Foreign Language Anxiety in the EFL Class: Consequences and Strategies

Abstract

[eng] The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 has shaken the reality and normality of our daily lives. The epidemiological situation has brought to light, however, several problems with regard to the educational word that had been ignored so far. The following thesis presents an initial study of the effects of foreign language anxiety as well as the direct consequences that can be observed in classrooms. This piece of work also presents a teaching proposal, focusing on strategies, to alleviate the negative effects and to address this two-year break in routine in order to counteract the deficiencies that can be observed in the students. During a two-month stay at a secondary school in Mallorca, the need and urgency of this study could be verified. Then, from a series of questionnaires, which were done in the IES Binissalem school to students in the second year of ESO, on the levels of anxiety and shyness in the English classroom and the use and resource of language learning strategies, it has been possible to propose a didactic proposal, focusing on strategies, to minimize and reduce the levels of these psychological factors.