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Why is it so hard to speak English sometimes?
publication date: Sep 15, 2009
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author/source: Jason West
This came as
shock to me some time ago but when I thought about it I realised that it is
just like an actress freezing on stage or a footballer missing a vital
penalty.
The human brain can operate well whilst experiencing high levels of anxiety, even stress. In fact, a little stress is good for performance. Rugby commentators say that someone is 'up for it' and really mean that the player is at the optimal level of nervous stimulation to perform at their very best. 
But it is a
fine line that we all tread when the adrenalin kicks in. That feeling of
nervous anxiety and anticipation coursing through our veins is often the
difference between doing something well and not doing it properly at all. However, under-stimulation is not the only way you and I can fail to perform.
Over-stimulation,
or over anxiety about what we are about to try and do can get so powerful that
beyond a certain point our performance drops like a stone and we fail
miserably. We miss the crucial injury time penalty, we lose our temper
and get sent off, and when we are put on the spot we fluff our lines or
forget what to say completely.
Some
scientists have even created a law, the Yerkes-Dodson law that explains the
relationship between arousal and performance. Over arousal for a task such as
speaking a foreign language without the right mental preparation and support
can lead to a complete drop-off in performance and the memory will falter.
Check out the wikipedia entry on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes-Dodson_law
This anxiety
or stress when trying to speak has another name, lathophobic aphasia, which is
defined as the failure to speak a new language for fear of making a
mistake. Sound familiar anyone?
Mario
Rinvolucri wrote about it in an IATEFL newsletter a few years ago. Lathophobic aphasia
is a term that Earl Stevick used and adapted to describe his experiences of
trying to speak foreign languages. The fear of making mistakes is also linked
to the issue of correction and Stevick wrote an article for
IATEFL some time ago that
explained his thoughts on correction. It goes on the state how learners
react to correction but also quite superbly describes how we remember language
and rather pleasingly follows the path of an Out There lesson. This all links
to Krashen's theory of the 'output
filter', which is described as a psychological device that, the higher it
is raised by levels of anxiety, the more language production it blocks
(i.e. interferes with memory). Is the lathophobic aphasia that Stevick
described the same thing or a more extreme version of a raised output
filter? It sounds to me like it might be.
So, what can
be done about it? How do you improve your ability to speak when you have been
afraid to do so, often despite years of English tuition and a good
ability to read and write the language?
The current
boom in online language exchange and practice is testament to the fact that
learners are desperate to improve their speaking skills, look at this forum I found, just one example of how
Chinese English learners acknowledge the problems they have. I would
argue that this is a typical scenario in the lives of millions of English
learners and that they are not getting what they really need from conventional
english language lessons and materials.
I'm biased, of
course, but anxiety and stress, in fields of activity outside of language
learning, are commonly and actively 'managed' by mental and physical processes
put in place to help the person to overcome the fear that so paralyses
them. It can be done but the English teaching world has not gone there
yet. Or has it? :-) Cheers Jason
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