An Analysis Of The Correlation Between English Learning Motivation And English Learning Anxiety Of Non-English Major Undergraduates

Over the last few decades, English teaching education research has shifted its focus from stressing on how to teach to how to learn. One of the focuses is on learners' personal factors which affect their learning achievements. Since then, researchers began to show their interest in affective factors which have a great influence on English learning. As one of the two important components of affective factors, learning motivation and learning anxiety are respectively studied a lot by many researchers, however, not too much researches have been done on the relationship between them, especially in Chinese learning context. Therefore, the present study makes a research on the correlation between English learning motivation and English learning anxiety, in hope of bringing about some suggestions to college teaching and learning.In this study, questionnaire survey is the primary means for collecting data. The participants are 154 non-English major undergraduates from Guangxi Normal University. The English learning motivation questionnaire is made on the basis of Gao et al.(2003)'s Motivation Types of Chinese College Undergraduates questionnaire, while the English learning anxiety questionnaire is based on Horwitz (1986)'s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale.The three research questions addressed in the present study are stated as follows:1. How is the whole picture of English learning motivation of non-English major undergraduates in GXNU?2. How is these students' English learning anxiety?3. Is there any correlation between their English learning motivation and English learning anxiety? If the correlation exists, how do they relate to each other?Findings of the study can be summarized as follows:1. The overall students'English learning motivation is relatively low. Most of them lack of intrinsic interest motivation, but their instrumental motivations such as individual development motivation and certificate motivation are really high.2. The overall students'English learning anxiety stays on a high level. Specifically, communication apprehension and test anxiety are the most apparent, followed by fear of negative evaluation and English classroom anxiety.3. English learning motivation and English learning anxiety have negative correlation with each other.Based on these findings, the thesis tries to put forward some suggestions for enhancing students'English learning motivation and at the same time reducing their English learning anxiety.1. Teachers should recognize students'English learning motivation and English learning anxiety and students should know their own English learning motivation and English learning anxiety.2. Teachers should cultivate students'intrinsic interest motivation by integrating culture into language teaching. These students who hold intrinsic motivation, such as interest, will have low passive English learning anxiety.3. Teachers should adopt a new assessment system to evaluate students'learning performance, while students should make proper self-assessment.4. Teachers should provide a harmonious teaching and learning environment to help students enhance situation learning motivation and reduce English classroom anxiety.5. Students should build a positive self-concept to help them reduce their fear of negative anxiety.