Japanese Elementary School Teachers and English Language Anxiety

Foreign language activities (English) officially began in Japanese elementary schools in April 2011. Since that starting date, and despite insufficient knowledge and preparation, classroom teachers have been required to instruct in English. They also have been required to team-teach with native-English-speaking assistant language teachers. This study examines whether Japanese elementary school teachers have experienced English language anxiety, and if so what factors affect this anxiety. Participants in the study included 133 Japanese elementary school classroom teachers (71 males and 62 females in two school districts) who were responsible for teaching English. They completed the Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, 2008) and a background questionnaire. Three teacher trainers also took part in the survey. Results show that a considerable number of elementary school teachers experienced anxiety about English. The main sources of anxiety were lack of confidence regarding English communication and lack of preparation for teaching English. The study reveals that three factors (years of elementary teaching experience, formal training experience, and English proficiency level) significantly affected teachers' anxiety levels.