A Study Of English Classroom Anxiety Of Chinese College Students

Since the 1980s, second (foreign) language acquisition has gradually aroused people's interests and great progress has been witnessed in this field. Much research has similar opinions on the relationship between affective variables and foreign language learning. Anxiety is considered one of the most crucial affective variables, and language anxiety a kind of complicated mental phenomenon specific to language learning. China is a nation the most foreign language learners in the world. Therefore, discussions on foreign language anxiety possess both theoretical significance and pragmatic value. Anxiety is often regarded as kind of aberrant emotions, which is also termed as mental abnormality (Wang &Wan 2001). Anxiety is the "tense anticipation of a threatening but vague event; a feeling of uneasy suspense. It is a negative affect so closely related to fear that in many circumstances the two terms are used interchangeably"(Rachman 1998: 2). Difference in the conceptualization of anxiety may have influenced the results of some investigations of the role of anxiety in language learning (Maclntyre & Gardner 1991). So it is essential to delineate three perspectives from which anxiety has been investigated in a number of different areas. These will be referred to as the trait, state and situation specific viewpoints, respectively. Trait anxiety may be defined as an individual's likelihood of becoming anxious in any situation (Spielberg 1983). A person with high trait anxiety would be highly likely to become apprehensive in a number of different situations. Trait anxiety has been shown to impair cognitive functioning, to disrupt memory, to lead to avoidance behaviors, and to have several other effects (MacIntyre & Gardner 1991). State anxiety is a blend of the trait and situational approaches. It is apprehension experienced at a particular moment in time, for example, prior to taking examinations (Spielberger 1983). Spielberger generalizes that state anxiety is transitory; it occurs when evoked by threatening stimuli, and usually endures for only a limited period after the disappearance of the threat. As an alternative to the state anxiety concept, several researchers have adopted the situation specific approach to the study of anxiety. Situation specific constructs can be seen as trait anxiety measures limited to a given context. Respondents are tested for their anxiety reactions in a well-defined situation such as public speaking, writing examinations, performing math, or participating in French class or Japanese class. Language anxiety, according to Gardner and MacIntyre (1991), is fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in a second or foreign language. Horwitz et al. (1986) conceptualize foreign language anxiety as "a distinct complex of self-perceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process"(1986:128). Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) developed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale in order to cater for this specificneed to measure foreign language anxiety. Ever since its first appearance, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which consists of three related components, i.e., communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation, has caught attention of many scholars and researchers. Communication apprehension (CA) refers to a predisposition to "avoid communication, if possible, or suffer a variety of anxiety-type feelings when forced to communicate"(McCroskey et al. 1976: 376). Difficulties in speaking in dyads or groups (oral communication anxiety) or in public ("stage fright") or in listening to or learning a spoken message (receiver anxiety) are all manifestations of communication apprehension. The foreign language class requires the learner to communicate via a medium in which only limited facility is possessed. The special communication apprehension permeating foreign language learning derives from the personal knowledge that one will almost certainly have difficulty in understanding others and making oneself understood. Test anxiety namely, apprehension over academic evaluation, refers to a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure (Sarason 1980). The pedagogical requirements of the school and teacher require that the student continually be assessed on aspects of proficiency while that proficiency is being required. Therefore, test-anxious students often put unrealistic demands on themselves and feel that anything less than a perfect test performance is nothing but a failure.Fear of negative evaluation, defined as "apprehension about others evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation than others would evaluate oneself negatively", is a third anxiety related to foreign language learning (Waston & Friend 1969). People, who are strongly sensitive to others'evaluation, are likely to avoid or withdraw from social situations in which others might view them negatively. In the language classroom, this is observable in behaviors such as keeping silent, responding only when necessary or forced to, being passive, and even avoiding class entirely. Recently most of researchers have applied FLCAS to the study. FLCAS has been examined from different angles, such as its reliability and validity, its theoretical construct, and so on (Horwitz 1986; Aida 1994; Ganschow & Spark 1996). In China language researchers and teachers have used the related achievements in West for reference. The representatives are Liu Runqing, Wu Yian and Dai Manchun. These studies are of great help for promoting English teaching and learning in China. Besides a number of personal variables, such as motivation, self-esteem and personalities that affect foreign language anxiety have also been examined. The present study utilizes FLCAS's theoretical model as a research framework to explore English classroom anxiety among college students, the sources of the anxiety and coping styles, that is to find out the distribution of the three aspects of English classroom anxiety (communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation), the relationship between English Classroom Anxiety and achievement on spoken English test and the differentanxieties students with different personalities experience. The study includes both quantitative and qualitative studies. In the quantitative study, the questionnaire consisted of personal information part and FLCAS designed by Horwitz, etc. In the qualitative study, the students who scored either high or low on the questionnaire of FLCAS were required to participate in the interview. The software called SPSS 13.0 analyzes the data. The subjects chosen for this study were 126 sophomores out of Changchun Teachers College, who were majoring in English. Among 126 answer sheets, 120 are valid. The major findings are in the following. Firstly, there does exist English classroom anxiety among the Chinese college students. To be more specific, most of the students experienced higher anxiety. Secondly among the three aspects of English classroom anxiety, communication apprehension ranked highest, with a remarkably higher than test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Fear of negative evaluation ranked lowest. Thirdly, there is a significantly negative correlation between achievement on spoken English test and English classroom anxiety. Fourthly, motivation is found to be an important factor affecting English classroom anxiety. The results of the quantitative study show significant and negative correlations between English classroom anxiety and motivation. However, a surprising finding is that most Chinese college students tend to have a poor self-evaluation on their own language proficiency, which indicates that most Chinese college students lack self-confidence when learning the foreign language. Fifthly, the main sources of English classroom anxiety of Chinese college students were probed. The results suggest that classroom communication, tests and teaching materials are themain sources arousing Chinese college students'English classroom anxiety. Lastly, the effects by English classroom anxiety were also examined. Despite the fact that a few active learners might take positive coping strategies like making extra effort to reduce preventable anxious feelings, English classroom anxiety generally does harm rather than good to Chinese college students. The most common consequences are avoidance. Concentration failure is another harmful effect of English classroom anxiety. Last but not the least, English classroom anxiety can lead to a vicious circle. That is, highly anxious learners may become less motivated, less interested, take negative attitudes, and have low self-esteem, and then cause poor performances both in class and in tests, which lead to a greater level of anxiety. Based on the above findings, the author offers several implications for English teachers and learners respectively for the reduction of anxiety so as to improve the quality and efficiency of English learning. English teachers need to be aware of the students'individual difference and help learners to reduce English classroom anxiety through promoting the group dynamics, giving proper classroom evaluation as well as using target language and mother tongue properly. English learners had better make proper expectations, adjust learning strategy and build up self-confidence to overcome anxiety. Anxiety is possibly the most pervasive obstruction in English learning. The findings as well as the discussion of the present study pave way for more in-depth study on anxiety and its more subtle effects upon English learners in the Chinese contexts.