Filipino Teachers' Foreign Language Fluency Anxiety in the United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14881284Keywords:
Foreign Language Anxiety, English Proficiency, Teacher Migration, English as Second and Foreign LanguageAbstract
The descriptive correlational study examines 50 Filipino teachers' foreign language fluency anxiety levels in the US for school year 2021-2022 and how socio-demographic factors affect performance. This use a modified 30-item questionnaire from the standardized questionnaire on Foreign Language Teaching Anxiety by Selami Aydin and Ozgehan Ustuk (2020). Mean interpretation, frequency and percentage distribution, and ANOVA were used to treat the data. Female educators aged 31–35, mostly teachers, dominated the study. These teachers had one year of experience and earned 100,000–200,000 per month. This study found that Filipino teachers have variable foreign language fluency anxiety levels. Teachers were anxious about making mistakes and meeting new students when assessing their language proficiency. Results found that teaching inexperience increased stress when students did not participate in class discussions. The research also shows that student disinterest intensifies foreign language fluency anxiety, with many teachers disappointed by negative student behavior. Teachers typically experience stress when unprepared for class and lack the materials or planning to prepare for discussions, contributing to stress. The study also found age-related relationships between language proficiency self-perception and time difficulties with management. While their positions greatly influenced their self-perception of language proficiency, language barriers differed by duration of service and time difficulties with management. These findings demonstrate the complexity of foreign language fluency anxiety among Filipino US instructors and the need to overcome it to improve their teaching through targeted interventions, seeking mentorship and joining professional development programs.
References
Barker, S., & Härtel, C. E. (2014). Intercultural service encounters: An exploratory study of customer experiences. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 11(1), 3-14.
Bartels, N. (2015). Applied linguistics and language teacher education: What we know (pp. 405-424). Springer US.
Bartholomew, K. J., Ntoumanis, N., Ryan, R., Bosch, J. A., and Thøgersen-Ntoumani, C. (2011). Self-determination theory and diminished functioning: the role of interpersonal control and psychological need thwarting. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull., 37, 1459–1473. doi: 10.1177/0146167211413125
Bartlett, L. (2014). Migrant teachers: How American schools import labor. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Books, S., & de Villiers, R. (2014). Importing educators and redefining what it means to be a teacher in the U.S. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 11(2). Retrieved from http://www.jceps.com/archives/428
Brannen, M. Y., & Doz, Y. L. (2012). Corporate languages and strategic agility: trapped in your jargon or lost in translation?. California Management Review, 54(3), 77-97.
Brannen, M. Y., Piekkari, R., & Tietze, S. (2017). The multifaceted role of language in international business: Unpacking the forms, functions and features of a critical challenge to MNC theory and performance. Language in international business: Developing a field, 139-162.
Caravatti, M. (2015). The business of international teacher recruitment. Bildung und Erziehung, 68(4), 445-455.
Carr, D. (2013). The effects of teacher preparation programs on novice teachers regarding classroom management, academic preparation, time management and self-efficacy. Liberty University.
Choi, S. J., (2017). The experiences of non-native English speaking teachers and their professional identity constructions in an ESL context. Retrieved from https://searchproquestcomopenview/ a668ef6cd dda5fb012ce7977b14cfd52/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Chovancová, B. (2014). Needs analysis and ESP course design: Self-perception of language needs among pre-service students. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric, 38(1), 43-57.
Dewaele, J. M., & Alfawzan, M. (2018). Does the effect of enjoyment outweigh that of anxiety in foreign language performance? Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 21–45. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.1.2
First, E., & Index, E. E. P. (2016). Education First ltd. Lucerne, Switzerland.
Furuya, Y., Nooradini, M., Wang, W., & Waslin, M. (2019). A portrait of foreign-born teachers. George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research. Retrieved from https://iir.gmu.edu/articles/12824
Gallego, M. J., Botella, C., Quero, S., Baños, R. M., and García-Palacios, A. (2007). Psychometric properties of the Brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) in a clinical sample]. Rev. Psicopatol. Psicol. Clín., 12, 163–176. doi: 10.5944/rppc.vol.12.num.3.2007.4042
Gardner, R. C. (2011). Integrative motivation and second language acquisition. Motivation and second language acquisition, 23(1), 1-19.
Ge, X., & Hardre, P. L. (2010). Self-processes and learning environment as influences in the development of expertise in instructional design. Learning Environments Research, 13 (1), 23-41.
