Non-linguistic Factors in Classroom Foreign Language Performance

Marya Tsvetkova
University of Sofia (Bulgaria)

Abstract. Applied linguistics has come under the sway of two seemingly antithetic views – one prioritizing the social, the other – bringing to the fore the individual dimension. The present paper is aimed at revisiting foreign language evaluation from a dialectical perspective which allows for providing insights into the role of affective factors. It reports on a socially-situated investigation of language performance that accounts for students’ motivation and anxiety conceived of here as symbolic resources. A total of 50 high-school learners of English filled in R. Gardner’s Attitude / Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) at two points in time and participated in a quasi-experimental study. A pretest – posttest control group design was employed. The findings furnish evidence of the significant effect of increasing L2 motivation and alleviating anxiety on classroom L2 achievement.
Keywords: foreign language performance; motivation; anxiety; task-based assessment; sociocultural approach

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