A Study On Foreign Language Anxiety And English Learning Strategies For Higher Vocational And Technical Students Of Non-English Majors

The higher vocational and technical colleges in our country have been developing quickly in recent years. The higher vocational and technical education is quite different from any of the higher education in China, which undertakes the task of training qualified and applied technical workers to meet the needs of industries and enterprises .They play an active role in our socialist economic construction. As the popularization course of higher education is becoming quickly, the number of this special group accounts for over 50% of the total number of the college students in China. Moreover, the students of the higher vocational and technical colleges have their own characteristics which are completely different from those in the common universities and high schools in the learning process. Most of the students are from the countryside, and their entrance requirements are much lower than that of other college students, especially in Jiangxi province, and there are thin chances for them to get a desired job after graduation. Therefore, they have relatively weak learning motivation and different learning goals, lack of sufficient knowledge that they should have obtained in secondary or elementary school, and have little confidence in themselves for the future, especially feel no interest in learning the foreign language. In addition, up to now the special group is often neglected by the common researchers. There have been few studies on their learning, so it is necessary to make a survey on the situations of their English anxiety and levels of English learning strategies used by V&T students(the higher vocational and technical college students). This can contribute to know the current situations about their English anxiety and learning strategies as well as the relationship between them so that it will offer the help for the future English teaching.In recent years, researchers in foreign language learning and teaching have shifted their attention from examing the methods of teaching to investigating the process of learning, because the studies of teaching methodology in the past decades have not proved effective enough. As a result, a lot of studies have been made on the factors affecting learners' learning process. As it is known to us that language learning is a very complicated process. During a foreign language learning, numerous learner variables are said to influence the success of language learning, among which, foreign language anxiety, as a significant variable in affective factors, occupies an important position and has a great impact on language learning; learning strategies, as the reflection of language learners' way of cognition and learning rules, also play a very important role and exert great influence on learners' language development.Many researches find that there is the tendency that English anxiety has a negative effect on English learning whereas English learning strategies have positive effects on English learning if properly used. It is also found that foreign language anxiety may not be alleviated simply through certain teaching methodologies and the change of teachers' beliefs. Some research findings suggest that effective learning strategies may help reduce English anxiety. However, most of the previous studies are about the high school students or common university students. Then what about the current situations of English anxiety and English learning strategies for V&T students? What's the relationship between English anxiety and English learning strategies? Are there any differences of V &T students' English anxiety and English learning strategies under different background variables? These are what the present study is concerned with.By the way of quantitative research and qualitative research, five hundred and twenty eight V&T students took part in the study as subjects. The quantitative research was carried out by using Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS) which was designed by Horwitz et.al in 1986 to survey the current situation of English anxiety and Strategy Inventory For Language Learning (SILL) which was designed by Oxford in 1990 to survey the current situation of English learning strategies. The quanlitative research was carried out by case interviews.Statistical analysis of the data yields the following findings:1.The situation of V&T students' English anxiety is over middle level. Among the three components of English anxiety, the level of test anxiety is the highest.2.The situation of V&T students' English learning strategies is under middle level. Among the six components of English learning strategies, compensation strategies were used the most frequently while memory strategies were used the least frequently.3.Significant differences of the degrees of anxiety and the frequencies of strategies use in learning English were found among the V&T students under different background variables.4.There are significant negative correlations between English anxiety and the overall use of language learning strategies as well as the use of all six categories of language strategies. More anxious students tend to use learning strategies less frequently.It is expected that the findings of the present study will help foreign language teachers and students in higher vocational and technical colleges further understand the effects of foreign language anxiety and the use of language learning strategies on foreign language learning. English teachers can consider that learning strategies may be integrated into English curriculum to reduce students' anxiety and enable them to learn English more independently and effectively.