Applying cognitive-behavioural theory to examining student silent behaviour and anxiety in the foreign language classroom

This thesis examines the relationship between the silent behaviours and anxiety of English language learners through a cognitive-behavioural theory (CBT)-based approach. Two aims were guiding the research; firstly, to investigate the relationship between anxiety and silence in the Japanese university English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom through data collection and an intervention study, and secondly, to gain a deeper insight into the research phenomena using CBT as an innovative methodological approach to take into account influential factors in the Japanese context. Three phases of data collection were conducted at a Japanese university with English language learners. Phase 1 explored silent behaviours in the foreign language classroom to understand their functions from students' perspectives. Eighteen hours of classroom observations were conducted with 14 follow-up interviews. In Phase 2, 45 interviews were conducted with 17 participants using an interview schedule based on a CBT formulation to explore students' silent behaviour and associated thoughts and feelings. Phase 3 was an intervention study using findings from the previous phases to develop a series of workshops to help students manage their speaking-related anxiety.

Pre and post-intervention interviews were carried out to evaluate participants' perceptions of the intervention. The findings from the data demonstrated that the social nature of the classroom plays a significant role as an underlying factor in the relationship between silence and anxiety. The data revealed participants' hyperawareness of their peers' in-class behaviours and fears of how their peers evaluated them as factors impeding their speaking performance. The research also found that silence is not always a consequence of anxiety; it can also be a trigger, emphasising the bi-directional relationship between the research phenomena. Lastly, cognitive processes appeared to maintain participants' speaking-related anxiety, so interventions that provide strategies for managing negative thoughts about speaking may be an effective approach for supporting anxious learners.