Teacher's Role in Creating Moderate Learners' Anxiety in English Classroom

Since 1970s, the focus of second language acquisition has shifted from the way that teachers teach to the way that learners learn. Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis (1985) suggests that learners are distracted by affective factors in language learning process. A large number of studies show that anxiety is possibly the most pervasive obstruction in second/foreign language learning. Although "helpful anxiety" or "facilitating anxiety"is still under doubt, the writer agrees with Brown who considers that both too much and too little anxiety may hinder the process of successful second language learning. The researches on the positive and negative role of anxiety demonstrate that an appropriate amount of tension can make the students attentive in learning a foreign language. Here are some proposals for diminishing language anxiety: offering comprehensible input, empathizing with the learners, and creating lively atmosphere and build up harmonious relations between teachers and students in order to provide non-threatening environment.