The Learning Zone between Comfort and Anxiety

A new language

In recent months, I’ve been trying to learn Arabic. I now know the alphabet and a few simple sentences. Ismi Marieke, ana ustedha al-lugha al-holandiyya (phonetically). My name is Marieke, I am a Dutch language teacher.

To be honest, it’s been quite a struggle. In the past I learned English, French, German, Italian and a bit of Spanish. That always came fairly easily to me.

But now, with Arabic, it felt as if I was learning a new kind of mathematics. My brain was all over the place. I started a beginner’s course three times without finishing it, and I spent two separate weeks in Rabat.

Language in your environment

After that, I decided to put my plan to learn Arabic on hold until I have more time to stay in an Arabic‑speaking country and learn the language there. Because learning a language while you constantly hear or see it around you is, in my experience, much more effective and much more fun. Especially if, like me, you enjoy learning by immediately applying what you’ve learned (experiential learning).

That’s more difficult with Arabic, because there is both a written variety—Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)—and a spoken variety (dialect), which differs greatly per country or region. It has hugely increased my respect for my Arabic‑speaking students who are trying to learn Dutch.

Decoding

When you learn a language with a different alphabet, reading and writing become much harder. I noticed that I was a very slow reader. I deciphered the characters letter by letter, and then still had to figure out what the word meant. Pronunciation actually turned out to be easier than expected: many sounds in Arabic also exist in Dutch.

Even so, in practice I could do little with the formal Arabic I learned in class. In daily life, people speak a dialect. As a language learner, you then have to choose whether you want to learn Moroccan, Egyptian or another dialect. But besides being a doer, I’m also someone who likes to first learn and analyse the basics properly before I start speaking. A thinker who would rather not make too many mistakes.

Fear of failure

This applies to many students. Often you have multiple learning styles, and depending on the situation you use a different one. Not rarely, fear of failure also comes into play—the fear of making mistakes and making a fool of yourself. Learning a language can make you so anxious that you panic and freeze. Does that mean you should wait with speaking until you feel safe enough?

No. A safe learning environment in which making mistakes is allowed and even seen as a positive learning experience is certainly important. But it also shouldn’t become too comfortable. If you stay too much in your comfort zone, you learn less. If you challenge yourself too much, you become too anxious and block. The balance is important.

Learning zone

From the very first lesson, I speak Dutch with my students. Some find that very frightening, so of course I use English as a support language. But after a few weeks, they are often pleasantly surprised by the number of words and sentences they can already understand and even say.

The situation in which effective learning takes place is also called the Learning Zone. You find yourself in a learning situation that is challenging, but not too scary. You feel a healthy tension. You gain energy and inspiration. You learn.

Learning Zone Model by Tom Senniger

Step by Step

Once I read the book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Dr Susan Jeffers. I learned that as long as we try new things, we will continue to feel fear. The fear only becomes smaller when we try to do the things we are afraid of. Experiences give us self‑confidence. Step by step.

That’s why I also believe in the importance of learning outside the classroom. Have you learned in class how to order something? Then after class, go to a café or restaurant to order something. Have you learned new words for vegetables and fruit? Then outside class, go to the market or the greengrocer and buy something there. That way, language learning becomes fun and at the same time you overcome your fear.