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Types of Anxiety .
Anxiety can be divided into two types: trait anxiety and state anxiety. Trait anxiety is the tendency of a person to be nervous or feel anxious regardless of the situation he/she is exposed to. Indeed, such anxiety is a part of a person's character and therefore it is permanent and difficult, if not, impossible to get rid of. The second type of anxiety is referred to as state anxiety. This type of anxiety arises in a particular situation or event and hence is not permanent. It is nervousness or tension at a particular moment in response to some outside stimulus. The good thing about this type of anxiety is that it can be controlled and diminished over time as the learners get used to the new environment. (Brown 151). Horwitz et al. stated that foreign language anxiety is a specific syndrome that may be related to three types of anxiety, including communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation, and test anxiety. .
Communication apprehension refers to the uncomfortable feeling learners experience when expressing themselves in front of others. It arises from their inability to express thoughts and ideas. Horwitz claims that the mismatch between foreign language student's mature thoughts and their incomplete foreign language mastery leads to self-consciousness and anxiety in some individuals. The fear of negative evaluation is likely to be manifested in student's excessive worry about academic and personal evaluations of their performance and competence in the target language. Making errors is a necessary part of any learning process. In fact, it is said that trial and error is a natural part of language learning. However, errors can be the source of anxiety in some individuals, because they constitute obstacles for making positive social impressions when speaking a new language. .
