An Investigation Of English Classroom Learning Anxiety Of Mongolian Students In Hailaer No.3Middle School

With the increasing recognition of the affective variables as the significant factors in language learning, anxiety as one of the affective variables has become a hot topic, because of its great influence on the process of foreign language learning. It has drawn the attentions of more and more educators and researchers.There are many foreign and domestic researches on foreign language anxiety. However, few researches are on English classroom learning anxiety of Mongolian students. So it is necessary to investigate the levels of English classroom learning anxiety of Mongolian students and explore the sources of English classroom learning anxiety of them.This investigation starts by reviewing the relevant foreign and domestic literatures on foreign language anxiety. Based on these relevant literatures, the author adopts both quantitative and qualitative investigations.In the quantitative investigation, the33-item FLCAS developed by Horwitz et al. is used as the questionnaire to get the general status of English classroom learning anxiety levels of53Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school in Hulunbeir of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. After the data are collected, the author uses the SPSS13.0system to analyze these data. In the qualitative investigation, a face-to-face interview combining with the results of the FLCAS questionnaire is used to explore the sources of English classroom learning anxiety of these Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school.The results of this investigation show:First, all of the53Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school chosen as subjects in this investigation are suffering from English classroom learning anxiety of different levels. Among these subjects,20.76percent of the subjects fall into low anxiety level,33.96percent of them fall into average anxiety level, and45.28percent fall into high anxiety. Second, the author find out several sources of English classroom learning anxiety of Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school, including lack of confidence, low self-esteem, competitiveness, lack of risk-taking, personal anxiety, instructor-learner interaction, negative evaluation, tests, lack of interest in English and the regional differences in English education.Based on the analysis above, the author makes some feasible suggestions on how to reduce English classroom learning anxiety of Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school, including changing the teachers’fixed beliefs and role, arranging proper class tests and establishing the right test attitude, raising students’self-confidence and interest in English learning, creating a harmonious classroom atmosphere, reducing the regional differences in English class and giving proper evaluation.This investigation aims at learning about the general status of the levels of Mongolian students in Hailar No.3middle school’English classroom learning anxiety and exploring the sources of English classroom learning anxiety of them, and then make some feasible suggestions about how to reduce their English classroom learning anxiety, which may help these Mongolian students learn English more effectively.