“It’s time, put on the smile, it’s time!”: The emotional labour of second language teaching within a Japanese university.

Interest in the emotional dimension of language learning has been growing in recent years as researchers try to understand what role students’ emotions play in the complex processes involved in second language acquisition. This chapter represents a new conceptual direction within language learning research because rather than focusing on learners’ emotions, it provides an in-depth account of the emotional labour performed by instructors. Emotional labour is the forced management of one's emotions in order to conform to the social norms associated with a professional role. Teaching involves high levels of emotional labour as teachers are required to manage and display particular emotions in appropriate ways in front of students. Reflecting the dynamic and shifting nature of emotional states, the chapter draws from data collected during a series of semi-structured interviews to report upon the surface acting, deep acting and the suppression of emotions performed by a sample of language instructors teaching English within a Japanese university. As emotions are socially and culturally derived, the chapter examines issues surrounding emotional labour within intercultural contexts, and considers potential links between emotional labour, teacher stress and burnout

Fear of the true self: Social anxiety and the silent behaviour of Japanese learners of English

In recent years, scholars have attempted to account for the silent reticence of Japan’s language learners based on a range of factors such as: deficits in L2 sociolinguistic proficiency (e.g. Korst, 1997); shyness (Doyon, 2000); problems with turn-taking behaviours (Sato, 1990); resistance to an oppressive system of education (Yoneyama, 1999); or washback from university entrance exams (e.g. Brown and Yamashita, 1995). This chapter contributes a new strand in the ongoing quest to understand more about these learners’ silent behaviour by exploring the intriguing connections between L2 classroom silence and the anxiety disorder of social phobia. While there has been much significant research on the debilitating effect that anxiety has on the academic performance of speakers of English as a second/foreign language (e.g. Aida, 1994; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986; Mak, 2011; MacIntyre & Gardner, 1994; Woodrow, 2006), it seems strange that, to date, there appears to have been little or no attempt to explore the issue of L2 learner silence by drawing insights from the literature dealing with social phobia. Defined as a marked or persistent fear of specific social situations in which one is under the scrutiny of others (APA, 2000), social phobia differs from other anxiety disorders due to its emphasis on concerns regarding evaluation by others. These concerns are associated with heightened processing of the social self and a preoccupation with self-focused attention (McManus & Hirsch, 2007). Sufferers excessively self-monitor and focus on the impression they are making on others, fearing that their true self may be revealed at any moment. As these defining characteristics have a strong resonance to themes which emerged in my recent research on learner silence, this chapter examines how the findings of a large-scale, mixed methods investigation of L2 classroom silence within Japanese universities (King, 2013) relate to Clark and Wells’ (1995) cognitive model of social anxiety. Using data garnered from a series of semi-structured interviews, stimulated recalls and classroom observations, I discuss the self-focused attention, social fear beliefs and in-class safety behaviours of the Japanese learners of English who took part in the study and relate how these issues appear to significantly impact their L2 oral performance

Classroom silence and the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner: A stimulated recall study

This chapter reports on research which used a stimulated recall methodology (Gass & Mackey, 2000) in conjunction with empirical qualitative data from a series of classroom observations to explore what learners were actually thinking and feeling whilst silent episodes were in progress during their lessons. Using complex dynamic systems theory as its conceptual background, the study moves away from reductionist, single-cause explanations for learner silence and illustrates how silence emerges from multiple, and sometimes unexpected, routes. This naturalistic study helps to trace back some of the principal interrelated learner-internal and contextual attractors which draw language learners towards the seductive state of silence

An introduction to the dynamic interplay between context and the language learner

Traditionally dominant approaches in applied linguistics have tended to emphasise cognitive aspects of second language acquisition, and have placed the language learner as being largely independent from the context. This volume offers a timely challenge to this notion by bringing together a state-of-the-art collection of chapters which acknowledge that learner characteristics and behaviour are in fact dynamic and can be influenced by a multitude of competing temporal and situational factors. An international team of scholars (based in Austria, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) specialising in a range of language learning-related disciplines contribute cutting edge conceptual papers and data-based studies, making this book essential reading for graduate students, researchers and second language practitioners with an interest in psychological and social aspects of language learning

Language anxiety and learner silence in the classroom from a cognitive-behavioral perspective

Language anxiety plays a key role in language learners’ silent behaviors in class (King, 2013). Given its public nature and emphasis on interaction within it, the classroom context plays a significant role in the production of language anxiety. Anxious people are more likely to negatively appraise situations, affecting their behavior. That is, it is not just the subject content that causes anxiety, it is also the cognitive processes that occur from being in the classroom environment (Clark & Wells, 1995; Horwitz et al., 2010). King (2014) found that anxious language learners’ thoughts often contain feared predictions about the social costs of speaking in the classroom and worries about how peers might negatively evaluate performance. These fears about external factors contribute to learners becoming inhibited and using silence to avoid the discomfort of speaking. Also, while anxious learners tend to have content-specific concerns, for example, making mistakes, self-focused thoughts are often intensified by contextual factors, such as interacting with peers (Gregersen & Horwitz, 2002). This article looks at the relationship between language anxiety and silent behavior from a cognitive-behavioral perspective, emphasizing how the dynamic interplay between an individual learner and the classroom context can result in even the most motivated and proficient learners missing opportunities to develop their language skills through target-language interaction.</p

‘The Silence Kills Me.’: ‘Silence’ as a Trigger of Speaking-Related Anxiety in the English-Medium Classroom

