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B. Inhibition
Another important affective factor similar to anxiety is inhibition. All human beings, in their understanding of themselves, build sets of defense to protect the ego. Inhibition refers to the building of defenses to our egos. Inhibition develops when small children gradually learn to identify a self that is distinct from others and their affective trait begins to form. Foreign language learners with higher self-esteem and ego strength are more able to withstand threats to their existence, and consequently their defenses are lower. Those with weaker self perceive to be a weak or fragile ego, or a lack of self-confidence in a situation or task.
Anyone who has learned a foreign language is actually aware that making mistakes is implicit in a kind of foreign language learning. In the process of languages learning, we have to be able to “gamble” a bit, to be willing to try out hunches about the language and to take a reasonable risk of being wrong. Guiora (1972) explains inhibition in another way with the employment of the language-term ego. Just as a child develops a general ego, the child also acquires a language ego. When the child is young, the ego boundaries are relatively flexible, and the young learners are less aware of language forms and of making mistakes in using the forms. But with the process of age, the ego boundaries become more rigid and fixed, and consequently a kind of foreign language may be rejected and they are not contained in the fixed language ego boundaries. That’s why adult foreign language learners often feel more difficult when they learn foreign languages.
Guiora and his colleagues also conducted experiments to induce states of lower inhibition. In one study, they found that subjects who received small doses of alcohol did better on pronunciation tests than those who did not. So it was concluded that inhibition had a negative effect on foreign language pronunciation. Later other substances and ways were used to reduce inhibition and study the influence of inhibition on foreign language learning too. Therefore, during the process of foreign language learning, teachers give students timely and kind helps and encouragement, which will contribute to students’ overcoming fear and will make the learners gain confidence, enhance learning motivation to improve learning efficiency. All of these are quite beneficial to the foreign language learners.
C.Motivation
Motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. In fact, motivation is a catchall term and there are different views on it. Gardner (1985) defines motivation to learn a second languages as “the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the languages because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity”. This definition includes: I) effort expended to achieve a goal; II) a desire to learn the languages, and III) satisfaction with the task of learning the language. He defines motivation as such: motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular action. Or, in more technical terms, motivation refers to the choices people made as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of effort they will exert in that respect. This definition earns many people’s approval. Motivation has something to do with foreign languages learning, which