A Contrastive Study Of Language Anxiety Between English And Non-English Majors And Its Relationship With Classroom Participation

Language anxiety，as one of affective factors, presents as learner’s state ofapprehension or fear generated in the language learning process. This research adoptscontrastive method to probe into the differences of language anxiety between Englishmajors and non-English majors as well as the relationship between language anxietyand classroom participation. Based on Hortwiz et al.’s Foreign Language ClassroomAnxiety Scale (FLCAS), Survey of Students’ Participation in English Classroom andrandom interviews on students, all the data are processed with the help of SPSS19.0.This research reveals that there generally exists medium or high level of languageanxiety in the process of language learning for both English majors and non-Englishmajors. Between them, non-English majors act more anxious obviously. On the choiceof classroom participation pattern, though most students show great interest in thegroup pattern, it gains low efficiency for bad management and students’ lowself-control in the practical operation. While, the pair pattern is most popular for itshigh efficiency and free. Through the Pearson Correlation obtained with the help ofSPSS19.0, the study confirms that there is negative correlation between languageanxiety level and classroom participation.In the light of the results of this research, this paper provides some suggestionsfor both language learners and teachers to lower language anxiety level and makestudents more active in participating class, finally to increase students’ learningefficiency in future.