An Empirical Study On Listening Anxiety Of English Majors

Since the1970s, second language acquisition has gradually stimulated people’s interest, and considerable progress has been made in this field. More and more researchers at home and abroad have paid their attention to learners’ affective variables, esp. in the late30years; many scholars have been investigating the role of affective factors in the second language acquisition process. Affective factors have great influence on language learning, and among these affective factors, anxiety has received more and more attention. Therefore a great deal of researches has been devoted to the study of foreign language anxiety. Many studies show that anxiety is negatively related to listening of the non-English majors.The present study mainly discusses the following four questions:What is the general listening anxiety state of English majors? What is the relationship between gender and listening anxiety? What is the correlation between students’ listening anxiety and self-perceived listening proficiency? What is the correlation between listening anxiety and the use of listening strategies?To answer these four questions, an empirical study is carried out among first year English majors in Anhui Science and Technology University. Altogether100students participate in this study. This study adopts questionnaire and tests as research instruments. The questionnaire consists of three parts:the first one is the learners’ background information questionnaire (BIQ); the second is Chinese version Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Scale (FLLAS); the last one is the listening strategies scale (LSS). Meanwhile, the author divides these students into Control Class (CC) and Experimental Class (EC).The results of this study are as follows:firstly, English major students really experience listening anxiety; secondly, there is no difference in listening anxiety level between male and female subjects; thirdly, the correlation between students’ listening anxiety and listening proficiency is negative; fourthly, a negative correlation exists between listening anxiety and the use of listening strategies, and students’listening scores can be improved after using some listening strategies.Based on the results of the present study, it is suggested that foreign language teachers in China should take the students’ affective demands into account. They should create relaxing atmosphere for students and encourage them a lot. For the listening anxiety existing among the students, the teachers should pay more attention and try their best to help them control their negative feeling and provide them with some suggestions. Meanwhile, the students should communicate with teachers and become more confident to overcome listening anxiety.