Abstract
This study explored the association between Foreign Language Anxiety and sustained attention during two conversation tasks. Participants were twenty-nine EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners who completed a role play task in a classroom practice condition and a real-world situated condition. Attention levels were measured using Neurosky’s EEG headset during the task. Self-perceived language anxiety was measured using questionnaire after the task. Correlation analyzes show there was a negative correlation between attention levels and states of language anxiety in the classroom practice condition but there was a positive correlation between attention levels and states of language anxiety in the real-world situated condition. Findings suggest that students who experience low anxiety tend to sustain better attention during the language task; however, their attention can be enhanced when they feel more anxiety resulting from a more challenging task. Implications for language instructors and system developers are discussed.
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Chang, HC., Fang, WC., Yang, BH., Luo, BR., Chew, S.W., Chen, NS. (2017). Examining the Relationships between Foreign Language Anxiety and Attention during Conversation Tasks. In: Popescu, E., et al. Innovations in Smart Learning. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2419-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2419-1_1
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