Fig 2.2. Operation of the “affective filter.”
Affective Variables
- Motivation: Performers with high motivation generally do better in second language acquisition.
- Self-confidence: Performers with self-confidence and a good self-image tend to do better in second language acquisition.
- Anxiety: Low anxiety is helpful to second language acquisition, whether measured as personal or classroom anxiety.
Effects of Affective Filter
- More prone to interaction and thus get more input
- Let the input in for further language acquisition.
Insisting on too-early production before the student is “ready” raises the filter. A safe procedure is simply not to force production and let the student decide when to start talking. It raises the filter by attempting to correct errors, especially in beginning stages and especially in spoken language. It makes student try to avoid mistakes, avoid difficult constructions, focus less on meaning and more on form. Therefore, it is safe simply to eliminate error correction entirely in communicative-type activities.
The major, who had been the great fencer, did not believe in bravery, and spent much time while we sat in the machines correcting my grammar. He had complimented me on how I spoke Italian, and we talked together very easily. One day I had said that Italian seemed like such an easy language to me that I could not take a great interest in it; everything was so easy to say. “Ah yes,” the major said, “Why then, do you not take up the use of grammar?” So we took up the use of grammar, and soon Italian was such a difficult language that I was afraid to talk to him until I had the grammar straight in my mind. (E. Hemingway, Men Without Women, 1997)