Classroom Factors Resulting In Anxiety

In the oral English class of ordinary secondary schools, such situation is common-a quiet classroom. Most of the students bow their heads, and only a small number of students are willing to stand up and speak. After years of study, the English most of the senior high students have acquired is still "mute English". The reasons why students are incompetent in oral English are various. Among them is anxiety. Anxiety is considered as one of the most important factors that determine the success in acquiring a foreign language. According to Krashen, anxiety may function as an "affective filter", preventing a learner from achieving a high level of proficiency in a foreign language. The affective filter is like a screen that prevents a learner from acquiring all the input. The stronger the affective filter is, the less input a learner will get and therefore the less output he\she will be able to produce. This theory emphasizes the negative role that anxiety plays in learning a foreign language. So, the author attempts to investigate the various factors of anxiety in the English class. This paper is divided into four chapters. Chapter One is introduction. Chapter Two gives the definitions of anxiety, different perspectives in anxiety research and theoretical constructs of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale. Chapter Three presents some relevant theories and a summary of a debate on the role of anxiety in language learning. Chapter Four describes the investigation (including the purpose, participants, method and procedure). Chapter Five goes on to analyze the attributions to the problems. Chapter six is conclusion. And some implications are given to the language teaching and learning. The author expects that the results of the investigation and the implications can be of some use to English teaching and learning.