in Pimsleur et al., 1962) found that low achievers in Latin showed "emotionality, inner conflict, and anxiety" on a personality test. Oller, Baca, and Vigil (1977), in their study of Mexican-American females in New Mexico, reported that the more subjects saw themselves as "calm, conservative, religious, shy, humble, sincere", the better they did on a Cloze test of English as a second language.

Chastain (1975) reported a significant correlation between test anxiety and success in audio-lingually taught French in an American university. The correlation was negative (r = -0.48), indicating that low test anxiety was associated with greater success, which is consistent with the studies cited above. A positive correlation, however, was found between test anxiety and achievement in Spanish (0.21) and German (0.37) taught by "traditional" methods. Anxiety as measured by the Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale was positively correlated with Spanish achievement but showed no other significant relationships. One interpretation of the test anxiety result is that the audio-lingual method actually emphasizes subconscious acquisition, despite its announced intention to establish habits, while "traditional" methods focus on conscious learning. Perhaps low anxiety benefits acquisition, while at least a moderate degree of anxiety may be helpful for learning.

Self-image. Self-image has been shown to be related to second language achievement in a few studies. Heyde (1977) examined the relationship between self-esteem and oral production in ESL performers at the University of Michigan. In her pilot study involving fifteen subjects, she found a high correlation between global self-esteem and teacher ratings of oral production (global self-esteem is defined as the individual's evaluation of his own worth). Oller, Hudson, and Liu (1977), in their study of Chinese-speaking ESL students in the US, found that a variety of positive self-perceptions relate to performance on the Cloze test. Subjects who saw themselves as "democratic, broad-minded, and calm" tended to do better on the Cloze (r = 0.36), as did those who saw themselves as "kind, friendly, not business-like, considerate, and helpful" (r = 0.34). Since these traits were found to be positively valued by the subjects, Oller et al. conclude that "the more positive a subject's self-concept, the higher the subject's achievement in ESL" (p. 14). Also, Naimon, Fröhlich, Stern, and Todesco

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