I recently started taking Japanese classes alongside my husband. Before beginning classes together, we were driving somewhere when my husband started sharing his feelings about learning Japanese with me. You see, I lived in Japan as a child and although my Japanese has faded into the dark, cobwebbed recesses of my mind, I have an advantage over my husband, who will be starting his language learning at zero. And this is not the only factor that was causing my husband stress: I have studied and successfully acquired Spanish and Hindi. I like learning languages. I enjoy the process. My husband, however, does not. Perhaps the TESOL field is full of us rare specimens who enjoy learning languages; the rest of society might mirror my husband’s emotions toward learning a new language: apprehension, nervousness, fear, and even a much stronger emotion—anxiety.

I decided to investigate. I turned to my IEP and students in the IEP, looking at them with an awakened empathy and with new eyes. You see, most days, I simply go to work and do my job and—if I were to be really honest—sometimes, I get annoyed by the same students making the same errors. At some point, perhaps in the midst of teaching the same grammar structures or the same concepts or in using the same textbooks over and over, I have forgotten—I have forgotten how it feels to be an L2 learner.

For this study, I conducted 15 interviews of IEP students. They ranged in age from 19 to 45; five students were from Saudi Arabia, five from China, three from Japan, and two from Korea.

I wanted to understand the emotions they felt in the English language classroom in an English-speaking country. I asked the 15 students the same questions: How do you feel when you are in the English classroom? When do you feel most nervous? How nervous are you in the English classroom now? How nervous were you in the English classroom when you first came [to our IEP]? What helps you feel more relaxed? What makes you feel more nervous?

Student responses ranged from expressions of feeling shy, nervous, full-blown anxiety, to even excitement and happiness.

One uniform response given was that students were initially extremely nervous to be in the English language classroom when they first arrived in the United States to study in our IEP. Success in essay writing, making English-speaking friends, speaking with teachers, knowing their L2 has improved, and relationships with classmates are factors that have helped students feel less nervous.

Factors causing student stress in the English language classroom that students expressed were presentations, tests and quizzes, writing in class, and unprepared teachers.

A Japanese L1 speaker shared the following:

When I could not talk with native American people, I was so nervous. I could not have confidence of my English, so I was thinking I would be able to speak English…?

But, on the other hand, when I could speak with native Americans or understand in the class, I was happy. And also, when I got new friend who is from another country, I was happy. Because if I can’t speak English, I couldn’t make friends who are my best friends now.

And I was shy when I had to speak in front of classmates in English. Because my English is not perfect. Even if I speak in Japanese in front of classmates, I would be a little shy, [but] English is more hard.

As stated earlier, this IEP student was able to work through her nervousness to become happy and eventually build new friendships through the use of her L2.

In the process of conducting interviews for the present study, I reflected on my own language-learning process. When I was a Spanish L2 student, I studied abroad in Chile. While in Chile, I attended classes that were completely in Spanish. My feelings toward my own L2 abilities were completely different in class versus outside of class. In class, I felt nervous to perform perfectly in Spanish. I did not want to make mistakes, be corrected by my Chilean professor, or have all of my classmates’ eyes on me. On the other hand, outside of class, I had Chilean friends, but our relationships were much more relaxed—I did not feel as afraid of making a grammar mistake.

May we all—North American IEP teachers—remember that our learners have intense emotions as they walk through our classroom doors. They might actually feel excited and happy by the day’s activities, but it is likely that some degree of anxiety is felt by all!

Laura Jacob teaches in an IEP in Southern California. She loves the international community in Los Angeles and has taught ESL for several years in greater LA. She speaks Spanish and some Hindi and is studying Japanese.