ICTs for language learning anxiety in pre-service teachers

Abstract Early childhood educators are increasingly expected to incorporate foreign language skills into their classrooms, but teacher training for these skills lags behind, both in terms of pedagogy and language proficiency. Perhaps as a result, one barrier to early childhood educators’ spoken use of foreign language in the classroom is language learning anxiety, which seems to be more associated with oral production in class. This mixed-method study of two groups of pre-service teachers examines their speaking anxiety pre and post 5 weeks of a module on English language teaching for early childhood education that was given in English. The two groups, otherwise similar, showed different starting levels of anxiety, and in how they responded to oral practice: the group recording short digital videos significantly decreased their anxiety, while the other group increased their anxiety. Qualitative data supported these results with interesting detail. The results have implications for PST programs in foreign languages, importantly the need to offer private oral practice alongside interactive practice.