A Study Of Correlations Among English Reading Anxiety, Strategies And Performance

As individual differences of foreign language learners have been given more and more attention, the influence of affective factor, a subcategory of individual differences, has been studied by more and more FL researchers. Anxiety, as a kind of affective factor, has become a hot topic of FL studies naturally. Since late 1980s when Horwitz et al. (1986) began to set foot in the field of FL learning anxiety, the studies on this aspect have been carried out, which is a sign that FL learning anxiety is an inevitable factor in FL learning. However, majority of these studies just cared about the general FL learning anxiety. Even if some researchers tried to refer to certain specific aspect of FL anxiety such as anxiety in listening or speaking, they actually borrowed the theory and model of general FL anxiety, which lacked accuracy for specific study. In 1999, Saito et al., who firstly put forward the concept of FL Reading Anxiety, analyzed the similarities and differences between this concept and general FL learning anxiety. What's more, he designed a Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) to test the levels of reading anxiety of subjects. However, this meaningful study has not been given sufficient attention in China, and few studies focused on the relationship between reading anxiety and reading strategies, let alone the studies on the correlations among reading anxiety, strategies and performance.R. Ellis (1994) put forward a linear model of correlations among several factors of language learners: individual differences (including affective factors), choice of learning strategies and outcome (scores). In his opinion, affective factors (such as anxiety, 'a particular type') may influence the choice of strategies, and the choice of strategies will have effects on outcomes. However, the direct influence of anxiety on the outcomes is not demonstrated in his model. According to the Affective Filter Hypothesis developed by Krashen, certain correlation should exist between learning anxiety and performance. Therefore, this research should solve the following problems at least: whether English reading anxiety correlates with performance and reading strategies, and whether the correlations among reading anxiety, strategies and performance accord with the linear model proposed by Ellis.By random sampling, this study chooses 127 sophomores of non-English majors of Southwest Jiaotong University as subjects, and employs SPSS 12.0 to classify and analyze the results of Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS), English Reading Strategies Scale (ERSS) and Reading Test Paper (authentic reading materials from CET 4 of Jan. 2005). Based on the analysis of English reading anxiety, reading strategies and performance respectively, the following correlation study of the three factors testifies that certain relations do exist among the three factors, i.e. there is a negative relation between reading anxiety and reading performance, a positive relation between the choice of reading strategies and performance, and a negative relation between reading anxiety and reading strategies. Furthermore, all the differences between anxiety and performance, between choice of strategies and performance, and between anxiety and choice of strategies are significant. Therefore, a triangular model for reading is proposed, which indicates that English reading anxiety, strategies and performance correlate with each other.Theoretically based on the linear model of R. Ellis, this thesis studies the correlations among reading anxiety, strategies and performance, but finally a flaw of the linear model is found. Therefore, a triangular model is put forward to show the complete correlation structure of the three factors and to stress the influence of reading anxiety in English reading. The results of this study can stimulate English teachers to pay attention to the state of students' English reading anxiety so that the negative influence of reading anxiety on the choice of reading strategies and performance can be reduced by appropriate teaching methods and the students' interest in English reading can also be aroused gradually.