An Empirical Study Of English Listening Anxiety Among Chinese College Students

For many years, the role of anxiety in second language acquisition or foreign language learning has drawn much attention of numerous researchers. Lots of studies have been conducted to examine language anxiety from various aspects. After a survey of the studies conducted in relevant areas, however, the author of the present study finds that the previous research scope has been frequently confined to the study of language anxiety in general, whereas there have been relatively few studies conducted to investigate language-skill-specific anxieties. Besides, studies on foreign language listening anxiety conducted in China were rather limited. What’s more, hardly any research has been done to examine the English listening anxiety experienced by language students who learn English as their second foreign language. Based on such a background, the author attempts to carry out an empirical study of listening anxiety among Chinese EFL students, whose participants include some German majors who learn English as their second foreign language.The present study aims to answer the following questions. First, do Chinese non-English major college students experience English listening anxiety? If so, what are the possible sources of their listening anxiety? Second, what is the relationship between language learners’levels of English listening anxiety, listening proficiency levels and their use of foreign language listening strategies? Third, with regard to English listening anxiety levels and use of listening strategies, will German major students be different from non-language major students?The data of the study were collected via a questionnaire survey of eighty-one non-English major sophomores at Shandong Jianzhu University, and the interviews with twelve students among them. Among the participants, there are twenty-three German majors. The instruments adopted include a Listening Proficiency Test of CET-4, the Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ), the English Listening Anxiety Scale (ELAS), the English Listening Strategy Scale (ELSS), and interviews. All the data collected are processed with the help of SPSS17.0. Reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and Pearson correlation analysis are operated respectively on the target samples.The findings of the study indicate that most non-English major college students in China do experience English listening anxiety. Students’ level of English listening anxiety has been found to be in a general negative correlation with their listening proficiency and their use of listening strategies. No major difference has been found between German majors and non-language major students, or between different genders concerning their English listening anxiety levels and use of listening strategies. Furthermore, based on the participants’ responses in the questionnaires and interviews as well, and with reference to previous studies, the author summarizes the potential sources of foreign language listening anxiety, which are presented respectively from the individual, text and listening process perspectives.At the end of the thesis, some implications and suggestions are given as regards English teaching and learning. It has been suggested that special attention should be paid to students’ listening anxiety and effective measures, such as boosting students’ self-confidence and teaching effective listening strategies, are to be taken to help reduce the negative influence of listening anxiety over students’foreign language learning.