Socio-psychological components in the identity construction process of adult learners of English at EOI: between motivation and anxietyDrama as a tool to help overcome anxiety and enhance motivation

Zusammenfassung

ABSTRACT The main objective of this doctoral dissertation was to deal with the constructs Motivation and Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) as part of the identity construction of adult learners at Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (EOI). In fact, the learning process may be experienced as potentially ego-threatening at an adult age, and thus negative feelings and thoughts may interfere in the development of a positive image as L2 users . In order to enhance motivation and tackle FLA, some drama activities have been designed and empirically tested. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed on a sample of 94 adult EOI learners. Results indicate that gender and age are significant identity-related aspects, with female and older respondents admitting more to FLA. Intrinsic motivation turned out to be overwhelming, even though an increasing extrinsic one was also registered, due to the changing economic situation in Spain. The struggle to attain an ideal self has been found as a powerful motivation drive, but also as a generator of FLA, whose detrimental effects were proven also in terms of listening comprehension, an area previously not tested. Moreover, self-efficacy was discovered as the best predictor of FLA, even more powerful or detrimental than a learner’s actual proficiency level. Elementary students seemed to be less aware of FLA and not to deploy the same strategies as the advanced students to tackle its effects. To this purpose, drama techniques have proven successful in order to enhance confidence through a process of role identification with an L2 persona. Indeed, a transformation appeared to be brought about thanks to drama. In particular, if used consistently, learning an L2 through drama might have a more consistent effect as a therapy against FLA in the long run. In sum, this thesis contributes a new construct, Listening Anxiety, to FLA research; in addition, it provides more insights into FLA and motivation thanks to qualitative data, as well as a pedagogical proposal based on drama techniques.