A cultural context for language anxiety

Since anxiety is known to have a harmful effect on language learning and performance, a good deal of research has been devoted to it in recent years. Yet very few studies have referred to culture as a causal factor in language anxiety. This enquiry proposes an association between low proficiency and fear of negative evaluation as an immediate cause of language anxiety in a great number of learners and argues that it is threat to face that makes such negative evaluation hard to endure, 'face' being a cultural concept. The article concludes with a reaffirmation of contemporary approaches as a general treatment for language anxiety.