An Investigation Of Students' English Reading Anxiety In NUDT

To improve foreign language (FL) teaching and learning, many teachers and researchers have paid increased attention to learners' affective variables, shifting from the focus on the way the teacher teaches to the way the student learns. Among the affective variables, foreign language anxiety is agreed to be one of the most important factors. In the 1990s researches on language anxiety showed great interest in the language-skill-specific anxiety and supported the existence of listening apprehension, reading anxiety and writing anxiety.This thesis sums up the previous and current researches in the foreign language anxiety, especially foreign language reading anxiety and finds put what is left to be done. Inspired by the fruitfulness of the western research results in language anxiety, the author attempts to conduct an investigation on English reading anxiety among the students in the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), to have a better understanding what is behind their reading anxiety, so as to improve the teaching and learning of English reading.The thesis gives a detailed review of the literature pertaining to the anxiety theories, anxiety and foreign language acquisition, as well as the foreign language reading anxiety. It begins with a discussion of anxiety theories, which is followed by a discussion of Krashen's Monitor Model, Eysenck's Anxiety Theory, Tobia's Model. Then, studies on foreign language reading anxiety by Oh, Saito et al., Sellers and Lawrence Zhang are discussed. Finally, it concludes with the potential sources of foreign language reading anxiety.The subjects of this research are randomly chosen from the students of Grade 2004 in NUDT, both undergraduates of technological majors and Integrate Training Brigade (ITB). By means of two previously published measurement scales (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS)), a background questionnaire on English reading, the author puts forward the following four research questions: 1. Is reading anxiety in a foreign language distinguishable from general foreignlanguage anxiety to the students in NUDT?2. If yes, to what degree are the subjects suffering reading anxiety in English? Is there any significant difference between the undergraduates in technological majors and the ones in ITB? What are the potential reasons for their reading anxiety?3. Is their reading anxiety in English related to some background variables?4. Is the anxiety students of NUDT experience while reading English texts similar to or different from that of the American students while reading the foreign language they are studying?By using the SPSS 12.0 computer software to analyze the qualitative data, the author makes the following conclusions. First, FL reading anxiety of students in NUDT is a specific anxiety type distinguishable from the more general types of FL anxiety. Second, the subjects are suffering a relatively high foreign language reading anxiety, but no significant difference is found between the two groups of students. Third, there are also some other background variables which are closely related to the students' foreign language reading anxiety, such as time spent on reading, self-perceived reading proficiency, motivation of reading, etc. Fourth, there are some substantial differences of foreign language reading anxiety between the students of NUDT and the American university students in Saito et al's study.Through the results of the present study, the author examines the difficulties and obstacles that hinder the students' reading in English. The study suggests that the problem of foreign language reading anxiety is not only due to the learner, such as lack of self-confidence, little interest in English reading, etc., but also to the language learning experience including the instructor, the methodology, the reading materials, the cultural and educational backgrounds.After probing the participants' different manifestations of foreign language reading anxiety, the author puts forward some strategies to help alleviate their reading anxiety and improve their reading effectiveness.The thesis ends with a summary of limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.