The theory of Affective Filter was developed by Stephen Krashen and it proposes that language can not be learned if the student is blocking the learning process, hence the ‘filter’. A student with a high affective filter means that learning is less likely to take place, whereas when we can lower the affective filter, the learning process is easier and smoother.
What are the possible causes of a high affective filter?
If a student has a high affective filter means that he is not feeling comfortable in a safe environment. Stress, lack of motivation, and anxiety directly interfere with the learning process. Teenagers may have a high affective filter because of their own fears of group acceptance, being mocked when making a mistake, knowing less than other students, low motivation because they don’t see the relevance in learning a new language, shyness, bad experiences in previous stages, etc.
What can be done to lower the affective filter?
- Make sure students get to know each other and work cooperatively with different pairs and groups whenever possible. This way, it will become easier for them to talk in a different language in front of friends rather than strangers, and they won’t feel self-conscious about making mistakes. You can get more ideas on how to arrange random groups on the links provided on Level 1.
- Encourage peer correction. Many students would rather be corrected by a friend rather than the teacher. Besides, by doing this you also make students responsible for their own learning.
- Do not tolerate any sneering comments. Teenagers like to tease and mock each other, and even if they argue that it’s done in good jest, it’s not acceptable behavior in class. Nip sneering comments in the bud and be clear that there is no place for such remarks during the lesson.
- When giving feedback and correcting errors and mistakes, focus on what you want them to produce, not on what the mistake was.
- It goes without saying but treat all students equally so they don’t feel you are picking on some of them. Reflect upon your own practices and think if there is a student you pick on more than others. Sometimes, a teacher favors a good student more than others, which can raise the affective filter of the whole classroom.
Get to know more about the Affective filter:
Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Krashen, Stephen D. 1982, Pergamon Press
http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf
http://eldstrategies.com/affectivefilter.html
Karen Tiemy Ohara 