昆一中西山学校
内 容 摘 要
随着社会的的发展和进步，自从19世纪60年代以来国外的外语教育者和研究者开始关注外语学习者的情感因素。大量的研究表明很多学习者的情感因素是相互联系的。在所有的情感因素中，大多数人认为焦虑是在二语或外语学习最具影响的一个障碍因素。
本篇论文将探讨学习者最重要的个体因素之一：焦虑。在语言学习和教学过程中，学习者的焦虑已经被认为是语言学习的一个主要障碍。如何处理好学习者的焦虑问题是世界许多教育者关注的热点。本论文主要具体讨论学生焦虑状况及在英语课堂上教师如何减少学生焦虑从而提高学习成绩。
在世界各地关于情感因素的研究已经吸引了很多关注，但对于中国环境下学生在英语课堂上学习焦虑的研究很少，尤其是中学生的英语学习的焦虑研究很少。本次论文通过对高中生英语学习焦虑现状的分析及其验证，最终证明英语学习焦虑对学习者的学习成绩之间关系紧密。也就是说焦虑水平太高或太低又对学习不利，只有在焦虑处于中等水平时才能让学习者的学习达到最佳效果。
关键词：英语学习；语言焦虑；积极作用
The Analysis of the Research: The English Learning Anxiety of Senior School Students.
I. Research
1. The Anxiety of Second Language Learning.
The present study concerns whether language anxiety is related to Chinese students' English learning. This survey is to research the English learning anxiety of senior school students and find out that the anxiety in medium degree can lead learner to the best learning condition and proper anxiety has positive effects on the achievements of senior school students. In addition, drawing the inspiration from previous studies and considering the senior school students' English learning conditions, the researcher determined to employ a questionnaire to finish this thesis.
Since 1980s, the researches about second language acquisition have been made significant achievement. Most of these researches have agreed that the affective variables in study is related to the achievements of language learning (Young,1992; see also Gardner, 1985; Steinberg & Horwitz, 1986). Anxiety is considered as the most critical affective variables, while language anxiety is a complicated psychological phenomenon existing in language learning. The results of these researches showed that the external reflection of anxiety could be some general symptoms such as perspiring in the palm, stomach ache, heartbeat and pulse acceleration, etc. However, the anxiety of foreign language learning would manifest in the following aspects for language learners: “making voice modification; pronouncing unrhythmic and not fluent voice; trembling when answer the teacher's questions; forgetting the words learned a short time ago; even remaining silence in class, etc.” (Young, 1992). Some extreme symptoms could be like this: “playing truant; shunning the eye contacts with teachers; going to class without previewing the text, etc.” (Wan & Wang, 2001).
Language learners with anxiety will be rarely conscious of answering teacher's questions and participating in the classroom activities. They are inclined to avoid the complicated sentence structures, while having an itch to those simple ones. Therefore, the relation between the language anxiety and the achievements of foreign language learning presents negative correlation. However, the impacts of language anxiety on the English learning still exist in other aspects: anxiety has been proved to affect the achievements of listening comprehension; students with anxiety often complain that the teachers' course is too quick to catch up with; they need time to study their own courses. The anxiety still exist in the test and examination.
However, in foreign language learning, the researches concerned haven't proved the relationship between anxiety and learners achievements in language learning. For example, Kleinmann(1977) researched the relationship between mother tongue and Spanish and Arabic showed that anxiety is related to the complicated language structures like passive voice.Young(1986) took the learners of French, Spanish and Arabic for the objects of study, trying to seek out whether the proficiency of oral expression was affected by the anxiety. While he discovered students' achievements of Oral Proficiency Interview was related to anxiety scale means.
2. Methods and Subjects of the Research
Based on the theories mentioned in this thesis, the subjects of this research were senior school students. They were in No.5 junior middle school in Tengchong City, which had three grades and each grade included 9 or 10 classes. Two classes from each grade were chosen as a sample and all in all the researcher got six classes from three grades. The research subjects were 100 senior middle school students, which could represent the whole three-year students of this senior school.
In order to get exact research results, a questionnaire was employed in this thesis. There are 100 senior school students from different grade in Tengchong NO. 5 middle school were chosen as the respondents of this survey. There was just one kind of research instrument in this research which was a questionnaire containing 30 questions about the anxiety of senior school students when they were learning English. At the same time, the results of questionnaires would reveal that the anxiety in medium degree could let learners to the best condition.
The research granted 100 questionnaires to the students from senior 1, senior 2, and senior 3 in Tengchong NO. 5 middle school and take back all of questionnaire. The rate is 100%.
3. Analysis of the Questionnaire
The questionnaire consulted Horwitz's Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and the researcher's teaching experiences in last term in Chongqing NO. 24 middle school, containing 30 questions and the respondents' English average scores of the recent 3 times.
