Abstract:

This qualitative study explores cross-cultural aspects of language learning anxiety through the episodic experiences that seven Japanese L2 learners of English have encountered in various socio-cultural contexts in the U.S. By focusing on Japanese ESL learners, this study examines how their cultural background influences the ways in which they perceive and interpret the phenomenon through their “emic” point of view. In order to gain full access to the participants’ self-reflective accounts of language anxiety experiences, this study utilized in-depth personal/group interviews as a primary data source with the researcher serving as a collaborative interpreter of the stories told, so that meaning can be co-constructed through the processes of continuous dialogue with the narrative data collected. The stories of the participants unfolded themselves while revealing their personally unique yet culturally infiltrated accounts of anxiety experiences encountered in the processes of learning a second language and culture in the U.S. In other words, not only does each case report represents the participants’ individually different perspectives on the phenomenon of language anxiety, but also it is inevitably laced with their cultural overtones that speak of their shared voice or identity as the Japanese.

The salient cultural themes that emerged through the entire research processes were:
1) the concept of face and
2) the value of harmony in human relationships, and these themes were closely examined as quite relevant to the formation of their psychological conflicts or dilemmas in the midst of learning a second language and culture (i.e., needs to acculturate vs needs to preserve one’s cultural identity).

In their daily attempts to learn to use their second language in various social contexts, differences in value orientations between the U.S. and Japan may have been brought to their consciousness as a painful realization of the gaps between “what they need or want to do and what they can actually do in their second language.” By referring to the participants’ narrative accounts, the paper will also discuss some pedagogical suggestions for language teachers, along with implications for further research.

Keywords:

Psychology of Language Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Qualitative Research, Interview-Based Research, Cross-cultural Studies.