A Study On English Learning Anxiety Of Underachievers In Senior High School

This study was undertaken to investigate the English learning anxiety of underachievers in senior high school. The theoretical bases of this study are Humanistic psychology, Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis and input hypothesis. The significance of the study is to help teachers find suitable teaching methods, reduce underachievers’English learning anxiety and improve their English scores.The research questions to be addressed in this study are as follows:1. What is the general pattern of English learning anxiety of underachievers in senior high school?2. Are there any differences of English learning anxiety in the underachievers of different gender? If yes, what are the differences?3. What is the relationship between English learning anxiety and English scores of underachievers in senior high school?Participants were 90 students from Hanjiang senior high school in Jiangsu province. They were selected according to their English scores of mid-term examination. Students who rank the last twenty percent in 10 classes will be selected. A questionnaire was employed as the instrument in this study. The questionnaire was conducted in a meeting room on January 27th, 2015. After eliminating those unfinished and unqualified,80 students’questionnaires were valid to this study. Afterwards,20 students would be chosen to have an interview. AH the data were processed by SPSS 19.0. Descriptive statistics analysis was employed to describe the general pattern of the English learning anxiety of underachievers in senior high school and the differences of English learning anxiety between males and females. What’s more, correlation analysis was employed to find out how underachievers’English learning anxiety is related to their English scores.This study has yielded the following major findings:Firstly, senior high school underachievers really experience English learning anxiety at a relatively high level. (Mean=103.29, SD= 16.94). According to the results, those who got over 110 fell into the group of high anxiety, accounting for 46.25%, while those between 90 and 110 were the group of medium anxiety, accounting for 35%, and the rest who got below 90 belonged to the group of low anxiety, only accounting for 18.75%. The mean scores for the four components of the high anxiety level group are all much higher than those of the low anxiety level group. In terms of Test Anxiety, high anxiety level group (Mean=3.86) is higher than low anxiety level group (Mean=2.96). For the Fear of negative evaluation, high anxiety level group (Mean=3.56) is higher than low anxiety level group (Mean=2.37). As concerning Communication apprehension, high anxiety level group (Mean=3.67) is higher than low anxiety level group (Mean=2.33). As for Test Anxiety, high anxiety level group (Mean=3.46) is higher than low anxiety level group (Mean=2.57). It indicates that the high anxiety level groups are more anxious about their English.Secondly, there are some differences between male and female underachievers in English learning anxiety level. As a whole, male underachievers are more anxious than female underachievers (male, Mean=106.87; female, Mean=101.02). In terms of high anxiety level, males account for 51.61%, which is higher than 42.86% of the females. As concerning low anxiety level, male underachievers take up 16.13%. However, female underachievers account for 20.41%. The results are possibly due to the fact that girls are relatively more interested in English language learning. As to the four components of English learning anxiety, the mean scores of male underachievers are all higher than female underachievers. For Test anxiety, male underachievers are more afraid of test for the mean scores of male underachievers’responses to the questions in the questionnaire are 3.47 higher than 3.45, the mean scores of female underachievers. In terms of Communication apprehension, the male underachievers are more afraid of communication for the mean scores of male underachievers are 3.25 higher than the mean scores of female underachievers 2.99. As for Fear of negative evaluation, male underachievers are more afraid of negative evaluation from others than female underachievers for the mean scores of male underachievers are 3.24, higher than the mean scores of female underachievers 3.07. With the General language anxiety, male underachievers get a higher mean score 3.14 than female underachievers 3.00.Finally, senior high school underachievers’English learning anxiety is negatively correlated to the English scores (r=-.922, p=.000), which reveals that the higher anxiety the underachievers experience, the lower scores they will get. In addition, each component is an important variable that affects English scores. The Fear of negative evaluation has a negative correlation with English scores (r=-.796, p=.000). There is a negative correlation between Test anxiety andEnglish scores with a p value.000 and the coefficient is-.528. General language anxiety is also negatively related to the English scores (r=-.726, p=.000). Communication apprehension has the highest degree of negative correlation with English scores (r=-.863, p=.000). To some extent, the lower anxiety they experience, the higher marks they will get.This study provides some implications. Firstly, English teachers should adopt flexible teaching methods to activate students’learning interests and reduce their English learning anxiety. In addition, teachers should be quite familiar with the language material and control the degree of difficulty. When teachers ask questions, they should consider different students’ proficiency, especially for the underachievers. Secondly, English teachers should be aware of individual differences all the time. When teaching in classes, they should take gender difference into consideration to help the two genders make progress together. Finally, teachers should change their way of evaluation. Formative evaluation is helpful for students’long-term development.There were three limitations in the present study. Firstly, the sample size is not large enough to be generalized to the whole population. Secondly, design of the questionnaire mainly comes from Horwitz’s, but it is far from being perfect. Besides, it is not precise to divide students’ different English proficiency according to the scores that they get in the mid-term examination. One or two exam can not determine students’ true proficiency. Thirdly, foreign language learning is a complicated process which involves many other factors. The present study only made some discussions on genders, but neglected other variables such as family backgrounds, culture, region and so on.