Reducing Senior Two Students' Reading Anxiety:an Action Research In Tengchong No.5 Middle School

In the era of information,reading is one of the basic language skills and an important way to get information.And in English learning,reading also takes up a great proportion in students' various examinations.However,according to the author's teaching experiences,reading has long been a headache for students,causing many difficulties and problems.Many factors contribute to this phenomenon,and anxiety may be one of them.On the basis of the second language acquisition theories and relevant research on second language anxiety,the author did an action research during her teaching in order to know the general state of students' reading anxiety and its sources,and find out effective strategies to reduce students' reading anxiety.The participants of this study are 66 Senior Two students in Class 188 of Tengchong No.5 Middle School.Research instruments include questionnaires,interviews,classroom observations and teacher's teaching reflective journals.The plan of this action research is divided into three stages:1.The first stage(1 week): Identifying the problem and making the action research plan.2.The second stage(2-8 weeks): Implementing the plan.3.The third stage(9-10 weeks): Evaluating and analyzing the results.Through the ten-week action research,the author makes attempts to search for answers to two questions:1.What's the current state of the students' English reading anxiety? And what may cause their English reading anxiety?2.What strategies can reduce the students' English reading anxiety? Which is the most effective strategy and which is the least effective one?The data analysis of this research include analysis of both qualitative data and quantitative data.The result shows that Senior Two students suffer English reading anxiety more or less.And “self-confidence,vocabulary,reading interest,theme,English cultures and customs,reading skills and habits,some personal and procedural factors” are the main sources of students' English reading anxiety.Different strategiesused in the teaching can reduce students' reading anxiety,among which the most effective one is “collecting vocabulary” and the least effective strategy is “ realizing reading anxiety” and “making good use of the Internet”.This action research provides Senior High School English teachers with a feasible method to solve teaching problems and may draw teachers' attention to students' reading anxiety.This research also offer some effective strategies to reduce students' reading anxiety.Based on thesis,the author can explore and do more in her future study to find more effective strategies.