Research On The Influence Of Language Anxiety On English Listening Comprehension In Junior High School

In the process of foreign language acquisition, linguistic pedagogical researchers shift the focus from the learners’external factors to internal factors, namely, to the learners’ individual factors. Therefore, emotional factors which influence language learning become the mainstream in previous researches. Among numerous affective variables, anxiety is the most popular. The foreign research on language anxiety originated in the1980s. Horwitz and John Cope (1986) pointed out that foreign language anxiety is a significant psychological phenomenon producing in the process of listening and speaking. And it is characterized by a sense of tension and fear. The domestic research on language anxiety began in the1990s. Most of the scholars conducted limited researches on anxiety in the process of foreign language learning, while the researches on anxiety in the process of listening comprehension are quite rare. In this case, more studies on language anxiety in listening class are waiting to be perfected.The present research selects120junior high school students of Grade Seven coming from Sanshilipu Central School in Hejian as subjects and carries out the experiment lasting for two months. It aims to explore the degree of language anxiety existing in listening class; the influence of language anxiety on English listening comprehension; the countermeasures to reduce language anxiety and improve listening scores. Based on the constructivism, affective filter hypothesis and comprehensible input hypothesis, the research adopts three kinds of instruments, namely, questionnaire, interview, pre-test and post-test. At first, by analyzing the questionnaire, the author tries to find that language anxiety exists pervasively among junior high school students in English listening class. Secondly, by collecting data from the questionnaire and pre-test paper, the author attempts to prove that language anxiety and listening scores are negatively correlated. Thirdly, by selecting10students from all the subjects to join in the individual interview and group interview, the author tries to summarize some reasons for causing language anxiety and put forward corresponding measures. At last, by comparing the pre-test and post-test scores, the author attempts to prove that those measures to reduce language anxiety are feasible and effective.The present research provides some practical values and significant guidance for junior high school English listening teaching. Firstly, from the questionnaire, interview, and pre-test, we can see that most of junior high school students experience high language anxiety, and such anxiety can hinder the students’listening comprehension. As a result, the teachers should attach great importance to the students’language anxiety. Secondly, due to personal characteristics, most of junior high school students have poor ability of controlling their emotions. But at the same time, it is easy to improve their psychological quality. Therefore, the teachers should take measures to help the students reduce language anxiety and improve listening scores. These measures are, for instance, encouraging the students to take part in classroom activities and praising their performance in class; forgiving the students’mistakes and offering patient guidance; selecting listening materials with moderate level; providing various learning activities and so on. In a word, the teaching focus is to motivate the students’ learning enthusiasm and stimulate their learning interest.