The Interaction Of Listening Anxiety And Listening Test Methods Among Chinese High School Students

Studies in the past three decades have repeatedly confirmed that foreign language anxiety has negative effect on language learning skills, and the review of literature reveal that most studies have been done in speaking, writing and reading, with little done on listening and test methods. To develop a fuller understanding of the nature of language anxiety and expand its implication for language education, further exploration should include listening anxiety and test methods under different social contexts. This study takes a step in that direction.Using Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope's theoretical concept of foreign language anxiety; Bachman's theory in language testing; Tobias' 3-stage model as research framework, the present study explores the effects of listening anxiety and listening test methods on Chinese EFL Middle School students in Lin Chuan, Gan Zhou, Ying Tan and Feng Cheng, who are enrolled from Junior Grade One to Grade Three. Questionnaires designed by the author were allocated to learners for investigation the interaction of listening anxiety and test methods among Chinese EFL high school students. Data was collected immediately after students finished writing and was analyzed with descriptive analysis and quantitative analysis. The present study assumes that(1) Chinese EFL learners of high school experience listening anxiety in their listening comprehension test, and(2) the effect of listening test methods on them.The study draws the following results. Fifty-nine percent students feel fear in listening comprehension test. Seventy percent students agree that anxiety has negative effect on listening test. Sixty-six students admit that they often worry about facilities (broadcast, tape, video, earphone etc) in the test. Ninety-seven students hope they could arrange listening time by themselves. Seventy-seven students hope that a few questions are added before test, which will not be summed up total scores. Therefore the findings confirm the hypothesis that Chinese EFL learners of high school experience the interaction of listening anxiety and test methods in their listening comprehension test have effect on them.Based on the present study, the author suggests that (1) instructors should understand the learning process through learners' eye; (2) the present test methods (test time, facilities, sequence of parts) should be improved by instructors; (3) instructors should change the teaching styles to assist psychological anxiety defense among students.