ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on foreign language anxiety among Japanese elementary-school teachers who have begun teaching English as a result of government initiatives and examines some of the main causes of their anxiety. It investigates whether teachers' characteristics had an effect on their levels of anxiety. These characteristics included gender, English-teaching experience, formal training, and self-assessed English proficiency level. Lack of preparation also apparently produced foreign language anxiety among teachers. The chapter reveals that high percentages of the Japanese elementary-school teachers surveyed exhibited anxiety about their own levels of English proficiency. The sources of this anxiety include lack of confidence regarding English communication and lack of experience and training for teaching English. A sufficient level of English proficiency seems to be an important factor in allaying teacher's overall anxiety. Improving teachers' English would benefit them not only in decreasing their anxiety, but also in preparing them for successful team-teaching with assistant language teachers (ALTs).
