Fostering Environments to Support Students with Second Language Anxiety and Stress

This thesis capstone project aims to explore the impacts of language anxiety and different ways teachers can foster supportive environments for language learners. Research identified several problems language learners encounter that increase anxiety, including lower achievement, low language confidence, poor perception of language speaking, lack of intrinsic motivation, and having negative classroom experiences. To help mitigate several of these problems, teachers can be equipped with different teaching strategies to support students’ language learning and emotional wellbeing. Strategies include social-emotional learning, creating positive interactions, utilizing cooperative learning, building confidence through scaffolded instruction, and translanguaging skills. With implementation of different pedagogical techniques, language learners will experience lower stress and anxiety, resulting in higher academic achievement and language proficiency. Therefore, professional development can be utilized to support teachers in learning about the problem anxiety poses to language learners and strategies they can implement to support their students in achieving higher proficiency and reducing anxiety.

Grantor dc:publisher

SUNY Brockport Department of Education and Human Development

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kreutter, Emily

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Altalouli, Mahmoud

• English language learners
• language anxiety
• social-emotional learning
• translanguaging
• professional development

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/83194

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:soar.suny.edu:20.500.12648/83194