In this questionnaire, the research questions were written in Chinese version. The questionnaire contains thirty items, each of which is answered on a five-point liked scale, ranging from (a) “strongly agree”, to (c) “neither agree nor disagree”, to (e) “strongly disagree”. A student's response to (a) “strongly agree” was equated with a numerical value of 5; (b) “agree” was 4; (c) “neither agree nor disagree”, was 3; (d) “disagree” was 2; and, (e) “strongly agree” was 1. The theoretical rage of this scale is from 30 to 150 (see Appendix). The higher the total points are, the more anxious the student is.
The questionnaires were handed out soon after the students finished their English classes. It took the students 20 minutes to complete this questionnaire. Knowing that the survey would help them learn English better, and they had just had an English class, most students showed more interest in the questionnaire and took it comparatively seriously. The researcher thought the answers could be more real.
In order to get exact data of senior school students' anxiety level, the researcher consulted Oxford's Frequency Scale (as cited in Yang) and then classified the mean scores of the respondents into four degree. The students with total mean score during 106-150 is in high anxiety level; 76-105 is in media level; 46-75 is in low level and 30-45 is in no anxiety level.
4. Results of the Research
According to the scores of the questionnaire and the points of these senior school students, the researcher found that the anxiety raising among senior school students when they were learning English. Although they were from different grades, their anxiety in English learning was somewhat similar to each other. The following coordinate and chart are about the level and figures of the English learning anxiety of the senior school students.
As the above coordinate and chart unfolding before our eyes, the group of students with no anxiety in English learning are 11 and their English average score is 33.16. The students group with low anxiety are 26 and their score is 51.61. The group with the anxiety in middle level are 29 and their score is 76.47. The students with the highest anxiety take over the most students in this survey, while their English score is not the highest.
In this questionnaire, the following items can more effectively calculate the respondents' anxiety level: the first item (When you communicate with your classmates in English, you feel very nervous); the fourth one (When you need answer questions in English class, you fee nervous); the fifth one (You are afraid of loosing English exam); the 13th one (When you listen to English, you feel nervous); and the 14th one (You have no confidence when you are in English class).
While the predicable effects of the following ones are not so obvious because they are not really related to the English learning anxiety. The 9th one (As soon as seeing stranger words in reading, you feel so nervous); the 11th one (You have no self-confidence when you are reading); the 17th one (You are impatient to much more English classes); the 18th one (In English class, you always think some unrelated things); and the 22th one (You always feel that the teachers speak so fast that you can not catch up with it). The remaining items without doubt are effective for the research and the test of respondents' English learning anxiety. In a word, all the items of this questionnaire are useful for this research, merely because different items have different effects on the on the research of students' English learning anxiety level.
5. Summary
In this survey, the researcher finds that the anxiety does exist in English learning of Chinese students and different students have different anxiety level. At the same time, the researcher finds that the Chinese students with higher anxiety take over an overwhelming majority of the students while few students are low anxious. These students with no anxiety and low anxiety are those who have give up their English even their future. The survey also can give another conclusion that the average scores of the students with the anxiety in middle level are higher than those whose anxiety is lower or higher.
The findings of this study appear to corroborate other studies in suggesting that anxiety can positively affect the language learning experience in numerous ways and that reducing anxiety seems to increase language acquisition, retention, and learner motivation. Therefore, it is suggested that awareness of foreign language anxiety be heightened and taken seriously by teachers and students alike. This may be accomplished by means of workshops or presentations elaborating foreign language anxiety and exploring the positive motivational aspects of anxiety reduction.
II. Conclusion
This part is the conclusion of this thesis, including the following three aspects: the findings, the limitations and suggestions of this thesis. Foreign language learning is such a complicated process that it involves many other factors than learner anxiety. Besides, anxiety has close correlation with many other affective factors that play an important role in English learning. They can never be separated from each other.
1. Findings of the Thesis
The present researcher has carried out a series of investigation into the effects of anxiety on learners' learning. By means of quantitative and qualitative research and class observation, this paper has acquired rich and valuable findings and has made some tentative conclusions about the research questions advanced at the beginning of this thesis.
In the first place, the correlation between the anxiety and learning efficiency is inseparable. That is: too high or too low anxiety is bad for English learning. The anxiety in medium degree can lead learner to the best learning condition. It has great pedagogical implications on how to provide the learning environment with medium level of anxiety.
Second, higher-achievers have lower anxiety, while lower-achievers have higher anxiety. Achievement and anxiety have an inverse ratio.
Third, the major factors contributing to anxiety include lack of confidence, fear of negative evaluation and teachers' incomprehensible input.
Finally, the practical teaching methods in reducing learners' anxiety involve the teacher's empathy with them, comprehensible input, and lively classroom atmosphere.
2. Suggestions for Future Research
Future research should focus on the following several aspects: First, the future researchers need further exploration. Future researches should focus on the pedagogy in the following aspects: future investigation needs a larger sample size than that used in this study, for example, students in schools from different background and of different age and different majors. The second suggestion for future research is that the questionnaire should be designed clearly enough for the subjects to understand more. This may help the researcher to get information of higher validity.Finally, it is suggested to explore positive effect on facilitating anxiety, as well as negative effect of debilitating anxiety on foreign language learning and to find ways to fully utilize facilitating anxiety to enhance language learning.
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