A Survey Of English Language Anxiety Of Foreign Language High School Students In China

With the advent of humanistic psychology,foreign language educators and researchers home and abroad have been paying attention to learners'"affective variables"in language learning since the 1960s. It is generally believed that in language learning, affective and cognitive sides are not in opposition to each other. Instead, if they are combined, not only can the success of language learning and teaching be ensured, but also the purpose of educating the whole person will be realized. Considered to be an important affective variable, language anxiety has been found pervasive among different groups of students in various contexts. The fruitful research of learning strategies in the west has shed light on the research in China. But few studies have been carried out about the foreign language school students'exact experiences of anxiety in EFL classroom in Chinese context. Much research is needed to be conducted on the English language anxiety of foreign language school students.The thesis starts by reviewing the previous and current research on anxiety both at home and abroad. Inspired by the previous research, the present researcher surveys and analyzes 480 students from Shi Jiazhuang Foreign Language School in He Bei Province, China and provides both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data, a questionnaire, is based on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz et al. And all the raw data are processed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 13.0. The qualitative data, the students'learning diaries and interviews help to obtain more supportive information and achieve a deeper discussion of foreign language anxiety encountered by Chinese students in Shi Jiazhuang Foreign Language School.Based on both qualitative and quantitative studies on English anxiety of the students in Shi Jiazhuang Foreign Language School, the survey reveals some findings which deserve our consideration.①Most of the students experience moderate English language anxiety.②P roficiency and language anxiety are negatively correlated.③Male students are found to have higher anxiety of English classes than females.④The distinction between the students graduating from rural areas and from this foreign language junior high school is comparatively sharp.⑤The study also indicates that introverted students or students with low self-esteem are more anxious than extroverted students or those with high self-esteem.⑥Those who started to learn English at kindergarten prevalently have lower anxiety than those who started later.Thus, based on the results of this study, suggestions for pedagogical practices are made to help teachers to cope with students'English language anxiety.