English Reading Anxiety Of Non-English Majors In China

Foreign language anxiety has been agreed to be one of the most important affective variables that influence language learning. Since the1990s, studies on foreign language anxiety have focused on such specific skills of language as speaking and writing. However, it was not until recently that reading anxiety has been attached importance to. Moreover, few studies of reading anxiety in China have been conducted. The present study aims to expand the understanding of English reading anxiety and find out its main sources in the context of China, so as to contribute to the teaching and learning of English reading in China.The participants selected for this study were120non-English major freshmen of Shandong University,56males and64females. The study addresses four questions:1) Do non-English majors in China experience reading anxiety? If so, what are the potential sources of it?2) Does English reading anxiety have an effect on non-English majors’ reading performance and English achievements? If so, to what extent is the influence?3) Does students’level of reading anxiety differ significantly in terms of gender?4) What are other factors related to English reading anxiety? Data for the study were collected by using four types of instruments:reading comprehension test of CET-4, College Entrance English Examination, Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS) and Background Informtion Questionnaire. The author applied descriptive statistics Pearson correlation analysis, independent T-Test with the help of SPSS17.0. In addition, Cronhach’s alpha was used in order to conduct reliability analysis.The result indicates that non-English major Chinese college students do experience English reading anxiety and the most influential factor of English reading anxiety is unfamiliar culture. The levels of reading anxiety in China are higher than that in the research of Saito et al. The reason is summarized in three factors, that is. lack of self-confidence, Chinese education culture and social influence. It has been proved that English reading anxiety is negatively correlated with reading comprehension scores. Moreover, reading anxiety also exerts a negative influence on general English achievement. There are significant differences of English reading anxiety in terms of gender, which are obvious from the aspects of self-confidence and interest. Other factors related to reading anxiety have also been demonstrated such as years of English learning and off-class time spent on English reading and English learning. In addition, those who study with a certain purpose experience lower reading anxiety than students who study without motivation.The results will make certain contributions to the research on foreign language reading anxiety and provide useful indications for English teaching and learning in China. The existence of reading anxiety requires teachers to attach much importance to corresponding strategies to help students solve the related problems.