Second Language Anxiety

Richard L. Sparks is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Graduate Education at Mount St. Joseph University, USA. His research interests include L2 aptitude, L1-L2 relationships, language and learning disabilities, and foreign language anxiety, and he has published extensively in foreign language and learning disability journals. He is the author of Exploring L1-L2 Relationships: The Impact of Individual Differences (Multilingual Matters, 2022).

This book sheds new light on anxiety as an independent, dependent, or intervening variable in interaction with many others, predicting both learning and communication processes. It is a welcome addition to the individual differences literature that tends to focus on aptitude and motivation.

• AcknowledgmentsPrelude: A Cautionary Tale about Causal ExplanationsRichard L. Sparks: Introduction and OverviewPart 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 MacIntyreChapter 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 LearnersChapter 4. Leonore Ganschow and Richard L. Sparks: Anxiety about Foreign Language Learning among High School WomenChapter 5. Richard L. Sparks, Leonore Ganschow, Marge Artzer, David Siebenhar and Mark Plageman: Language Anxiety and Proficiency in a Foreign LanguagePart 2: Do L2 Anxiety Scales Measure Anxiety or Language Ability?: Evidence from a Ten-Year Longitudinal StudyChapter 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 ScalePart 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 GarzaChapter 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 AgainChapter 10. Richard L. Sparks, Jon Patton and Julie Luebbers: L2 Anxiety and the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS): Listening to the EvidencePart 4: Is L2 Anxiety a Causal Variable for L2 Learning? Evidence from Studies Using Structural Equation Modeling and Latent Growth Curve ModelingChapter 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 AchievementChapter 12. Richard L. Sparks and Abdullah Alamer: How Does First Language Achievement Impact Second Language Reading Anxiety? Exploration of Mediator VariablesChapter 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 ApproachPart 5: Other Issues, Other Voices on Language Anxiety Chapter 14. Benjamin J. Lovett: General Problems with Anxiety Explanations: The Case of Test AnxietyChapter 15. Ekaterina Sudina: Scale Quality in L2 Anxiety Research: Issues and ChallengesChapter 16. Abdullah Alamer: The Mirage of Cause-and-Effect in Cross-Sectional Data: The Case of Language Anxiety ResearchRichard L. Sparks: Conclusions and ImplicationsAppendicesReferencesIndex