Perceptions of social and contextual factors in a Lebanese vocational language program -

Abstract

The affective factor of anxiety has been found to significantly hinder the language learning process although the nature of foreign language anxiety (FLA) has yet to be agreed upon. The purpose of this project was to investigate the personal and contextual factors including foreign language anxiety that adults in a Lebanese working class vocational language program perceived to influence language learning process. In Phase One, 43 students were asked to fill out a background questionnaire and a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986). In Phase Two, students were randomly selected to participate in focus groups which were separated into low-, medium- and high-anxiety levels based on their score on the FLCAS. A total of 18 adult students from Lebanon, Syria, Morocco and Iraq participated. Grounded-Theory was used to analyze the transcripts and a theoretical model of perceived factors was generated. Findings of the study suggested that Foreign Language Anxiety and Achievement were outcomes of other variables of the language learning process. Achievement was perceived as a direct, bidirectional source of Foreign Language Anxiety. Language Aptitude and Leaner’s Family and Friends had indirect, bidirectional relationships with Achievement. Remote factors included Comparison with Peers, Class Arrangements, Influence of L1, Learning Strategies, Motivation, Influence of School Systems on Foreign Language Learning, Test Types and Preparation, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teacher Characteristics and Methodology, Curriculum and Gender. Learner’s Family and Friends was interpreted o be a substantial finding as it did not exist in the Yan and Horwitz (2008) model of the Chinese context. This exploratory study helped fill the significant knowledge gap due to the scarcity of FLA literature in the Lebanese context; to the author’s knowledge no such study on adult foreign language education has been conducted in Lebanon.