Study On The Relationship Between English Classroom Anxiety And Classroom Behaviors Of Ethnic Minority Preparatory Students

Ethnic minority preparatory students are a special group of English learners in Chinese context. Researches on English classroom anxiety and classroom behaviors of them are rare. The present research aims at finding out whether there exists significant correlation between ethnic minority preparatory students’English classroom anxiety they experience and English classroom behaviors they perform. There are three research focuses of the present study based on the study of ethnic minority preparatory students from Southwest University. Firstly, it hopes to reveal the general situation of English classroom anxiety among ethnic minority preparatory students. Secondly, it aims to provide an overall picture on English classroom behaviors of them. Thirdly, it tries to explore the relationship between English classroom anxiety and classroom behaviors of ethnic minority preparatory students.There are53first-year ethnic minority preparatory students from the School of History and Cultures in Southwest University participated in the present study who are in the middle of the whole preparatory transitional period. Two questionnaires:the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (the FLCAS) and the Classroom Behavior Inventory (the CBI) are administered to assess English classroom anxiety and English classroom behaviors of ethnic minority preparatory students respectively. SPSS13.0is adopted to analyze the collected data returned from53valid questionnaires. There are three main data analysis procedures in the present study. Descriptive statistics is applied to obtain the overall situation of English classroom anxiety and English classroom behaviors; Pearson correlation analysis is used to examine the correlation between English classroom anxiety and general classroom behavior as well as individual categories of classroom behaviors; multiple regression analysis is employed for further study.The results of the present study indicate that English classroom anxiety is pervasive among ethnic minority preparatory students. Among the seven categories of classroom behaviors, Sociability and Learning Orientation are the most frequently performed ones. Ethnic minority preparatory students are weaker than non-English majors and native English speakers in Support Seeking. Significant negative correlations are found between English classroom anxiety and Verbal Participation, Self-Assurance, Learning Orientation and Self-Disclosure. Multiple regression analysis shows that Verbal Participation and Self-Assurance have predictive power on English classroom anxiety.Findings of the study have both theoretical and pedagogical implications for English teaching for ethnic minority preparatory students as well as English learning of them. It enriches studies on ethnic minority preparatory students and adds some fresh insights to foreign language learning and teaching of ethnic minority groups in China.