Hartmann, T., Zahner, L., Pühse, U., Schneider, S., Puder, J. J., and Kriemler, S. (2010). Physical activity, bodyweight, health and fear of negative evaluation in primary school children. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports, 20, e27–e34.
Horwitz, E. K. (2008). Becoming a language teacher: A practical guide to second language learning and teaching (2nd ed.). Pearson.
Horwitz, E. K. (2010). Foreign and second language anxiety. Language Teaching, 43(2), 154–167. https://doi.org/10.1017/ S026144480999036X
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern Language Journal, 70, 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1986.tb05256.x
Huéscar, H. E., and Moreno-Murcia, J. A. (2017). Autonomy support among students, perceived stress and fear of negative evaluation: relationships with satisfaction with life]. Behav. Psychol., 25, 517–528.
Imberti, P. (2017). Who resides behind the words? Exploring and understanding the language experience of the non-English-speaking immigrant. Families in society, 88(1), 67-73.
İpek, H. (2016). A qualitative study on foreign language teaching anxiety. Journal of Qualitative Research in Education, 4(3), 92–105. https://doi.org/10.14689/issn.2148-2624.1.4c3s5m
Jia, Y., (2014). English as a second language teachers’ perceptions and use of classroom- based reading assessment (Doctoral dissertation). Texas A&M University. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist. psu. edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.117.2184&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Katz, J., & Pesetsky, D. (2011). The identity thesis for language and music. Manuscript, January.
Kini, T., & Podolsky, A. (2016). Does Teaching Experience Increase Teacher Effectiveness? A Review of the Research. Learning Policy Institute.
Kralova, Z., & Tirpakova, A. (2019). Nonnative EFL teachers’ speaking anxiety: Post-communist country context. SAGE Open, 9(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019846698
Kunt, N., & Tüm, D. Ö. (2010). Non-native student teachers’ feelings of foreign language anxiety. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 4672–4676. https://doi.org/10.1016 /j.sbspro.2010.03.748
Laroche FRSC, M., Papadopoulos, N., Heslop, L., & Bergeron, J. (2013). Effects of subcultural differences on country and product evaluations. Journal of Consumer Behaviour: An International Research Review, 2(3), 232-247.
Lauring, J. (2018). Rethinking social identity theory in international encounters: Language use as a negotiated object for identity making. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 8(3), 343-361.
Lee, M., Schutz, A. P., & Vlack, S. (2015). Non-native English-speaking teachers’ anxieties and insecurities: Self-perceptions of their communicative limitations. In M. Agudo & J. D. Dios (Eds.), Native and non-native teacher in English language classroom (pp.119-138). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter.
Leong, L. M., & Ahmadi, S. M. (2017). An analysis of factors influencing learners’ English speaking skill.
Levinson, S. C., Kita, S., Haun, D. B., & Rasch, B. H. (2012). Returning the tables: Language affects spatial reasoning. Cognition, 84(2), 155-188.
Liu, M., & Jackson, J. (2008). An exploration of Chinese EFL learners' unwillingness to communicate and foreign language anxiety. The modern language journal, 92(1), 71-86.
Liu, M., & Xiangming, L. (2019). Changes in and effects of anxiety on English test performance in Chinese postgraduate EFL classrooms. Education Research International, vol. 2019, Article ID 7213925. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/7213925
Liu, M., & Yan, Y. (2020). Anxiety and stress in in-service Chinese university teachers of arts. International Journal of Higher Education, 9(1), 237–248. http://ijhe.sciedupress.com
Liu, T. (2023). Effective cooperative strategies for teaching primary school English reading in China.
Machida, T. (2015). Japanese elementary school teachers and English language anxiety. TESOL Journal, 7(1), 40–66. https:// doi.org/10.1002/tesj.189
MacIntyre, P. D. (2017). An overview of language anxiety research and trends in its development. New insights into language anxiety: Theory, research and educational implications, 11-30.
Mars, L., Castillo, I., López-Walle, J., and Balaguer, I. (2017). Controlling coach style, basic psychological need thwarting and ill-being in soccer players. Rev. Psicol. Deporte, 26, 119–124.
McCrudden, M. T., Schraw, G., Lehman, S., & Poliquin, A. (2017). The effect of causal diagrams on text learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32(3), 367-388.
