A Study On English Learning Anxiety Of Non-English Major College Students In Graded Teaching

Among those affective factors that affect SLA, anxiety is the most harmful and attracts the most attention from the researchers. Scholars in and abroad have carried out extensive and profound researches on language learning anxiety from different point of view and background. Graded teaching as the major measure in Chinese college English teaching reform, just appears in recent years. The study of anxiety under this new mode is not common. Therefore, the author investigates into the non-English majors’ language anxiety situation in Nanchang Hangkong University, which implement the reform of graded teaching since2008by dividing the non-English majors into Level A, B and C according to their English scores of after entrance examination.By reviewing the relevant studies about foreign language learning anxiety, this thesis is intend to find out the followings through Horwitz’s FLCAS and supplementary interview:1) The general tendency of the non-English majors’English learning anxiety under the circumstance of graded teaching;2) The distribution of the three components of English learning anxiety that contain in the FLCAS, namely, communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation;3) Does the anxiety extent vary among students in different levels? If it does, what’s the difference in general tendency and the three aspects of English learning anxiety? The purpose of this study is to find out the possible source of English learning anxiety and the causes of the difference for different level so as to support the English teaching after the reform and alleviate students’ anxiety.Both quantitative and qualitative researches are involved in this study.180non-English majors in Nanchang Hangkong University finished the questionnaire that combined with personal information questions. Then all the results were keyed into SPSS13.0for further analyzing. What’s more,9subjects out of the180participated in the one-to-one interview as supplement of quantitative research to discuss the possible source of English learning anxiety and the causes of the difference for different level.The study has yielded several findings:Firstly, the non-English majors under graded teaching approach in Nanchang Hangkong University do have certain degree of English learning anxiety with majority of the students in the average group. Secondly, among the three components involved in FLCAS, communication apprehension has the most significant positive correlation with the total anxiety level, test anxiety the least and fear of negative evaluation in between. Thirdly, there exist slight differences among the anxiety extent for students in different levels:students from Level C rank the highest, Level B the second, and Level A the third. But students from Level A have the highest communication apprehension anxiety and students in Level C fear of negative evaluation and test.On the basis of above findings, the author proposed some relevant suggestions: teachers should help students build up their confidence, guide them adopt a correct attitude towards negative evaluation, create a relaxing classroom atmosphere, and help students look upon their position graded teaching correctly. What’s more, the university is suggested to distribute teaching resources equally, in the hope of giving new effective enlightenment for the English teaching under graded teaching.