A Study On English Reading Anxiety Of English Majors In Vocational Colleges

It is known to all that listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four basic skills tolearn a foreign language. Among the four skills, reading plays a very critical role in Englishlearning. The results of many studies show that lots of factors will influence the English readingefficiency. As one of the emotional factors, anxiety plays a very important role. However, fewstudies are conducted concerning the vocational college English major students and the readinganxiety they suffer from. So in this study the author chooses140participants from ZhejiangDongfang Vocational and Technical College, and use the FLRAS (Foreign Language ReadingAnxiety Scale) proposed by Satio in1999to make a study on English reading anxiety ofEnglish majors in vocational colleges. There are four research questions:1) Does reading anxiety exist among English major students in vocational colleges? Towhat degree are the vocational college English major students suffering from English readinganxiety?2) Is English reading anxiety of the English majors affected from the angle of gender, yearsof learning English, and region?3) Does reading anxiety have relationship with the reading comprehension of Englishmajor students of vocational colleges? How does reading anxiety influence the students’ readingcomprehension score?4) Does reading anxiety have relationship with the language proficiency of English majorstudents of vocational colleges? How does reading anxiety influence the students’ languageproficiency score?The results show that:1) Foreign language reading anxiety exists among the English majorstudents of Zhejiang Dongfang Vocational and Technical College, and it has a great influenceon the students’ English performance.2) There is no significant difference of reading anxiety in terms of years of learning English, gender, and region.3) There is a negative relationshipbetween the students’ reading comprehension score and the English reading anxiety. Thestudents with high reading anxiety get low reading comprehension score.4) There is a negativerelationship between the students’ language proficiency score and the English reading anxiety.The students with high reading anxiety get low language proficiency score. Individualdifferences also affect the levels of English reading anxiety of students in vocational colleges,especially students’ English levels, interest in English and perceptive levels of easy or difficultEnglish reading materials.Through the present study on the English reading anxiety of English majors in vocationalcolleges, the author puts forward some corresponding suggestions which can help the studentsreduce their English reading anxiety, and help the teachers find out the root reasons that arouseEnglish reading anxiety, enhance reading efficiency and language proficiency of English majorsin vocational colleges. For the students, they should enlarge their vocabulary, and obtain someknowledge of English culture and history. As for teachers, they should cultivate the students’capability of applying effective reading strategies, and create a low-anxiety reading classroomenvironment. Of course there are limitations in this study; the author hopes to offer reference tothe following researchers.