McLeod, S. A. (2014). Lev Vygotsky. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html
Mecheo, K. N. (2016). The effect of employee cultural diversity on organizational performance: a case study of Oilybia-Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
Miller, P. (2011). Theories of developmental psychology (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
Molina, J., Chorot, P., and Sandín, B. (2017). Fear of negative evaluation and self-esteem as predictors of sport performance: the mediational role of anxiety and self-confidence states]. RICYDE, 13, 381–396. doi: 10.5232/ricyde2017.05005
Moloi, L. (2019). Exploring the perceptions of English second language teachers about learner self-assessment in the secondary school. University of Pretoria. Retrieved from https:// repository.up.ac.za/bitstream /handle/2263/27828/dissertation.pdf?sequence=1
Moussu, L., & Llurda, E. (2018). Non-native English-speaking English language teachers: History and research. Language Teaching, 41(3), 315–348.
Namaziandost, E., Homayouni, M., & Rahmani, P. (2020). The impact of cooperative learning approach on the development of EFL learners’ speaking fluency. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 7(1), 1780811.
Oo, T. Z., Habók, A., & Józsa, K. (2023). Empowering Educators to Sustain Reflective Teaching Practices: The Validation of Instruments. Sustainability, 15, 7640.
Osborn, D. Z. (2016). African languages and information and communication technologies: Literacy, access, and the future. In Selected proceedings of the 35th annual conference on African linguistics (pp. 86-93). Summerville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Qorbanpoor, L. A., Samady, B. D., and Rezaei, S. (2020). The Effectiveness of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) on Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) and Social Adjustment in Female Students with Social Phobia. Int. J. Psychol., 14, 192–226. doi: 10.24200/ijpb.2020.170331.1086
Renninger, K. A., Hidi, S., Krapp, A., & Renninger, A. (2014). The role of interest in learning and development. Psychology Press.
Renninger, K., & Hidi, S. E. (2019). Interest development and learning.
Ridgers, N. D., Fazey, D. M., and Fairclough, S. J. (2007). Perceptions of athletic competence and fear of negative evaluation during physical education. Br. J. Educ. Psychol., 77, 339–349. doi: 10.1348/026151006X128909
Riege, A. (2015). Three‐dozen knowledge‐sharing barriers managers must consider. Journal of knowledge management, 9(3), 18-35.
Ryan, R. M., and Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemp. Educ. Psychol., 61:101860. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
Samaras, K., Lutgers, H. L., Kochan, N. A., Crawford, J. D., Campbell, L. V., Wen, W., ... & Sachdev, P. S. (2014). The impact of glucose disorders on cognition and brain volumes in the elderly: the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. Age, 36, 977-993.
Scott, S., & Palincsar, A. (2013). Sociocultural theory. Education.com. Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/sociocultural-theory/
Song, L., Singleton, E. S., Hill, J. R., & Koh, M. H. (2014). Improving online learning: Student perceptions of useful and challenging characteristics. The internet and higher education, 7(1), 59-70.
Srakang, L., & Jansem, A. (2014). A Study of teachers’ perceptions toward using English textbooks: A case study of 10th grade English teachers in Maha Sarakham province. Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand.
Tharp, R. (2001). Roland Tharp. Teaching English Language Learners (TELL). Retrieved from http://education.byu.edu/tell/transcriptions/march_2001/roland_tharp.html
Tobias, S. (1979). Anxiety research in educational psychology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 71(5), 573–582.
Tum, D. O. (2014). Foreign language anxiety’s forgotten study: The case of the anxious preservice teacher. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 627–658. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.190
Uytico, B. J., &Abadiano, M. N. (2020). Teachers‟ Tales: In - depth Exploration on Experiences of Millennial Filipino Teachers Abroad. Journal of Critical Reviews, 7 (17), 1952 - 1960.
Welch, D., Welch, L., & Piekkari, R. (2015). Speaking in tongues: The importance of language in international management processes. International Studies of Management & Organization, 35(1), 10-27.
Worman, D. A. (2016). The metapragmatics of saying in Sierra Leone Krio theatre. In Proceedings of 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Xiao, Y. (2013). The relationship between learners’ anxiety and speaking performance on EFL classroom. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(9), 1623–1628. https://doi.org/10.4304 /tpls.3.9.1623-1628
Xuan, L. (2017). The Impact of Oral Corrective Feedback on Student Motivation in the EFL Classroom. Journal of Educational Research, 1(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.26555/jer-vol1no4-2017
Yılmaz, M. (2016). Using technology to enhance students' language proficiency: A review of notable CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) tools. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (3rd ed., pp. 2406-2417). IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-9619-8.ch231
Yoon, S. H. (2019). Cross-cultural Adaptation Experience of North Korean Female Refugees in South Korea. University of Central Florida. Retrieved from http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0007031/Yoon_SayHyang_2019_thesis.pdf
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Lea Ann A. Apura (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.