Correlation Between Personality Trait And English Speaking Anxiety Of College Non-english Majors

The focus of SLA (Second Language Acquisition) and FLT (Foreign Language Teaching)study is shifting from the study of teaching approaches to the study of learning process, thus,as a key variable of learners’ affective factors, foreign language anxiety study receivesincreasing attention from researchers (Zhu Xinbin2008). Foreign language learning anxietyprominently affects learners study and SLA, and more importantly, increase of anxiety bringsside effects to learners’ study in language classes (Wang Yinquan and Wan Quanshu2001).Generally speaking, anxiety centers on speaking, however, owing to various reasons, studiesmainly focus on theories of foreign language anxiety, the correlation between anxiety andscores or performance, or anxiety in listening, reading and writing.Choosing personality and English speaking anxiety as two variables, this study, based onthe researches and summary of related literatures and theories, combines the quantitativeapproach with qualitative approach to investigate the personality traits and level of Englishspeaking anxiety of the185students from Northwest A&F University. The aim of conductingthis study is to analyze the correlation between personality traits and English speaking anxiety,explore how personality traits affect English speaking anxiety and investigate students’reactions to in-class activities and teachers’ characteristics and teaching practices.This study attempts to answer the following questions:1) What is the situation of Englishspeaking anxiety of undergraduate students?2) What is the correlation between personalitytraits and English speaking anxiety?3) What are sources of English speaking anxiety amongdifferent personality traits?4) How do students respond to in-class activities and teachers’characteristics in English class?In the quantitative study, data were collected through a questionnaire among185non-English major students and were analyzed to classify their personality traits, level ofself-esteem and level of English speaking anxiety. Meanwhile, all the data collected wereanalyzed by using SPSS18.0in light of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, One-WayANOVA, and Paired-Samples T Test. In qualitative study,30students were chosen from the185participants.5students were selected from high, intermediate and low anxiety group respectively; and5students from introverted, neutral and extroverted group respectively.Class observation was also conducted to6classes once two weeks over16weeks.Combined the data and materials from quantitative and qualitative studies, finding of thisstudy were summarized as follows:1) There are more extroverted and introverted subjects in the present study, whereasneutral types are the least.49.7%of the participants belongs to extroverts, and38.5%of theparticipants could be categorized into introverts. The other11.9%is neutral type.2) Students suffer from English speaking anxiety in oral English class with the averageESA score of83.03. Most of the students (135) are in high and intermediate anxiety groups.And most learners with high speaking anxiety are introverts.3) Personality trait and English speaking anxiety are negatively related. The moreintroverted the students are, the larger level of English speaking anxiety will be, and viceversa. Introversion has greatest effect on English speaking anxiety. ESA scores of introvertedstudents are obviously higher than the other two personality types.4) English speaking anxiety of students is reduced after taking16-week oral Englishclass. English speaking anxiety of extroverted students has relatively obvious and greatdecrease than the other two types. Introverted students experienced the least change onEnglish speaking anxiety.5) Extroverts feel anxious mainly because they are not satisfied with their imperfectperformance and fulfillment of the task in English class and they experience high speakinganxiety in non-interactive activities while introverts suffer from high speaking anxiety mainlybecause they fear to be asked and exposed in front of others, they are extremely fearful aboutmaking mistakes and losing their faces when speaking in English and they experience highspeaking anxiety in both interactive and non-interactive activities. Introverted students caremore about instructors’ characteristics than the extroverted students do. At the same time,both the extroverts and introverts express their fear of negative evaluation from instructors.6) With regard to in-class activities, there is no big difference between extroverts’ andintroverts’ preferences. They feel less anxious in performing prepared Mini-drama, role playand speech in class. Their differences lie in the ways to deal with speaking anxiety.Extroverted students tend to be more positive towards their speaking anxiety and adopt waysto relieve negative feelings while introverted students are passive in dealing with speakinganxiety. As to the suggestions to the English class, both of the extroverted and introvertedstudents agree that appropriate way of correcting errors, carefully designed student-centeredactivities, a nice and humorous teacher, a pleasant and relaxing class environment willfacilitate and reduce their tension and anxiety in English class. Findings above could provide foreign language teaching with some pedagogicalimplications:1) Proper timing and way of correcting errors and mistakes.2) Carefullydesigned in-class activities.3) Successful communication with learners in a low-anxietyclassroom environment. These anxiety reducing strategies could help students to combatnegative feelings. Thus, learners could gradually build the confidence to speak foreignlanguage in front of other, develop strong interest in foreign language learning and would liketo be “spotlighted” in public so as to improve efficiency of foreign language learning.