

SD

12. It doesn't
matterifImakemistakes
inspeaking
English.

13. I am the type who asks questions voluntarily in my English class.

14. I

am the type who answers voluntarily in my English class

15. I

feelcomfortable speaking English, whether working in groups or pairs.

July 7 23 5 0
16. I am sureI willbe ableto learnEnglishwell.

110Coping

According
I makewith anxiety and improving

to question 12, morelearning strategies:Japanese ESL

learners in the UK

than half of the students agreed with the item, "It doesn't matter if

mistakes in speaking English" in both months. Nevertheless, many

improve

students actively tried totheir abilitiesby voluntarily asking and answering questions [Q13&14].

The

numberofstudents that voluntarily contributed to these class activitiesincreased over the assessed time as they
got used to speaking the target language. The answers to question 15 showof the students disagreed
workingwith the statement, "I feel comfortablethat while nearly a third

speaking

in groups or pairs" in May, only a few did so in July. Furthermore,

English, whether

the majority of students(80%)

answeredin July that they were sure they would be able to learn English well [Q16].

Table

5. Theme

5: Learningwith others

Scale: O So

Se

N

17. I practiceEnglishwith my currentclassmates.
Mav 2 18

18. I

12

3

ask for help from my classmates.

19, I ask for helpfrom native‑speakerteachers.
May 7 21 70

The answers to the three questions in this part reveal that the students learned English through theassistance of other students and their teachers.Well over half of the students had the experience ofpracticing English with their classmates [Q17], and a considerable proportion of students often or
sometimes

asked for help from their classmates or their native‑speaker teachers [Q18&19].

Table 6. Theme

6: Compensating for missing knowledge

Scale: O So

Se

N

20. I guessthemeaningofunfamiliar
Englishwords.

21. I

try to anticipate what

22. Whenthe other

personwill say next in a conversation

in English

I can't think of a word during a conversation in English, I makegestures.

IllKayo Yoshida

23. IfIcan't think of an English word, I use a word or phrase that means the same thing.

24. I

make

25. I

tend to think in Japanese while speaking English.

up new words if I do not know

July 8 19

the right ones in English.

8 0

Most

students compensatedfor their insufficientknowledge

95%of the students often or sometimes

43%of the students often madeguessed the meaning

gestures whenconversation [Q22], Interestingly,the number
in Mayand July. In contrast, the number

than in May(49%)

English word. And
did not know

whoof unfamiliar English words [Q20],

they could not think of a word

during an English

of students using these strategies remained

be the case that this was due to improvement

to the answers to question 23, there were more
often used a similar wordor phrase whennearly half of the students often or sometimes

the samein theirstudents in July (63%)

they could not think of an

madeup new

words whenthey

the correct English vocabulary [Q24], Question 25 reveals that fewer students in Julyoften tended to think in Japanese while speaking English (May:43%

V.

than

of students that anticipated what the other person would

say next decreased in July [Q21]. It may
listening ability.According

by using learning strategies.More/ July:23%).

DISCUSSION
This section aims to answer

each of the research questions by focusing on key findings anddevelops the discussion by reviewing the empirical research explained above.
5.1 How

does anxiety affect Japanese

According

students in the English classrooms?

to Table 1 and Table 2, it was found that most of Japanese students got nervous

and felt uneasy when

speaking English in their classrooms. This study confirmed

the previously

reported findings (Horwitz et al, 1986), but also revealed that the level of language anxiety becamelowerover 2 months

environment.

One

as students got used to the learning styles and types of activitiesin the newof the interviewed

teachers, Mike,

pointedout that "Japaneseparticular tend to suffer from a higher level of anxiety." In fact,one student (Tomo)
difficultiesin processing and producing English when

students inmentioned

her

asking questions during classes. The need totranslate ideas and construct sentences in English within a limited time was a significant factor in
inducing

her anxiety. She also pointed out problems with paying attention to proper pronunciation,

as Price (1991) reported above. Foss and Reizel (1988) previously stressed this kind of dual tasksof learning the foreign language as well as of performing in it.However,likely to affect the level of his/her anxiety. An
whoseems a "born worrier", and mentioned

the learner's personality isinterviewed teacher, Sandra, talked about a studentthat "even when112

she performs very well, she tends toCopingworry

with anxiety and improving

about something. She may

5.2 Whatkindlearning strategies:Japanese ESL

learners in the UK

be settingher goals too high."of learning strategies do Japanese

students use to overcome

their anxiety

related to learning difficulties?
The researcher mainly focuses on the three following types of learning strategies:affective
strategies (managing

