Designing and Setting SMART language goals to deal with Foreign Language Anxiety

1. Designing and Setting
Smart Language Goals to
deal with Foreign Language
Anxiety

3. "I want to improve my English”.
" I want to understand English speakers“.
"I want to improve my grammar."
Goals

5. Goal Setting
Goal setting involves the
conscious process of establishing
levels of performance in order to
obtain desirable outcomes
(Padgett, 2014).

6. Small goals
A Big goal

7. What is a SMART goal?
SMART goals are a series of smaller, easy to
accomplish action steps towards achieving a
bigger goal.

8. SMART goals

9. Specific

10. Goals should be clear and to get this, it could be useful to
bear in mind these questions:
• What are you going to do?
• Why is this important to do?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• How are you going to do it?
(Nikitina, 2008).
General
Specific

11. Measures should be
observable without teacher
input, so that learners
develop control of their
own learning process”
(Rubin, 2015, p.70).
Measurable

12. I want to be a good reader
I want to read two books in two months Specific , measurable
general

13. Hence, learners have the
feeling of accomplishment
when they can check an item
off of a list.

14. “Achievable requires learners to
consider the time and knowledge
they bring to accomplish the task
(attempting to do a task when a
learner does not have the time or
sufficient knowledge can be very
frustrating and self-defeating)”
(Rubin, 2015 p. 70)
Achievable

15. Learners do not have to set too many goals
at the same time, they need to make sure that
they can achieve their goal within a realistic
amount of time (Morissette, 2012).
Read a
book in
English
Learn
office
vocabulary
Improve
question
intonation.

16. Ask yourself, "Where am I now, and where
can I go next?“
It's better to make a small amount of lasting
progress than to waste your time and effort on
something that doesn't pay off.

17. “The more relevant a goal is to
each specific learner (needs), the
more motivated that learner will
likely be (Rubin, 2015, p. 70).
Relevant

18. “Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement.
Therefore, learners have to focus on areas that they are weak in
rather than on stronger skills” (Nikitina, 2008; Morissette,
2012).

19. These questions are useful to determine the relevance of a goal:
• How will I feel about accomplishing this goal?
• Do you feel excited?
• Does thinking about your goal inspire you to work
• towards it? If so, then the goal is relevant to you
and your needs or interests” (Nikitina, 2008).

20. Time bound
Set a deadline for your goal

21. Deadlines also must be attainable and realistic (Morissette, 2012).

22. •Pick a movie in a foreign language. Watch it at the
start of every month and record approximately what
percentage you think you understand. You will then be
able to see your improvement every month.
•Learn a specific number of words or idioms per week.
(e.g. 10 new words a week, plus 1 idiom).

23. •Intermediate students should be able to order a pizza in the
new language. If they received everything they wanted on
the pizza, they succeeded. Completing this list of items may
help to boost self confidence and allows you to check off a
numbered list.

24. •Another tactic may be to celebrate your mistakes. For
every new mistake you make, you are learning
something. Record the number of mistakes you make
in a class. The more mistakes you make, the less
chance of you making them again, so be proud and
happier with the bigger number of mistakes. This may
sound backward but just make sure that you are
making NEW mistakes and not repeating the same old
ones over again.

25. • Write yourself a short journal entry at the beginning of the
study period. At the end of your term, reread it and see how
many mistakes you can correct in your work. This will allow
you to see how you have improved over the term. It is
important to remember as a foreign language student that
your goals need to be realistic.

26. Yamagata’s big goal: to go the ‘yellow sofas’ (a
practice area where students can converse
informally with teachers and other students,
including international students) by herself.
Yamagata’s SMART goals:
• To ask her freshman English class teacher a
question every lesson.
• To speak out in class discussions.
• To go to the yellow sofas with the support of
friends.
• To try a language exchange with overseas
students.

27. It’s your turn!!

28. What situations
make your
students feel
anxious?

33. Thank you!

34. References
• Curry, N. (2014). Using CBT with anxious language learners: The potential role of the learning advisor. Studies in Self-Access
Learning Journal, 5(1), 29-41.
• Leigh, A. (2009). Overcoming Foreign Language Anxiety. University of Waterloo. Faculty of Arts.
• Morissette, M. (2012).Setting Smart Goals in Language Learning. Retrieved from
http://learningenglishwithmichelle.blogspot.com/2012/09/setting-smart-goals-in-language-learning.html
• Nikitina, A. (2008). Smart Goal Setting. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hea8D64RpGI
• Padgett, L & Redmond, B. (2014). Goal Setting Theory. Retrieved from
https://wikispaces.psu.edu/display/PSYCH484/6.+Goal+Setting+Theory
• Rubin, J (2015). Using Goal Setting and Task Analysis to Enhance Task-Based Language Learning and Teaching". In Dimension 2015,
62-74. SCOLT. Retrieved from http://www.workingnet.com/joanrubin/pdfs/dimension2015JR.pdf
• Rubin, J (2005). The Expert Language Learner: a Review of Good Language Learner Studies." In Expertise in Second Language
Learning ed. by K. Johnson, pages 37-63.