The Relationships Between Language Anxiety, Learning Strategies And TEM-4 Scores In Chinese English Learners

This research investigated the relationships between foreign language anxiety, learning strategies and TEM-4 scores in Chinese English majors. One hundred and eighty-eight English majors from the School of Foreign Languages of Ludong University took part in the study as subjects. The revised questionnaire of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) by Horwitz, et al (1986) and Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1990) and the scores of TEM-4 were used. The data was analyzed with multiple research methods including descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, independent-Samples t Test analysis and regression analysis.Statistical analysis of the data has yielded the following findings:1) Chinese English-major sophomores are likely to experience foreign language anxiety. The sources of their anxiety are mainly from classroom activities, such as teachers'questions, unprepared oral work, test anxiety, and personal factors such as the lack of confidence and strong dependence on teachers.2) Foreign language anxiety has a negative correlation with TEM-4 scores: the higher the students'anxiety is, the poorer their scores are. However, the relationship between foreign language anxiety and TEM-4 scores is not simply a linear one. The scores gradually rise when the anxiety degree rises at the beginning, but when anxiety rises to a certain degree, the scores begin to fall; when it rises further, the scores remain stable. The reason for such a result may be related to the unique characteristics of Chinese English learners.3) The relationship between foreign language anxiety and learning strategies is negative. The higher the students'anxiety is, the lower frequency of use of learning strategies is. In other words, the higher the frequency of use of learning strategies is, the lower the students'anxiety is. This result implies as previous studies did that students should use more learning strategies (especially affective strategies and social strategies) to lower their foreign language anxiety.4) Interactive effect of foreign language anxiety and English learning strategies on TEM-4 scores is not significant. It is possibly due to the fact that English learning strategies have compensated for the negative effects of anxiety and removed the negative effects of the interaction of the two on the scores.The findings suggest that teachers should create a harmonious and supportive instructional environment for students so that they may feel relaxed and confident and may concentrate themselves on learning. To overcome or reduce foreign language anxiety needs the joint efforts of both teachers and students themselves. Effective learning strategies may possibly help the students to reduce their foreign language anxiety.The significance of the present study lies in providing more practical evidence for the related theory in this field. However, whether the results and implications of the study are of generality remains to be further testified. It is expected that more researches should be carried out systematically and comprehensively.