one's emotions), social strategies (learning with others) andstrategies (compensating

for missing knowledge)

was found that more than 70%(Oxford, 1990). In terms of affective strategies,itof the participants tried to relax or encourage themselves whenfelt afraid of speaking English, both in May
presented examples

compensation

and July (see. Table 3). Someinterviewed studentsof advice to prevent nervousness, such as reflecting that even if you makemistakes, you will not be punished (Yumi) or believing that nobody

will laugh at you (Miki). It wasalso found that the majority of students employedsocial strategies by asking for help fromclassmates or the English teachers (see. Table 4 &5). Regarding

seemedthey

compensation

theirstrategies,there

to be no great differences in the frequency of the use over the two‑month

period, as no

special strategy training was provided.

5.3 What

are the main

Japanesedifficultiesexperienced

teaching English to

students?

In the interviews, mostJapaneseby teachers whenteachers mentionedthat they had madestudents to speak in their class and to improve

an effort to encourage

their analytical skills.For example, Geoff

advised that it was important to sensitize students the differences between
their own

"Japanesestudents are going through the Japanesedifferences.We
aware

teacher, Sandra, reported that there was neither 'yes' or 'no' whenbe awareshe asked questions toafraid of taking the risk of revealing their ideas in her class.
causes of Japanese weaknesses

derive from their cultural and educational backgroundare likely toin addition to linguistic problems. These

were supported by the findings of Koba et al.(2000) and Lucas (1984) (see 2.4). Most

the Japanese students (over 80%)
the UKmayof these cultural difficulties
at least something called cultural bumps. "interviewed teachers considered that the main

problems

education system. They

try to sensitize students to culturallook at cultural stereotypes and cultural expectations. So the student will be

her Japanese students, and they seemedThethe educational culture ofcountry and the educational system in the UK:that the target education culture is different. We

Anothertheir

and morein which English wasoftaught inthan half of them had not gotten used to being taught English by native‑speakerteachers, especially in May
were encouraged

recognized difference in the way(see.Table 1). However,a lot by teachers' positive comments

113

some

interviewed students mentioned

and words such as "Good!"that theyor "Excellent!"

Kayo

5.4 How

do teachers overcome

problems

Yoshidaof interaction with Japanese students?

In order to improve learners' speaking and communication

skills,it has been emphasizedthatteachers need to recognize and reduce the learners' anxiety from physical, verbal and psychologicalstandpoints (Young,

1992; Donley, 1999). In fact,Mikesuggested that learning to read Japanesefacial expressions was very important for catching signals or messages in communicating
Teachers may
stammering),need

to paywith them.

attention to learners' signals of anxiety (e.g. blushing, trembling,

and to watch for anxiety‑related avoidance behaviors (e.g. skipping class, avoiding

eye contact with the teacher,and sittingin the back row (Donley, 1999).
The interviewed teachers gave further advice for reducing learners'anxiety, such as showing
models(Mike), encouraging

carefully (Geoff, Helen),the learners to speak English in the class, coping with error corrections
creating afriendly classroom

atmospherebyestablishing good

relationships with the students (Mike, Sandra), and dealing with individual differences, especiallywith quieter students (Helen, Geoff). These teaching strategies were confirmed

by observation as

effective in their classrooms of Mike and Helen.

VI. CONCLUSION
This study has explored language anxiety in study‑abroad classroom contexts by investigating
Japanese students learning English in the UK.

Thefindings of this research confirmedthat thestudents were apt to feel anxiety in speaking a foreign language, and identified the negative effects
with similar problems

and causes to those reported in earlier studies. It was also found that thestudents often employed

several learning strategies for managing

previously in Oxford (1990). The teachers' comments

their anxiety as described

concerning effectiveactivitiesand techniques

to cope with learners'anxiety were in keeping with the suggestions.
The present study revealed that the learners' anxiety was likely to change
decrease over the learning period as the students got used to the newteachers madethemselves

efforts to reduce

their anxiety. Moreand mainly

environment

toand as theirstudents felt less nervous,

encouraged

to speak English and were used to being involved in pair work or asking questions at theend of the surveyed period. In addition, this research found that Japanese students tended to have aweakness

in presenting opinions in speaking or discussion because of theirculturaland educational

experience in Japan. It is hoped that the findings in thisstudy represent a step in understanding theimpactof language anxiety of Japanese students and in developing

strategies to copewith theproblem.

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