An Investigation On English Learning Anxiety Of Non-English Majors

Anxiety，as one of the most important emotional factors affecting the development oflanguage, has caused great concern of the researchers. The study on English learning anxietyof English learners can not only provide theoretical guidance for English teachers, but alsocan provide some advices on teaching practice to reduce the le’arners learning anxiety, andthen promote their English learning.B’ased on Krashens “Input Hypothesis” and “Affective Filter Hypothesis”，the studyintends to analyze the general level of non-English majors’ English leanring anxiety in thenewly-upgraded ordinary university, the main causes of the anxiety and put forward somesuggestions to reduce students’ anxiety in English learning. The research aims at answeringthe following questions:1) What is the general situation of English learning anxiety of thenon-English majors in newly-upgraded ordinary university?2) Among the three componentsof language anxiety (communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negativeevaluation), which is the main factor that causes the English learning anxiety?3) Is theresigniifcant difference in English learning anxiety between male and female students innewly-upgraded ordinary university?4) What are the specific causes of English learninganxiety? The researcher uses the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)(Hortwiz,1986) as the instruments and conducts a questionnaire survey among179studentsof Applied Chemistry in Jinzhong University. The data is analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics19.0. Then, an interview of15participants is conducted to further explore the causes ofanxiety and students’ expectations of English teaching and learning.The conclusions of this study are as follows:1) in general, the students of thenewly-upgraded ordinary university experience moderate level of English leanring anxietywith the mean score103.36;2) the communication apprehension is shown to be the majorcause of English learning anxiety;3) there is no significant difference in the English learning anxiety between the male and female subjects (p=.908,>.05) although the mean score offemale subjects is103.45, higher than that of male ones which is103.05;4) the other causesof anxiety are the poor ability of English listening and speaking, lack of self-confidence,afraid of failing the exam and the teachers’ methods of mistake-correcting and so on.On the basis of the research results, the researcher puts forward some suggestions forrelieving the English learning anxiety: paying attention to the learners at different anxietylevel; helping students build self-confidence; caring for students in learning and psychologyand improving the way of listening and speaking practice.