Humanistic Approach To Anxiety In Foreign Language Learning

With the increasing concern and research about the affective variables in foreign language learning, language instructors and learners also pay more attention to it, because we happen to live in such an era when the whole development of human beings are taken as its final goal. The study and research of affective factors regards language learners as humans with positive power to exert their potentials. The concerns shown to affects do in a sense have revolutionary meaning in the society. This thesis aims to help foreign language learners to explore the humanistic ways to alleviate debilitating effects of anxiety and improve the facilitating effects of anxiety through detailed analysis of anxiety. This paper consists of three chapters besides an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction is mainly on the retrospect of the research in this field and introduces some of the basic ideas to the readers. Chapter one serves not only as a theoretical basis on which further statements and analysis in the second chapter are established, but also a concrete foundation by clarifying some basic definitions and notions for what follows. Two pairs of concepts are referred respectively to state anxiety versus trait anxiety, facilitating anxiety versus debilitating anxiety. Also Krashen's famous Affective Filter Hypothesis is quoted here. Chapter two is the most important part of the paper, on which the next chapter bases its proposals. It mainly explores the factors responsible for the existence of anxiety and all the relevant evidence, and takes data-based questionnaire as evidence of results followed. The overall statement concerning the evidence of anxiety in classroom learning and test can be found in the first section of the second chapter. First come the anxious shows in the four skills like reading, listening, speaking and writing, then anxiety in test is discussed. Next to this come the reasons for anxiety, including learners' personal factors and procedural factors. Personal factors, like self-esteem, tolerance of ambiguity, risk of taking and competitiveness are analyzed in details and find out that a successful language learning should be those with high level of self-esteem, moderate self-esteem, proper tolerance of ambiguity, moderate risk-taking and competitiveness. On the other hand, the procedural factors mainly involves classroom atmosphere and teaching approaches used in class. The last part in the second chapter lays emphasis on the practical teaching of the author. This part mainly provide more first-hand information for the proposals in next chapter by contrasting the two kinds of teaching methods used in classroom instruction., i.e. traditional approach versus the improved methods, Chapter three offers four suggestions for instructor and learners respectively for the reduction of anxiety so as to improve the quality and efficiency of learning. The main purpose of this paper is to find out the most effective way to reduce anxiety in classroom setting. But what we are short of is the data-based instrumentation, and sincerely hope in the future more data-based researches can be conducted especially for the Chinese college students who suffer from language learning...