Thesis (M.Ed.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Education,1995.

This report addresses the importance of discussing adolescent learners in regard with their anxiety about foreign or second language (L2) speaking performance. To find implications on how to help adolescents reduce or overcome speaking anxiety in the language classroom, the report reviews extensive literature on 1) the distinct adolescent features that contribute to the development of shyness and communication apprehension; 2) the concept, component sources, and impacts of foreign language learning anxiety; and 3) the causes and effects of L2 speaking anxiety in language learning situations. Based on the review, the report provides implications from studies about language teaching and learning practices to alleviate L2 learning and speaking anxiety. These suggestions focus on meeting adolescents' needs in terms of 1) improving self-esteem, 2) developing coping skills about anxiety, and 3) facilitating a safer and more supportive classroom environment. / text

本研究旨在探討從小四開始學英語的國一新生的英語學習焦慮、學習動機和學習策略。參與研究的對象為來自台北縣四所公立國中的639位國一新生。 研究者採用外語課室焦慮問卷、動機強度問卷以及外語學習策略問卷為研究工具。除了問卷之外，也包括低分群學生的面訪。 本研究結果經由統計分析與面訪而產生。由敘述性統計分析獲得學習焦慮、學習動機強度與學習策略使用的情況，由皮爾森積差相關分析獲得學習焦慮、學習動機強度與學習策略使用的相關性。由獨立樣本t考驗得到性別與起始年齡影響性的差異比較以及高、低分同學問卷結果的比較。低分群同學的學習問題則經由面訪而得。 本研究主要發現如下: (一) 從小四開始學英語的國一新生沒有英語學習焦慮，他們有足夠的動機強度，也能使用各種學習策略。（二）學習焦慮負面影響學習動機以及學習策略，而學習動機與學習策略呈現正相關。此三者中，學習動機與學習策略的相關性較強。（三）性別與學習起始年齡顯著影響學習焦慮、學習動機與學習策略。男、女學生學習動機和學習策略使用上有顯著差異。然而，學習起始年齡顯著影響學習焦慮和學習策略的使用。（四）相較於其他學生，低分群學生的英語學習是焦慮的、動機強度稍低以及使用較少的學習策略。他們需要老師的協助。 綜觀上述，本研究者提供國中英語教師下列幾項建議以幫助國一新生的英語學習: 減少測驗的頻率及難度、練習社會策略、多留意男學生以及自小四才開始學英語的學生，以及提供多元補救教學課程以滿足低分群學生不同的學習需求。 / The study is intended to explore the learning situations of the beginning junior high school learners with English learning experience in Northern Taiwan. A total of 639 students from four junior high schools in Taipei County participated in the study. The Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), the Motivation Intensity Questionnaire (MIQ), and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) were used as the study tools. Besides, a follow-up interview of anxious low-scoring students was also conducted. All the results were generated from statistic analysis and interview. The results of students’ learning anxiety and motivation, and strategy use were obtained through descriptive statistics. The correlations were from the Pearson’s Correlation. The comparisons of the effects of gender and initial learning grade and the questionnaire results of the low-scoring students and the non-low scoring students were through the independent-samples t-test. Meanwhile, the low-scoring students’ learning problems were explored through the interview. The major findings of the present study are stated as follows: 1. The beginning junior high school students with English learning experience in primary school in the present study did not seem to be anxious about English learning. Meanwhile, they had enough motivation intensity and could sometimes apply all kinds of language strategies. 2. Learning anxiety negatively correlated with the English learning motivation and the English learning strategy use, and English learning motivation correlated with strategy use positively. Among the three, motivation intensity and strategy use were more strongly related to each other. 3. Either gender or the initial learning grade significantly influenced the learning anxiety, motivation, and learning strategy use. There were significant differences between the male students and the female students in learning motivation and learning strategy use. And the initial English learning grade significantly influenced the English learning anxiety and learning strategy use. 4. The low-scoring students proved that they were more anxious, less motivated, and employed fewer learning strategies than the non-low scoring students. They needed various assistances from teachers. Based on the findings, the researcher suggests that junior high school English teachers take some measures to help their beginning learners. These measures include reducing the frequencies and the difficulties of tests, practicing social strategies, paying more attention to the male students and the students with fewer years of English learning experience, and supplying multiple remedial courses to meet the various needs of the low-scoring students.