Classroom interpersonal dynamics play a key role in shaping the interactional profiles of language learners and the development of their speaking skills. However, it can be challenging for learners to navigate social interactions with classmates, especially if they lack confidence in their L2 self. This is especially true for first-year undergraduates in Japan who often struggle to adapt to unfamiliar communicative language lessons taught in the target language. King’s (2013) examination of learner silence established a connection between low oral participation, anxiety, and social inhibition. In some cases, however, silence is not just a non-verbal cue of speaking-related anxiety (Maher & King, 2020); it can also be a contributing factor to avoiding talk. Using King’s (2014) cognitive-behavioural model of silent L2 learners’ anxiety, this paper examines how ‘silence’ can trigger speaking-related anxiety in Japanese university English-medium classrooms. The study used a cognitive-behavioural theory (CBT)-based approach to gain insights into students’ perceptions of their in-class behaviours. Forty-five semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 participants using an interview schedule based on a CBT formulation to explore students’ silent behaviour, associated thoughts and feelings, and behavioural triggers. Multiple recurrent forms of classroom ‘silence’ reported by the participants included using Japanese when English was expected, finishing speaking turns quickly, and taking on the listener role rather than initiating discourse. The findings reveal ‘silence’ as a trigger of speaking-related anxiety. The discomfort some participants felt during a display of ‘silence’ seemed to trigger a fear of being negatively evaluated by classmates, leading to self-doubt about their language proficiency and social performance. These findings contribute further insights into the causes of speaking-related anxiety and learner ‘silence’. Our study points towards using CBT-based approaches to improve speaking confidence by increasing learners’ awareness of their anxiety triggers.</p

Teacher Frustration and Emotion Regulation in University Language Teaching

Few jobs come without irritations, and foreign language instruction comes with its own particular set of frustrations which, when accumulated, can lead to stress and eventual burnout for teachers. One mechanism for reducing such frustrations is that of emotion regulation, the cognitive and behavioral strategies individuals employ to manage the emotions they experience or display. To date, no known studies have reported specifically on the in-class frustration experienced by language teachers, or on how teachers regulate their feelings of frustration. Herein, the authors discuss the experiences of seven EFL teachers at a university in Japan obtained through a series of semistructured interviews, classroom observations and corresponding stimulated-recall sessions. The authors discuss four salient thematic frustrations: student apathy, classroom silence, misbehavior in the context of relational strain, and working conditions. The results reveal that participants applied contextually-dependent emotion regulation behaviors, the success of which was often contingent on the participants’ levels of confidence and control over the stressors. Thus, participants showed more success in managing pervasive low-level stressors such as apathy and silence, and more support would be welcome to aid them to manage more debilitating stressors such as student misbehavior. The authors offer suggestions for teachers, trainers and institutions on reducing frustration

A dynamic systems approach to wait time in the second language classroom

This study discusses how wait time—the silent pause after a teacher elicits a student response—alters classroom discourse. Previous wait time research suggests overall positive changes in both teacher and student discourse where wait time is over 1 s. However, such studies are primarily structuralist in nature and tend to reduce the intricacy of classroom behavior to distinct variables, which can be easily altered to achieve a desired result. The data presented here comes from a series of structured observations of a UK university postgraduate L2 classroom. The findings were as follows: 1) Wait time played an intricate role in determining classroom discourse patterns and heavily favored an IRF turn-taking sequence; 2) student-initiated discourse was low in all observations and favored higher proficiency students; 3) the length of individual student-initiated turns appears to have been more important than the overall number of student-initiated turns in determining the quality of classroom discourse and was not directly related to changes in wait time length; 4) extended wait time (over 2 s in length) temporarily shifted discourse out of an IRF pattern and into a new, more student-driven phase. While previously thought of as only a pedagogical tool to increase student speech, wait time is shown to be a phenomenon which develops and changes with the composite forces that affect other aspects of classroom discourse

Talk, silence and anxiety during one-to-one tutorials: A cross cultural comparative study of Japan and UK undergraduates' tolerance of silence

This paper discusses the issue of tolerance of silence within university tutorials from a cross-cultural, comparative perspective. A mixed methods, quasi-experimental approach was employed to measure the length of silence which individual students from samples in Japan and the UK tolerated during a one-to-one staged encounter with their instructor. The comparison groups consisted of two first-year intact classes, one in Japan (n = 20) and one in the UK (n = 15), both of whom were studying for a Bachelor degree in English. During the tutorial encounter, the instructor refrained from speech from a set point in the meeting. Participants’ reactions to the period of silence which ensued were examined in detail using non-verbal coding and their length of silence tolerance was measured precisely. Contrary to the popular notion of the silent ‘East’ versus the garrulous ‘West’, the study’s quantitative findings revealed there was no significant difference in the length of silence students from both groups could tolerate during tutorials. Furthermore, self-reported feelings of discomfort during the silence were relatively high for both Japanese and UK participants, but length of silence was not found to be correlated with degree of discomfort. Qualitative data were collected from retrospective interviews examining what participants were thinking and feeling whilst the silent encounter was in progress. Testimony illustrating acute feelings of anxiety on the part of both UK and Japanese students was the primary theme to emerge in this phase of data collection. We propose the construct situational silence anxiety to describe such feelings of apprehension during situated encounters in which talk is expected but does not occur

Scaling the apex of engagement: Anxious language learners’ positive flow experiences during speaking tasks

No description supplie