Abstract:
In the affective sphere of EFL learning especially with regard to teaching/learning situations in Iran, one deterrent element seizes particular attention and that is inhibition self-imposed restraint on or abstinence from learning due to academic and non-academic variables such as culture, gender, psyche, extreme emotions, etc. It is related to language ego permeability hypothesis (LEPH) which suggests that inhibition plays a powerful role in constraining achievement resulting both in an inhibition about using L2, which prevents them from gaining sufficient practice, and in the fear of making mistakes, etc. The main pursuit of this article is to locate such inhibitions, to give an observation-driven taxonomy of them, to shed some light on the inherent mechanisms of suppressed learning, and humbly offer ways to a more refined pedagogy especially in Iranian academic settings. Inhibition, if diagnosed and eroded, is superseded by arousal and will give way to more dynamic transactions among class participants which will consequently breed sounder setting for education. The study aims at uncovering the dynamism of inhibition and its ramification through a qualitative investigation of the variables proposed by 200 BA senior students (sampled out of 300) of varied backgrounds in their elicited questionnaires and 5 observed classes.
Machine summary:
The interest in affective variables in language learning is reflected in some modern teaching stances aimed at reducing anxiety and inhibitions and enhancing the learner’s motivation and self-esteem.
In the affective domain of second language acquisition we come to the notion of inhibition, among other parameters such as: empathy, self-esteem, extroversion, anxiety, motivation, learning style, etc.
Extramural: (outside-school sources) Intra personal: inhibitions arising from within a student which in turn fall into several categories, such as: psychological: including sadness; shyness (although learners are not expected be like stand-up comedians or ventriloquists); irritability; distractibility; feeling of worthlessness; narcissism; self- defeatism; self-handicapping (making excuses for one’s performance, asking the teacher to be exempted from class work); phobia (of different kinds, such as agoraphobia); low marketability (poor public relations or low social skills which hinder learners from selling themselves to others; aggression; delinquency (anti-social demeanor); burnout (exhaustion from long-term stress); staleness (having lost freshness and inhibition in people who have a deep-rooted built-in perfectionism to carry out tasks accurately, fearing to sound silly or act clumsily or make mistakes; a disposition which is a by-product of a face- saving strategy to secure their ego.
The responses to the questionnaire administered to a group of 200 university students learning English (majoring in Translation, TEFL, Journalism, and Art) revealed a grand typology of inhibitions to the researchers, some of which are specific to Iranian learners.