A Correlational Study Of Learning Anxiety And Learning Strategy Use Of College English Majors In Web-Based Autonomous Leaning

At present, web-based autonomous learning has become an important way of learning; however, the learning situation and the learning effect are not satisfactory. In this new learning environment, some students undergo learning anxiety, at the same time, many students lack of effective learning strategies, which may seriously influence students’ learning process and learning effect and the improvement of autonomous learning ability. Studies of learning anxiety and learning strategy use in web-based autonomous language learning environment are very few, and starting from the current situation, the present study mainly attempts to answer the following questions:1. What is the current status of college English major students’ learning anxiety in web-based autonomous learning environment? Is there any difference in grade, gender, family area and personality on learning anxiety?2. What is the current status of college English major students’ learning strategy use in web-based autonomous learning environment? Is there any difference in grade, gender, family area and personality on learning strategy use?3. Is there any relationship between English learning anxiety and English learning strategy use in web-based autonomous learning environment?This study mainly adopted quantitative and qualitative approaches and 292 college English majors from four grades in Hebei Normal University took part in the research. Quantitative study was carried out by two questionnaires, Web-based Autonomous Language Learning Anxiety Questionnaire(WBALLAQ) and Web-based Autonomous Language Learning Strategy Use Questionnaire(WBALLSUQ). Besides, 16 students took part in the interview.The research findings are concluded as follows:1. More than half of the students are of high and moderate anxiety level. Among all kinds of anxiety, the Internet skill anxiety is the highest, and fear of negative evaluation is the lowest. There are statistically significant differences in grades, family areas and personalities, and every anxiety subcategory of female students are higher than that of males, but there are no significant differences between different genders.2. In terms of strategy use, nearly three-quarters of the students are in medium and low strategy use level. Among all learning strategies, affective strategies are the most frequently used, and memory strategies are the least frequently used. There is no significant difference in grades, genders and family areas on strategy use, but there are significant differences between introverted and extroverted students only on social strategy use.3. It can be concluded from correlation analysis that there is negative relationship between overall anxiety and overall strategy use. Different anxiety levels can affect learning strategy use. The higher the anxiety level is, the lower the learning strategy use frequency will be, and the lower the anxiety level is, the higher the strategy use frequency will be. At the same time, different types of learning anxiety can also affect the type of strategy use.The study reveals the relationship between learning anxiety and learning strategies use in web-based autonomous learning environment, analyzes the causes of the current situation of anxiety and strategy use and also puts forward some corresponding effective suggestions for college English teachers to help students reduce learning anxiety and enhance strategy use ability to eventually improve their web-based autonomous learning ability.