COPING WITH COMMUNICATION AVOIDANCE IN EFL LEARNERS: A PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVE INFORMED BY EXPOSURE-BASED PRINCIPLES
Keywords:
communication avoidance, foreign language anxiety, EFL learners, exposure-based principles, learner participation, pedagogical copingAbstract
Communication avoidance represents a persistent barrier to oral participation among many university-level EFL learners. It manifests as silence, withdrawal, or reluctance to initiate interaction and is often maintained despite adequate linguistic competence and instructional support. While research on foreign language anxiety has extensively documented the prevalence of such barriers, pedagogical responses have tended to focus either on prevention or on creating overly protective learning environments that may unintentionally reinforce avoidance. This conceptual paper offers a theory-informed pedagogical perspective on communication avoidance in young adult EFL learners. Drawing on insights from psychology, particularly exposure-based principles, it conceptualizes avoidance as a coping response to perceived communicative threat rather than a deficit to be eliminated. The discussion carefully translates selected exposure-based principles – such as graduality, predictability, repetition, and learner control – into educational contexts, explicitly distinguishing pedagogical application from therapeutic intervention. Rather than aiming to reduce anxiety directly, the article focuses on how classroom practices can support learners in coping with discomfort and engaging in communication despite it. Building on this conceptual framework, the article outlines three semi-conceptual activity types that illustrate how exposure-informed pedagogical design can reduce avoidance and strengthen learner participation. The proposed approach offers practical and theoretically grounded insights for addressing communication barriers in university-level EFL contexts.
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