Foreign language anxiety in teachers

In the 2013 Course of Study for senior high schools, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) mandated that English should be taught, wherever possible, through the medium of English. Against this backdrop, we investigated the experiences of foreign language anxiety (FLA) among 15 Japanese teachers of English in relation to their teaching practices and beliefs. The findings, from interviews, questionnaires, and self-reflections, indicate that experiences of FLA among participants stem from two broad categories of factors. The first is the teachers' conceptualisation of their own role as teachers; the second concerns their perception of student needs and expectations. We examined the findings in the context of Borg's (2006) framework of Language Teacher Cognition and developed a preliminary model of FLA among this group of language teachers. Using this model, we outline ways in which anxiety related to English use in the classroom could be alleviated.