A Study On The Correlation Between Foreign Language Listening Anxiety And Language Learning Strategies Of Junior High Students

Listening plays a crucial role in foreign language learning.However,language learners often perceive listening as the most difficult language skill to learn and some of them even report feelings of nervousness or anxiety in listening.This study aims to identify the relationship between foreign language listening anxiety and language learning strategies in junior high school students by firstly measuring the levels of foreign language listening anxiety that they experience and then assessing the types and frequencies of language learning strategies,then exploring language learning strategy use by different language anxiety level groups.Finally,the characteristics of correlation between foreign language listening anxiety and language learning strategy are identified.For this purpose,a total of 190 junior high students from a Middle School in Chengdu voluntarily participate in the quantitative study.The instruments used in this study consist of the Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale(FLLAS),an instrument developed by Kim,and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning(SILL),an instrument developed by Oxford.Data from the questionnaires is analyzed through SPSS.22.Statistical procedures include descriptive statistics,independent sample t-test,and Pearson correlation analysis.Descriptive statistics indicate that(1)a majority of participants generally acknowledge to experience an elevated level of foreign language listening anxiety.(2)Participants report a medium frequency of overall language strategy use and its six subcategories as well.Compensation strategies were reported to be employed the most frequently,followed by memory strategy,cognitive strategy,meta-cognition strategy and affective strategies.Social strategy use was reported to be the least frequently used language learning strategy.Independent sample t-test demonstrates that(3)Participants at high and low listening anxiety levels significantly differed in the frequency of six strategy category use.Specifically speaking,participants at low listening anxiety level use most frequently for the six language learning strategies.Correlation Analysis identifies(4)Foreign language listening anxiety have a significantly moderate negative correlation with overall language learning strategy(r=-.509,p<0.01),with memory strategy manifesting the strongest negative correlation with foreign language listening anxiety,followed by compensation strategy,meta-cognitive strategy,cognitive strategy,affective strategy.Social strategy,however,is found to have a comparatively weaker negative correlation with foreign language listening anxiety.