The present study tries to probe the relationship among English reading anxiety,English reading strategies and English reading performance of non-English majors.The subjects of the present study are 171 first-year college students from Zhixing College of Hubei University.Two questionnaires,a reading test and interviews with some subjects are used in the present study to collect data.The first questionnaire is the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale(FLRAS)designed by Saito et al.(1999).The second questionnaire is the English Reading Strategies Scare(ERSS)developed by Li Wenqiong(2004).The reading test paper is the reading part of Practical English Test for Colleges(PRETCO)of June,2015.Two pieces of software,Excel2010 and SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Science)13.0 are mainly used to process the data.In addition,in order to get a clearer picture of the subject's English reading anxiety,the use of English reading strategies,the reason why the subjects may feel anxious and the subjects' inner activities during the process of English reading,some face-to-face interviews with some subjects are conducted in the present study as well.The findings of the present study are as follows:Firstly,non-English majors' English reading performance is at a medium level.And female students' English reading performance is significantly higher than that of male students.Secondly,English reading anxiety generally exists among non-English majors.Male students' English reading anxiety is higher than that of female students,but there is no significant difference in English reading anxiety between male students and female students.Besides,low-mark group students feel significantly more anxious than high-mark group students during the process of English reading.Thirdly,non-English majors' use of overall reading strategies,metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies,social strategies and affective strategies is at a low level.The most frequently used reading strategies are affective strategies,followed by cognitive strategies,social strategies and metacognitive strategies.And there is no significant difference in the use of overall reading strategies,metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies,social strategies and affective strategies between male students and female students.Besides,high-mark group students' use of overall reading strategies and cognitive strategies is significantly more frequent than that of low-mark group students.Fourthly,there exists a significant positive correlation between English reading anxiety and English reading performance.That is to say,the more anxious the students feel during the process of English reading,the lower marks they will get in the English reading test.Fifthly,there is a significant positive correlation between English reading performance and the use of overall reading strategies and cognitive strategies.That is to say,the more frequently the overall reading strategies and cognitive strategies are used,the higher mark the students will get in the English reading test.However,the use of metacognitive strategies,social strategies,and affective strategies is not significantly correlated with English reading performance.Finally,the use of overall reading strategies,metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies,social strategies and affective strategies is significantly and positively correlated with English reading anxiety.That is to say,the more anxious the students feel during the process of English reading,the less frequently the use of overall reading strategies,metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies,social strategies and affective strategies.From the results of the present study,we may get the following implications.Firstly,English reading anxiety has a negative effect on English reading performance and the use of English reading strategies.As a result,some measures should be taken accordingly to reduce the students' English reading anxiety.Secondly,the use of English reading strategies has a positive effect on the English reading performance.Consequently,there is a need for the teacher to strengthen the training of English reading strategies among the students.Thirdly,it could be found from the present study that English reading performance is not significantly correlated with the use of metacognitive strategies,social strategies and affective strategies and the coefficients of English reading performance's correlation with English reading anxiety,the overall use of English reading strategies and the use of cognitive strategies are all at a low level.In other words,both English reading anxiety and the use of English reading strategies have little effect on the subjects' English reading performance.Therefore,there may be other factor,such as the students' efforts on language learning,which is mentioned by some students in the interviews.Therefore,in order to improve the students' English reading performance,the teacher may have to not only take measures to reduce students' English reading anxiety and strengthen the training of English reading strategies,but also require the students to put more effort into the learning of English language knowledge. |