The nature of foreign language anxiety in elementary immersion program graduates

Abstract

This mixed methods study approached the issue of foreign language (FL) anxiety in a unique population of students in the U.S.: English-dominant students who had attended French or Spanish elementary immersion schools. One hundred thirty-one students from five immersion schools responded to surveys, and 33 of those students were interviewed. Data analysis procedures included a statistical analysis of the surveys, a theme analysis of the interviews, and an integrated consideration of the findings. It was found that the immersion students did experience some FL anxiety, but it was largely dependent on the situation and mediated by other aspects of being language learners. Their FL anxiety did not correlate with their decision whether or not to continue with the immersion program. Implications include a need to reexamine the importance of extracurricular learning experiences in immersion education, and a suggestion to expand FL anxiety research to different educational and methodological contexts.