Exploring the Impact of Affective Factors on Foreign Language Learning in a Group of 5th Graders in Barrancabermeja, Colombia

Abstract

The process of learning a foreign language can be affected by cognitive and metacognitive factors, demographic, and sociocultural factors; however, affective factors such as attitudes, motivation, and anxiety (Henter, 2014) emerged in the post-pandemic in 2022 as a pretty remarkable item to be considered regarding the while-pandemic circumstances and conditions faced by most of the families during 2020 and 2021. The Coronavirus 19 worldwide emergency affected education characteristics, learners’ families, and the community environment of 5th graders at Institución Educativa Infantas in Barrancabermeja. Consequently, after the pandemic, students returned to their classrooms face to face with a notorious low performance and suffering affective and/or emotional affections that negatively influenced their academic development in English classes. It provoked bad reactions towards English and science subjects, mainly their teachers and the institutional system: curriculum, PEI, and assessment process. After doing the research, based on the objective of this project of determining the relationship between affective factors and the foreign language learning process, it was concluded that most of the participants perceive the learning of a foreign language as an essential tool in our globalized world; nevertheless, the weak bases in their pre-knowledge of English and the absence of linguistic skills generate an environment of pressure, anxiety and tension for the learners, their families, and even for the teachers and the school considering the sociocultural, functional and emotional diversity of participants. Hence, summative assessment makes learners feel under pressure caused by low marks, parents’ reactions, and teachers and peers’ comments, generating anxiety and tension among them. However, the teacher’s incentives and stimuli through different tasks motivate and get students engaged to participate more actively in their learning process. Additionally, motivation is generated from learners' expectations based on the range of opportunities that are learning a foreign languages offers, such as traveling abroad and sharing with people from different cultures with different customs and lifestyles. Finally, it should be highlighted that teachers as facilitators of the learning process need the constant parents' support as actors directly involved in the comprehensive education of their children through the encouragement, accompaniment, and following-up of their process.