Affective Factors in Language Learning

Affective Factors in Language Learning refers to factors within ourselves that effect our ability to learn a language.

Personality Factors
Personality factors includes anxiety and risk-taking.

Anxiety (debilitative & facilitative)
Anxiety can be debilitative, which stops the speaker from effectively using their language skills. Facilirative anxiety can help make the class exciting by providing just enough adrenalin to keep the students engaged and performing at their best.

Risk-taking
Risk taking is an important aspect in language learning, with particularly moderate risk takers benefiting the most in the classroom.

Motivation & Attitude
See the main article on Motivation for more details about the distinction between Integrative and Instrumental motivation.