This book traces and summarises theoretical insights and empirical findings on the topic of whether or not anxiety for language learning could be a causal variable for individual differences in language learning. The author brings together three decades of research to show that first language (L1) skills and second language (L2) aptitude are confounding variables in studies of language anxiety and that learners’ levels of anxiety for L2 learning are strongly related to their levels of language achievement. These findings have suggested that language anxiety instruments reflect students’ (accurate) self-perceptions of their language skills and their levels of L1 achievement and L2 aptitude, but don’t reflect their anxiety. The research presented in this book holds the potential to change the ways in which L2 educators and researchers think about language anxiety, how language anxiety is assessed, how investigations into language anxiety are conducted and how L2 teachers respond to anxiety in the classroom.
Prelude: A Cautionary Tale about Causal Explanations
Richard L. Sparks: Introduction and Overview
Part 1: Theoretical Insights into Language Anxiety: Is Language Anxiety Related to Students’ Levels of L1 Achievement, L2 Aptitude, and L2 Achievement?
Chapter 1. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: Foreign Language Learning Differences: Affective or Native Language Aptitude Differences?
Chapter 2. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: A Strong Inference Approach to Causal Factors in Foreign Language Learning: A Response to MacIntyre
Chapter 3. Richard L. Sparks, Leonore Ganschow, Reed Anderson, James Javorsky, Sue Skinner and Jon Patton: Differences in Language Performance among High-, Average-, and Low-Anxious College Foreign Language Learners
Chapter 4. Leonore Ganschow and Richard L. Sparks: Anxiety about Foreign Language Learning among High School Women
Chapter 5. Richard L. Sparks, Leonore Ganschow, Marge Artzer, David Siebenhar and Mark Plageman: Language Anxiety and Proficiency in a Foreign Language
Part 2: Do L2 Anxiety Scales Measure Anxiety or Language Ability?: Evidence from a 10 Year Longitudinal Study
Chapter 6. Richard L. Sparks and Leonore Ganschow: Is the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) Measuring Anxiety or Language Skills?
Chapter 7. Richard L. Sparks and Jon Patton: Relationship of L1 Skills and L2 Aptitude to L2 Anxiety on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale
Part 3: L2 Reading Anxiety and Language Achievement: Déjà vu All Over Again?
Chapter 8. Richard L. Sparks, Leonore Ganschow and James Javorsky: Déjà Vu All over Again: A Response to Saito, Horwitz and Garza
Chapter 9. Richard L. Sparks, Julie Luebbers, Martha Castañeda and Jon Patton: High School Spanish Students and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety: Déjà vu All Over Again All Over Again
Chapter 10. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton and Julie Luebbers: L2 Anxiety and the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS): Listening to the Evidence
Part 4: Is L2 Anxiety a Causal Variable for L2 Learning? Evidence from Studies Using Structural Equation Modeling and Latent Growth Curve Modeling
Chapter 11. Richard L. Sparks and Abdullah Alamer: Long-Term Impacts of L1 Language Skills on L2 Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Language Aptitude and L2 Achievement
Chapter 12. Richard L. Sparks and Abdullah Alamer: How Does First Language Achievement Impact Second Language Reading Anxiety?
Chapter 13. Richard L. Sparks and Abdullah Alamer: It’s Not Anxiety that Predicts L2 Writing Growth, it’s L1 Writing Achievement: The Latent Growth Curve Model Approach
Part 5: Other Issues, Other Voices on Language Anxiety
Chapter 14. Benjamin J. Lovett: General Problems with Anxiety Explanations: The Case of Test Anxiety
Chapter 15. Ekaterina Sudina: Measurement Issues in L2 Anxiety Research
Chapter 16. Abdullah Alamer: The Mirage of Cause-and-Effect in Cross-Sectional Data: The Case of Language Anxiety Research
Richard L. Sparks: Conclusions and Implications: Is L2 Anxiety a Viable Concept?
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