The Alleviation of the Language Anxiety of English as Second Language (ESL) Learners through Communicative Language Teaching

Language anxiety is identified by many scholars as a significant aspect that inhibits the language acquisition of English as Second Language (ESL) learners. Student-centered approaches are widely practiced in ESL context as they are acknowledged and accepted as highly effective in foreign language acquisition. In Sri Lanka, most of the institutes implement teacher-centered approaches in ESL classrooms due to various practical issues such as insufficient resources and consumption of longer time. Thus, this research is an attempt to trace whether the communicative language teaching, which is one of the most popular student-centered approaches, can be utilized in order to alleviate the English language anxiety of the respective learners. The nature of the research demanded a mixed approach in order to validate the implications. Thus, the sample included 40 students who follow Diploma in English at E-SOFT, which is a renowned private institute. The study utilized an abbreviated form of Foreign Language Anxiety Scale developed by Horwitz and Cope in order to calculate the language anxiety encountered by the ESL learners. The quantitative data were accumulated by conducting interviews with academics and students. The research findings bear testimony that students feel less anxious in classrooms that practice communicative language teaching while they had an unfavorable attitude towards teacher-centered classrooms. The results also manifested that communicative language teaching method is an effective strategy that could be utilized in order to alleviate the English language anxiety of the ESL learners that will eventually have a significant impact on their language achievements.