A Contrastive Study On The Causes Of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Of High School Students In Urban And Rural Areas

The student-centered language teaching theory which is proposed by humanism advocates that language teaching should focus on students’ learning and classroom emotions rather than teachers’ teaching.Researches suggest that affective variables have long been considered to play a crucial part in the process of learning a second language,and one of the most important affective variables is anxiety.Most students at senior high school suffer from different levels of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety(FLCA).FLCA may negatively affect students’ English learning performance,and is considered to be obstacles to students’ listening,speaking,reading and writing.Therefore,it is both necessary and urgent to study the causes of high school students’ FLCA.Among the great variety of causes,learning motivation and learning strategies are the two most important variables,which deserve in-depth research.In this study,questionnaire surveys are conducted among 177 urban high school students and151 rural high school students in Hainan Province respectively to investigate the causes of FLCA.Different dimensions of motivation and language learning strategies that affect FLCA of rural and urban high school students are analyzed through statistics.On that basis,effective teaching strategies which can alleviate students’ FLCA are proposed.The data analyses of results reveal that students at senior high from different areas seem to experience average levels of anxiety in the English language classroom.The overall anxiety of senior high school students in urban areas is little lower than their rural counterparts.Different dimensions of learning motivation and learning strategies have an impact on FLCA of senior high school students in urban and rural areas.As far as senior high school students in rural areas are concerned,persistence in motivation dimensions has a significant negative impact on FLCA,and the significant negative influence is also found with memory strategies,cognition strategies,and metacognition strategies on FLCA.As to high school students in urban areas,cultural motivation has a significant negative impact on FLCA,but situational motivation has a significant positive influence on FLCA.Meanwhile,cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies under the learning strategy dimensions have asignificant negative impact on FLCA.According to the data analyses of results,some suggestions are given to alleviate students’ FLCA for urban and rural senior high English teaching.In terms of rural senior high English teaching,it is suggested to select suitable English textbooks according to the students’ English level,optimize evaluation models for the students to promote their persistence in learning English,and cultivate students’ language learning strategies to alleviate students’ FLCA.In terms of urban senior high English learning,improvement of students’ interest in learning,development of their autonomous learning ability and promotion of students’ group learning can lower the level of their FLCA and improve their English achievement.