When speaking and/or using a foreign language, many learners report a sense of fear or anxiety. This has been recognized and researched academically as “Foreign Language Anxiety” or simply “Language Anxiety”. It is academically defined as a “distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process” ​(Horwitz, 2010)​ and “the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient” ​(Gardner, 1993)​. It is studied as a mix of different anxiety states that result from being in an environment where testing and peer review/examination is almost necessitated such as a classroom. Academic testing anxiety, or feeling anxious or stressed when being tested or peer examined, is obviously evident in other learning environments but studies have shown that learners across the spectrum experience considerably more anxiety in language classes than other classes ​(Horwitz, 2010)​​ (Gardner, 1993)​.  

Why does this matter then? Learners who experience high levels of anxiety are generally less likely to interact, participate and – importantly for Bossem – speak in their language classes. This leads to reduced learning performance in all aspects with many learners not taking risks in a target language, not allowing them the room and the confidence they require to improve.