Strategies for Reducing Student Anxiety
Having looked at the bad news, the causes of stress and anxiety, let us now turn to what action can be taken to alleviate this … there is good news too!
Inada (2021) shares a few approaches appropriate to the language classroom, which include how to handle mistakes made by students by instilling the idea that making errors is part of the learning process (p. 33). I would certainly agree, but my own practice is to view mistakes as a learning opportunity (and are therefore welcomed), as I believe that identifying and correcting errors leads to marked progress. She also observes that students found it comfortable to discuss in pairs or small groups (p. 33), that a speaker’s consciousness of their audience is dampened when they have a strong motivation to communicate (p. 38), and also suggests the use of handouts at the end of a learning session that summarises its content (p. 35). Regarding this last point, I can see that this not only provides an accurate summary, one allowing for the tutor to highlight what they feel are the salient points, but may also serve to lower anxiety during the session as students will know that if they do miss something, they will be better able to pick it up later.
The NHS, in their advice to students, includes keeping track of work being done and breaking a large task down into smaller, more manageable segments (2023). The logic here is that a large task can be daunting, so seeing how it could be approached as a series of much smaller tasks aims at reducing its enormity, and milestones through these mini-tasks will result in progress being more trackable.
This concept links well with a section of the Mental Health Toolkit from Advance HE and partners mentioned in an earlier post, entitled Scaffolded Design (Hughes et al. 2023). This is in no way a new idea, and the term scaffolding itself in a part of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory. Bondi, addressing teaching of English for Academic Purposes, defines scaffolding as what provides domain knowledge and can include activities that aid students in becoming familiar with concepts that evolve in their complexity (2026, p. 328). Alexander, Argent and Spencer (2018), also within the context of EAP teaching, refer to this strategy as “supporting students in completing a task, by inserting supporting hints or clues in the materials or through dialogue” (p. 274), and later add that help with time management (for students that require it) should be a “highly visible feature of the course” and tutorial time given to this (p. 284), which come back to the breaking up of a large task mentioned above.
Returning to the Mental Health Toolkit, we are reminded that if students become aware of a ‘gap’ in their present knowledge, anxiety may result (Hughes et al. 2023, p. 92), so it becomes important that “students are explicitly prepared for each task and stage of learning” (p. 87, emphasis mine). The idea is that as students grow in their knowledge and understanding, the level of support will slowly dwindle, allowing for the growth of independence (p. 87). For this to be achieved, an underlying principle of the Toolkit is that this scaffolding is central to the curriculum (p. 87), rather than just at the level of lesson planning, so it is important that the curriculum doesn’t make assumptions as to what students bring, and “should be designed for the knowledge and skills that students do have, rather than the ones we wish they have [sic]” (p. 89).
Regarding assessment, the challenge “should not be in working out what they are being asked to do” (p. 95), and so guiding students through an assessment brief should be standard practice; but echoing the need for developing independence mentioned above, students need to be guided in deciphering the brief and not just have it expounded to them. Hughes et al. also go on to state that assessment “can be positive for wellbeing if it has clarity”, as may happen when students understand the task and believe they can succeed (p. 103). A psychological study is cited that suggests the assessment itself is not the cause of anxiety, but rather their expectations of success or failure (p. 102), and so this may call for some management.
Another aspect of assessment explored by the authors is in regard to choice, and a degree of balance is called for. If students are given choice it can increase motivation (p. 97) and with the right guidance can allow them to select an area of particular interest or one in which they already possess some level of exposure. But the scope should have boundaries, as too wide a choice can lead to feelings of anxiety and fatigue, and thus decrease motivation (p. 97). My view it too much freedom can create insecurity as to whether an appropriate choice has been made, particularly when problems undoubtedly arise during a project – and yes, I can apply this to the present research project: when I’ve encountered crossroads and confusion I have questioned whether my choice of topic was wise.
Conclusion
There are many factors that may induce anxiety amongst our students, which can include financial problems, social issues, and outstanding issues from before they commenced their present studies. Our pragmatic focus here is what we, as those in contact with our students, can have a positive impact upon. Having summarised some strategies aimed at minimising anxiety levels, the incredible denouement is that good pedagogy alleviates causes of anxiety. Is this an anti-climax? Perhaps, but I’m actually heartened by this perhaps predictable revelation, and also believe that I’m already doing much of this in my interactions with students.