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very common for heritage students, as they usually have not received any formal training in the heritage language; see Fishman, 2001; Valdés, 2001; Campbell & Rosenthal, 2000; Klee, 1998; Quintanar-Sarellana, Huebner & Jensen, 1993) and this may have caused their anxiety level to be higher than that found in the non-heritage students. That is, the heritage students may have been anxious because they were worried that their writing skills were not that good and perhaps they were being evaluated by their peers. 2 This would be the opposite <strong>of</strong> what they experience in the classroom, where they are using the two skills with which they usually have extensive practice: listening and speaking. CONCLUSION <strong>The</strong> present study confirms the notion that heritage students <strong>of</strong> Spanish experience less foreign language anxiety than non-heritage students. Furthermore, it suggests that the use <strong>of</strong> computer-mediated communication can reduce learners‟ anxiety levels. This reduction in anxiety seems to occur more for non-heritage students, which is what is expected. <strong>The</strong> size <strong>of</strong> the ACMC group did not seem to affect the overall anxiety scores, although the large ACMC group did cause heritage students to experience higher levels <strong>of</strong> anxiety than non-heritage students. It is important to note the limitations <strong>of</strong> this preliminary investigation. First <strong>of</strong> all, the sample size was small and therefore did not allow for tests <strong>of</strong> statistical significance. <strong>The</strong> results are suggestive, but a larger group size needs to be examined for statistical significance. Second, a convenience sample was used and thus the intent was not generalization. Third, this study only looked at one level <strong>of</strong> instruction (second semester). Finally, the treatment was fairly short (only lasting one week). This study provides several implications for teaching. First <strong>of</strong> all, as pointed out in Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope (1986), teachers need to help students learn to cope with foreign language anxiety and also need to try to make the learning context less stressful. <strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> this study suggest that the use <strong>of</strong> CMC can help with this task, especially for non-heritage students. It is also suggested that teachers work more on literacy skills with heritage students. Arnold (2002) recommends the use <strong>of</strong> e-mail for writing practice, which would be perfect for heritage students who need to focus on their literacy skills. This study also provides several areas for future research. First, it is necessary to replicate this study with a larger sample size and with a longer treatment period (e.g., using ACMC throughout an entire semester). Second, anxiety should be investigated in these groups <strong>of</strong> students at different levels <strong>of</strong> instruction (e.g., beginning students vs. intermediate students vs. advanced learners). It may be that the use <strong>of</strong> CMC is more appropriate for more advanced students. Third, other areas <strong>of</strong> anxiety should be examined (e.g., reading anxiety, writing anxiety), as well as how CMC can affect these areas. Finally, including a qualitative approach (e.g., informal interviews with students) would probably provide rich data input as to what students actually think about foreign language anxiety and the use <strong>of</strong> CMC in the foreign language classroom. 2 54 TPFLE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Tallon (Ph.D., University <strong>of</strong> Texas at Austin) is an Assistant Pr<strong>of</strong>essor <strong>of</strong> Spanish at the University <strong>of</strong> the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. His research interests include foreign language anxiety, heritage students <strong>of</strong> Spanish, Spanish as a heritage language, and the Spanish <strong>of</strong> San Antonio. REFERENCES Aida, Y. (1994). Examination <strong>of</strong> Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope‟s Construct <strong>of</strong> Foreign Language Anxiety: <strong>The</strong> Case <strong>of</strong> Students <strong>of</strong> Japanese. Modern Language Journal, 78, 155-168. Arnold, M.N. (2002). <strong>Computer</strong>-<strong>Mediated</strong> <strong>Communication</strong>: Writing to Speak without Foreign Language Anxiety? Doctoral dissertation; University <strong>of</strong> Texas, Austin. Arnold, N. (2007). Reducing Foreign Language <strong>Communication</strong> Apprehension with <strong>Computer</strong>- <strong>Mediated</strong> <strong>Communication</strong>: A Preliminary Study. System, 35(4), 469-486. Beauvois, M.H. (1992). <strong>Computer</strong>-assisted Classroom Discussion in the Foreign Language Classroom: Conversation in Slow Motion. Foreign Language Annals, 25, 455-464. Beauvois, M.H. (1995). E-Talk: Attitudes and Motivation in <strong>Computer</strong>-Assisted Classroom Discussion. <strong>Computer</strong>s and the Humanities, 28, 177-190. Beauvois, M.H. (1998). Conversations in Slow Motion: <strong>Computer</strong>-<strong>Mediated</strong> <strong>Communication</strong> in the Foreign Language Classroom. <strong>The</strong> Canadian Modern Language Review, 54(2), 198- 217. Beauvois, M. (1999). <strong>Computer</strong>-<strong>Mediated</strong> <strong>Communication</strong>: Reducing Anxiety and Building Community. In D. Young (Ed.), Affect in Foreign Language and Second Language Learning: A Practical Guide to Creating a Low-Anxiety Classroom Atmosphere (pp. 144-165). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill College. Blake, R. (2000). <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Mediated</strong> <strong>Communication</strong>: A Window on L2 Spanish Interlanguage. Language Learning & Technology, 4(1), 120-136. Bump, J. (1990). Radical Changes in Class Discussion Using Networked <strong>Computer</strong>s. <strong>Computer</strong>s and the Humanities, 24(1), 49-65. Campbell, R., & Peyton, J.K. (1997). Heritage Language Students: A Valuable Language Resource. <strong>The</strong> ERIC Review, 5(3), 38. Campbell, R., & Rosenthal, J. (2000). Heritage Languages. In J.W. Rosenthal (Ed.), Handbook <strong>of</strong> Undergraduate Second Language Acquisition (pp. 165-184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Chun, D.M. (1994). Using <strong>Computer</strong> Networking to Facilitate the Acquisition <strong>of</strong> Interactive Competence. System, 22(1), 17-31. Colomb, G., & Simutis, J.A. (1996). Visible Conversation and Academic Inquiry: CMC in a Culturally Diverse Classroom. In S. Herring (Ed.), <strong>Computer</strong>-mediated <strong>Communication</strong>: Linguistic, Social and Cross-cultural Perspectives (pp. 203-222). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Coryell, J.E., & Clark, M.C. (2009). One Right Way, Intercultural Participation, and Language Learning Anxiety: A Qualitative Analysis <strong>of</strong> Adult Online Heritage and Nonheritage Language Learners. Foreign Language Annals, 42(3), 483-504. Draper, J., & Hicks, J. (2000). Where We‟ve Been; What We‟ve Learned. In J. Webb & B. FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANXIETY AND CMC 55
Page 1 and 2: The Effect
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Page 5 and 6: felt more relaxed during this activ
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Page 9 and 10: Cope, 1986 and Aida, 1994). It was
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Page 27 and 28: Appendix C Post-Test Questionnaire

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