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:37:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 IsabellaMOP_DISSERT.pdf: 1986488 bytes, checksum: 1f1b995fa77d662628cf94f2e167faf0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-05-09 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico / Lithium (Li) is the first choice to treat bipolar disorder, a psychiatric illness characterized by mood oscillations between mania and depression. However, studies have demonstrated that this drug might influence mnemonic process due to its neuroprotector, antiapoptotic and neurogenic effects. The use of Li in the treatment of cognitive deficits caused by brain injury or neurodegenerative disorders have been widely studied, and this drug shows to be effective in preventing or even alleviating the memory impairment. The effects of Li on anxiety and depression are controversial and the relationship of the effects of lithium on memory, anxiety and depression remain unknown. In this context, this study aims to: evaluate the effects of acute and chronic administration of lithium carbonate in aversive memory and anxiety, simultaneously, using the plus maze discriminative avoidance task (PMDAT); test the antidepressant effect of the drug through the forced swimming test (FS) and analyze brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in structures related to memory and emotion. To evaluation of the acute effects, male Wistar rats were submitted to i.p. administration of lithium carbonate (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg) one hour before the training session (PMDAT) or lithium carbonate (50 or 100 mg/kg) one hour before the test session (FS). To evaluation of the chronic effects, the doses administered were 50 or 100 mg/kg or vehicle once a day for 21 days before the beginning of behavioral tasks (PMDAT and FS). Afterwards, the animals were euthanized and their brains removed and submitted to immunohistochemistry procedure to quantify BDNF. The animals that received acute treatment with 100 and 200 mg/kg of Li did not discriminated between the enclosed arms (aversive and non-aversive) in the training session of PMDAT, showing that these animal did not learned the task. This lack of discrimination was also observed in the test session, showing that the animals did not recall the aversive task. We also observed an increased exploration of the open arms of these same groups, indicating an anxiolytic effect. The same groups showed a reduction of locomotor activity, however, this effect does not seem to be related with the anxiolytic effect of the drug. Chronic treatment with Li did not promote alterations on learning or memory processes. Nevertheless, we observed a reduction of open arms exploration by animals treated with 50 mg/kg when compared to the other groups, showing an anxiogenic effect caused by this dose. This effect it is not related to locomotor alterations since there were no alterations in these parameters. Both acute and chronic treatment were ineffective in the FS. Chronic treatment with lithium was not able to modify BDNF expression in hippocampus, amygdala and pre-frontal cortex. These results suggest that acute administration of lithium promote impairments on learning in an aversive task, blocking the occurrence of memory consolidation and retrieval. The reduction of anxiety following acute treatment may have prevented the learning of the aversive task, as it has been found that optimum levels of anxiety are necessary for the occurrence of learning with emotional context. With continued, treatment the animals recover the ability to learn and recall the task. Indeed, they do not show differences in relation to control group, and the lack of alterations on BDNF expression corroborates this result. Possibly, the regimen of treatment used was not able to promote cognitive improvement. Li