Abstract
There is a substantial body of work focused on the effect of affective factors on L2 learning. Most of these studies, however, are based on questionnaires and self-reports. This study aims to objectively explore the effects of trait-anxiety on state-anxiety by measuring heart rate and pitch changes during L2 oral reading tasks. Fifty-four university students read a passage in the following sequence: first in English, then in Japanese, and in English again. The heart rate and pitch changes at the sentence level were compared between the first and second English readings. Results showed that participants with higher affective factors did not exhibit significant difference in heart rate, whereas those with lower affective factors indicated a significantly higher heart rate during the first reading compared to the second. Similarly, participants with higher affective factors did not show a significant difference in maximum fo between the first and second readings while those with lower affective factors demonstrated a significantly higher maximum fo during the first reading than the second. Furthermore, fo range was narrower for the high affective group than the low affective group. These findings highlight the impact of both trait-anxiety and state-anxiety on L2 speaking.
https://ror.org/0575dme84 
