The Study On The Current Situation And Strategies Of Rural Junior High School Students’ Speaking Anxiety In English Classes

Since 1970,more and more scholars began to pay attention to the influence of affective factors in foreign language learning.Anxiety is one of the most complicated parts of emotional factors.It is a great obstacle for students in the process of English communication,which has a certain impact on students’ oral English learning.However,the studies about rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety are rarely concerned by scholars and researchers.Based on the situation mentioned above,this study mainly researches the following three questions:(1)What is the status quo of the rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety in the English class?(2)What are the sources of the rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety in the English class?(3)What strategies should be adopted to relieve the rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety?According to the above three research questions,this study is based on Krashen’s input hypothesis,affective filter hypothesis,and humanistic psychology.200 students and 3 teachers in Mashuang Middle School are selected as the research subjects.This research uses questionnaire survey,interview methods,and takes foreign language classroom anxiety scale as a research tool to investigate the current situation and the sources of oral English anxiety of rural junior high school students.Through the analysis of questionnaire survey and interview,this study draws the following conclusions:(1)The status quo of the rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety in the English class are as follows: First,the students’ oral English anxiety is universal among the students in rural junior high school,and more than half of the students are at moderate and high anxiety levels.Second,among the four dimensions of oral English anxiety,the average score of other types of classroom anxiety is the highest,followed by communication apprehension and test anxiety,while the average score of fear of negative evaluation is the lowest.Third,this study reveals that females have a slightly higher level of oral English anxiety than their male counterpart,but the relationship between students’ oral English anxiety level and genders difference is insignificant.Fourth,there is also no significant difference between different grades with regard to students’ oral English anxiety level.(2)The main sources of rural junior high school students’ oral English anxiety are external and internal sources.The way of teachers’ error correction,the evaluation from teachers,teacher-student relationship,class activities,family factors and culture difference are included in the external sources.There are also some internal sources,such as,students’ attitude towards English learning,the interest of English learning,communication strategies and self-confidence.Based on the above conclusions of the study,the thesis proposes some strategies to alleviate students’ oral English anxiety in class.First of all,teachers should establish a harmonious relationship between teachers and students,adopt a variety of classroom activities,and then give students more incentive evaluation to stimulate students’ learning motivation.At the same time,teachers should use the right way of error correction,respect students’ personality and let students understand the cultural differences.Secondly,students should cultivate a good learning attitude,and make a reasonable learning plan of study.Students should also enhance their selfconfidence and improve their ability of using communication strategies.Finally,parents should love and encourage their children in their study.