Toward a Conceptual Clarification of Foreign Language Anxiety

Despite the noteworthy increase in the number of FL anxiety studies, inconsistencies associated with the effects of FL anxiety on language learner performance have been reported in literature. Such conflicting results seem to be attributable in part to unstable conceptualization of the FL anxiety construct and its measure. This paper purported to address the emerging call for a theoretical clarification of the construct at hand as a preface to a clear picture of language anxiety on a conceptual ground. This paper not only covers aspects of general anxiety from psychological perspectives, but examines how FL anxiety and its associated concepts have been conceptualized in the literature. Inconsistent results that pertain to FL learning were also delineated. Given the drawbacks found in the exiting theories of FL anxiety, several points were taken into account for a refinement of the conceptual framework. This attempt will hopefully shed new light on the construct per se and prove conducive to the development of the field of English education.