A Study On English Learning Anxiety Of High School Students

Learning a foreign language can be quite a challenging task. One principalquestion in second language acquisition is why some people are more successful atlearning a second language than other people. In fact, many factors may determine theoutcomes of the learning process, including individual differences such as cognitiveabilities, personality characteristics, learning styles, attitudes, motivation, and anxiety.Of all these factors, students’ language learning anxiety plays a decisive role inaffecting students’ achievements.For the purpose of exploring the state of foreign language anxiety experienced bysenior high school, the study examined120subjects from3classes of Grade One inShanxi Modern Bilingual School. In an attempt to gain some insightful information inthis field, the survey was conducted to investigate:1）What is the general languagelearning anxiety state of high school students?2）What is the relationship betweenlanguage learning anxiety and English achievement?3）Are there any differences inlanguage learning anxiety between male and female students?4）Are there anydifferences in language learning anxiety between high proficiency level students andlow proficiency level students? To obtain a reliable data for this research, ForeignLanguage Anxiety Scales by Horwitz et al (1986) was employed as the instruments inthe present study. Moreover, the middle term examination results were used as ameasurement for the students’ English achievement.The study has revealed a number of findings. Firstly, the general anxiety state ofstudents is lower than most students in other previous studies. Moreover, subjectsdidn’t show much difference in each type of anxiety category. Secondly, there exists asignificant negative correlation between anxiety and achievement. Thirdly, gender is afactor leading to different language learning anxiety, and male students feel moreanxious than female students in general. Fourthly, significant difference exist betweenhigh proficiency level students and low proficiency level students, indicating that thehigh proficiency level is more relaxed than low proficiency level in the English learning process.Based on the findings of this study, the thesis gives some suggestions forteachers to improve their present English teaching and learning situation:1) Facingthe problem of language learning anxiety;2) Helping students to hold a correctattitude toward language learning;3) Helping students to set goals;4) Creating arelaxed learning context. The present study hopes that, by reducing students’ learninganxiety in English classroom, it can help to create a better leaning outcomes.