showed acute anxiolytic effect, however chronic administration 4 promoted the opposite effect. More studies are necessary to clarify the potential beneficial effect of Li on aversive memory / L?tio (Li) ? o f?rmaco de escolha para o tratamento do transtorno bipolar, doen?a psiqui?trica caracterizada por oscila??es de humor entre mania e depress?o. Entretanto, estudos mostram que essa droga pode ter influ?ncia sobre os processos mnem?nicos devido a seu car?ter neuroprotetor, antiapopt?tico e neurog?nico. O emprego no l?tio para o tratamento de d?ficits cognitivos provocados por les?es cerebrais ou doen?as neurodegenerativas vem sendo amplamente estudado, visto que esse f?rmaco mostra-se capaz de prevenir ou at? mesmo aliviar preju?zos na mem?ria. Os efeitos do Li na ansiedade e depress?o s?o controversos e a rela??o entre os efeitos do Li na mem?ria, ansiedade e depress?o s?o ainda desconhecidos. Neste contexto, os objetivos deste estudo foram: avaliar os efeitos da administra??o aguda e cr?nica de carbonato de l?tio na mem?ria aversiva e ansiedade, simultaneamente, utilizando a esquiva discriminativa no labirinto em cruz elevado (ED); testar o efeito antidepressivo do f?rmaco atrav?s do teste do nado for?ado (NF); avaliar a express?o de fator neurotr?fico derivado do enc?falo (BDNF) em estruturas relacionadas com mem?ria e emo??o. Para a avalia??o do efeito agudo, ratos Wistar machos foram submetidos ? administra??o intraperitoneal de carbonato de l?tio 50, 100 ou 200 mg/kg uma hora antes do treino (ED) ou carbonato de l?tio 50 ou 100 mg/kg uma hora antes do teste (NF). Para a avalia??o cr?nica, foram administradas as doses de 50 ou 100 mg/kg ou ve?culo por 21 dias antes do in?cio das tarefas comportamentais (ED e NF). Ap?s o t?rmino dessas tarefas, os animais foram eutanasiados e seus enc?falos removidos para realiza??o de imunohistoqu?mica para quantificar BDNF. Os animais que receberam tratamento agudo com Li nas doses de 100 e 200 mg/kg n?o demonstraram discrimina??o entre os bra?os fechados (aversivo e n?o-aversivo) na sess?o treino da ED, mostrando que esses animais n?o aprenderam a tarefa. Essa aus?ncia na discrimina??o foi observada tamb?m na sess?o teste, mostrando que n?o houve evoca??o da mem?ria aversiva. Foi ainda observado um aumento da explora??o dos bra?os abertos para essas mesmas doses, apontando um efeito ansiol?tico do f?rmaco. Os mesmos grupos apresentaram ainda uma redu??o na atividade locomotora, no entanto, esse efeito parece n?o estar relacionado com o efeito ansiol?tico do f?rmaco. O tratamento cr?nico com l?tio n?o promoveu altera??es nos processos de aprendizado e mem?ria. No entanto, foi observado uma redu??o da explora??o dos bra?os abertos pelos animais tratados com a dose de 50 mg/kg em rela??o aos outros grupos, mostrando um efeito ansiog?nico causado pelo tratamento cr?nico. Esse efeito n?o est? relacionado a altera??es locomotoras, visto que n?o foi detectado altera??es nesses par?metros. Ambos os tratamentos (agudo e cr?nico) foram ineficazes em demonstrar o efeito antidepressivo do l?tio na tarefa do NF. O tratamento cr?nico com l?tio tamb?m n?o foi capaz de alterar a express?o de BDNF no hipocampo, am?gdala e c?rtex pr?-frontal. Esses resultados sugerem que a administra??o aguda de l?tio promove preju?zos no aprendizado em uma tarefa aversiva, impedindo a ocorr?ncia de consolida??o e evoca??o da mem?ria. A redu??o da ansiedade no tratamento agudo pode ter impedido o aprendizado da tarefa aversiva, visto que j? foi verificado que n?veis adequados de ansiedade s?o necess?rios para que ocorra aprendizado com contexto 2 emocional. Com a continuidade do tratamento os animais recuperam a capacidade de aprender e evocar a tarefa, mas n?o apresentam altera??es em rela??o ao grupo controle e a aus?ncia de altera??o na express?o de BDNF corrobora esse resultado. Possivelmente, o regime de tratamento utilizado n?o foi capaz de promover melhora cognitiva nos animais. O l?tio demonstrou efeito ansiol?tico agudo, todavia a administra??o cr?nica promoveu efeito oposto. Mais estudos s?o necess?rios para esclarecer o potencial efeito ben?fico do l?tio sobre a mem?ria