An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Junior High School Students' Foreign Language Anxiety,Emotional Intelligence And English Achievement

The purpose of this research is to explore Junior high school students,general tendencies of foreign language anxiety(FLA)and Emotional Intelligence(EI)and how they are related with each other.187 Chinese junior high school students participated in this study.This study combines both quantitative and qualitative methods.Two questionnaires,the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form(TEIQue-SF)and the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS),were adopted to examine learners' FLA and their EI.Two monthly tests were used to determine their English learning achievements.Data collected from the three sources were analyzed and discussed for the mediating role of FLA in the relationship between students' EI and English learning achievement combined with the face-to-face interview.Results of this study are as follows.Firstly,most junior high school students have high or middle level of anxiety.They are lack of English communication intention,and are even afraid of communicating in English.Some students have the fear of negative evaluation in English learning,and they are nervous about the English classes and tests.Secondly,It is an important stage for junior high school students to develop their EI.Results show that most students have under-developed EI.That is,they cannot control their emotions well,and have some defects in the sociability.Finally,there is a significant negative correlation between students' EI and FLA;there is a significant positive correlation between students' EI and English learning achievement;and students' FLA has negative correlation with English learning achievement.Therefore,FLA plays a partial intermediary role between students' EI and English learning achievement.The study indicates the potential power of EI in mitigating students' FLA and thereby increasing their language learning achievement.Some pedagogical implications from the research and suggestions for English teaching in Chinese junior high schools are also discussed.