Learning Log: the Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Affective Filter Hypothesis Some Insights The attendance for Miss Zaljiahs English class has never been below 80% throughout her six teaching years in the polytechnic. You can often find her sitting beside the students working and guiding them through answers and task completion. Students commitment ar often witnessed through their energy level, engagements during discussions in reaction to her video-recorded lectures. Smartphones, Google and Facebook are often their constant companion. At 55, she is an inspiration. Teachers at once go the extra mile to create relevant content, reflective enough of the real world.With the birth of screen-staring culture, it is necessary how technology has overwhelmed current classroom pedagogies increasing the dire need for more enjoyable and stress-free learning environment. From Krashens perspective, Affective Filter seem to have its stand. The affective filtrate by Krashen is a mental rampart students and teachers must reduce for learning fluidity. (Dulay and Burt, 1977 in Krashen, 1981). These three factors low motivation and self-confidence combined with gamey anxiety built in students a mental wall which impedes vocabulary from being acquired and internalized. Krashen, 1982). Students affective filter must be kept low with confidence and motivation, in order for the highest input to possibly distort the learning part of the brain. (Krashen, 1981). Supported and summarized by Macintyre (1995), he stated language learning is a cognitive ability that relies on encoding, storage and retrieval processes. Anxiety can interfere by creating divided attendance scenarios for anxious students. (p. 96). Gardner and Macintyres (1993) characterized this apprehension as derogatory self-related cognitions.Now, the question is does learning stop when the fun cabbage? Does learning fail because of students anxiety and boredom? Or learning fails because students feel anxious and bored? We just now focus and emphasize what de emed important for us. While one may agree the affective filter plays a role, its causal relationship cannot be proven. It is bias to say learning happens only with motivated and confident students and if they are not, learning never took place. It can never be argued that the presence of learning is the absence of anxiety or otherwise.To debate from an eclectic point of view, students various learning styles, multiple intelligences, idiosyncracies, language ego, literacy creativity and error-correction tolerance influences the acquisition process. These affective domains function in both directions. (Cook, 2000) Both students and teachers complement the learning process. The teacher certainly has the prestigious effect on both the linguistic performance and emotional well-being of the students. (Heyde, 1999 in Brown, 2000). Students can put out their wings with proper classroom techniques. (Andres, 1999).In conclusion, teachers should develop a perceptive and intuitive ability ba cked by theoretical grounds to decide on the effectiveness for the students. Students should not be choked in their language attempts as anxiety can be facilitated (Bailey, 1983) in creating a meaningful learning environment. The fundamental formula of SLA is that every human capacity and ability is diversified should be addressed. Every lesson should aim to resonate with the kernel of each learner as balance is created in tapping everybodys interest in the language classroom. (510 words) 1