A Study Of Communication Apprehension Control Of Non-English Majors In Cooperative Learning

Oral English has been being paid more and more attention to recently. However,foreign language (FL) anxiety, including communication apprehension (CA), affectsEnglish learning and oral English proficiency greatly. Cooperative learning (CL) as ateaching method is proved to be able to build a low-anxiety classroom atmosphere andreduce FL anxiety. In recent years, though there are a large amount of researchesattempting to reduce FL anxiety so as to help FL learning, the studies on connectingCA with FL learning and helping improve oral proficiency through reducing CA arestill rare. This study deals with the relationship between CA and oral proficiency,discussing whether cooperative activities can reduce learners’ CA and improve theiroral performances.The present study attempts to study the following three questions:1. To whatextent do non-English majors in Chinese colleges experience CA when speakingEnglish in traditional English class?2. Will non-English majors’ CA levels be loweredafter the control training? If yes, to what extent?3. How could the CA control traininglower students’ CA levels?The study is conducted among72first-year non-English majors from two intactand parallel classes in Hunan Mass Media Vocational Technical College, lasting foreighteen weeks. In order not to disturb the normal teaching procedure, the two classesare the natural classes and one is the experimental class in which CL is employed whilethe other one is the control class which is taught with the traditional English teachingmethod; both of the two classes are taught by the researcher of this study. Before thereal experiment, a pilot study is conducted in the third parallel class as the two classes.30students from the third class are given the Foreign Language ClassroomCommunication Apprehension Scale (FLCCAS) to make sure that the questionnaire isreliable, feasible and understandable. In the following real experiment of the twoclasses, pre-and post-questionnaires (FLCCAS) are handed out to the two classesbefore and after the experiment; pre-and post-oral tests are conducted in the twoclasses before and after the experiment. Besides, the face-to-face interview isemployed in the experimental class after the experiment. The data are collected at theend of the experiment and analyzed by Statistical Product and Service Solutions17.0(SPSS17.0).The major findings of the study are as follows:1. Most non-English majors (59.7%) experience moderate to high levels of CA in traditional English classes;2. Theapplied CA control training can reduce students’ CA levels in some extent (9.2%); andstudents’ oral proficiency get improved because of the decreasing CA levels andincreasing chances of using the target language;3. Less anxious to speak English withgroup members, more confidence enhanced by encouragements from the classmatesand the teacher are the main reasons that make the CA control training decreasesstudents’ CA levels effectively.As the teacher-centered traditional teaching method cannot help foster a morepositive affective climate and reduce students’ FL anxiety, it leads students to feelmore anxious when they are speaking English. CL as an effective teaching methodincreases interactions and mutual-help among students, it can help reduce students’anxiety. Therefore, lower affective filters and more output of the target language wouldhelp students reduce CA and improve their oral proficiency.