A Study Of The English Classroom Anxiety Of Grade Two Students In Junior High School

With the advent of Humanistic Psychology in the 1960,the language teaching model changed from what and how the teacher should teach to how to make the learners learn more effectively.And New English Curriculum for Chinese Primary Schools and Junior Middle Schools emphasizes that all students' affective factors should be paid attention to.In English teaching,teachers find that among all the affective factors,anxiety exerts the greatest influence on language learning.So this study aims to answer the following research questions:(1)What is the status quo of students' English classroom anxiety?(2)What are the reasons for students' anxiety?Based on Humanistic Psychology,Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis and Suggestive Methods,a survey is conducted among 200 students of grade two of junior high school from Zichuan Experimental Middle School by using FLCAS designed by Horwitz.And raw data are analyzed with the assistance of Excel and SPSS.We found the reasons of English classroom anxiety by analyzing the results.After data analysis,we find the following results:(1)English classroom anxiety is universal among grade two students in junior high school,thereof over one quarter of the students with high anxiety,nearly half with moderate anxiety,and students with low anxiety accounting for 24 percent;among the four dimensions on the ECAS,fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety rank top two;(2)Among the seven categories of anxiety sources,being lack of interest,being lack of confidence and competition consciousness,the evaluation of teachers,student-teacher communication,English test or examination and students' attitude toward English learning are the main factors which easily arouse students' anxiety.This thesis also puts forward suggestions for overcoming English classroom anxiety based on my experiences of teaching and the results of the study.Interesting beginning of a class,good relations between teachers and students,rich class activities,multimedia and happy atmosphere may arouse students' interest in English learning.Teachers' evaluation,self studying,learning step by step may give students feeling of successful English learning.Extra-curricular activities and team work can also make students feel happy.Culture knowledge,English customs,collection of English mottos may help to train students' culture consciousness.In conclusion,class is supposed to be student-centered.Teachers should observe students' activity continuously and apply various teaching methods to help students to alleviate English learning anxiety.