The affective filter in the mandatory and optional classes: an experience in Spanish teaching in a professionalizing context

Abstract

This article investigates the influence of the affective filter in students of a professional center in the acquisition of Spanish as a foreign language. The work seeks to verify whether, for this group, the optional class modality can be considered more favorable than the mandatory class in the language acquisition process. This hypothesis originated based on Stephen Krashen's current theory about the acquisition of a second language: the affective filter hypothesis. As a research instrument, a practical study was carried out based on a questionnaire applied to Spanish students in professional courses at a Salesian social organization located in the East Zone of the city of São Paulo. The answers were counted and examined from specific aspects and, thus, the theoreticalpractical investigations allow for contemplating favorable and / or adverse aspects related to the acquisition of Spanish and the influence of the affective filter.