A cross-cultural comparison of nonverbal teacher immediacy and foreign language anxiety in Chilean and Russian English language classrooms

Résumé 0

This cross-cultural study examines instructor nonverbal immediacy in Chilean and Russian English classrooms and its relationship to Foreign Language Anxiety. Participants included 84 undergraduate university students (33 Chilean students enrolled at a small state university in Northern Chile; and 51 Russian students enrolled at a large state university in Moscow). Results indicate that: (a) Chilean students receiving instruction from Chilean professors perceive a significantly greater amount of instructor nonverbal immediacy than Russian students who receive instruction from Russian instructors; (b) Chilean students self-reporte significantly higher levels of Foreign Language Anxiety than their Russian counterparts; and (c) Foreign Language Anxiety is only slightly negatively correlated with one nonverbal teacher immediacy item in the Russian population and is not correlated with any items in the Chilean sample. Conclusions focus on the important role that culture plays in classroom language teaching and the implications for teacher training.