A Study On Analyzing Correlations Between English Reading Anxiety And Reading Performance Of Junior High School Students In Xinjiang

Foreign language anxiety is one of the affective variables that affect the success or failure of foreign language learning.Currently,most studies have focused on listening and speaking anxiety,and relatively few studies have been done on reading anxiety.Among them,fewer studies have focused on the reading anxiety of groups in primary and middle schools.In order to help teachers better understand the anxiety about English reading of junior high school students in Yining and help teachers further improve relevant teaching methods,the present study utilized two measures(a)the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale(FLRAS)which was published by Satio(1999),(b)reading performance scores.With the help of SPSS and Mplus,this paper analyzed the collected data of 123 junior high school students of Grade Nine in No.2 and No.9 middle school of Yining city.It has been found that the majority of junior high school English learners have been reading in English with a moderate degree of anxiety,and the reading scores of the Uyhgur students are negatively related to the reading anxiety,and the female junior high school students experience higher levels of reading anxiety than their male peers.Based on the relevant data of the FLRAS,this paper analyzed the main effects for the reading anxiety from three aspects: linguistic competence,self-concept,and tolerance of ambiguity.The study indicated significant difference between female students and their male peers.Female students are easily affected by linguistic competence,English self-concept,and tolerance of ambiguity.According to the results of this study,it is suggested that teachers can reduce the levels of anxiety in the foreign language reading of junior high school students in the following aspects : establish a good teacher-student relationship and create a safe psychological environment;guide students’ cognitive reassessment and develop self-confidence;input comprehensible language to stimulate students’ interest;strengthen the cultivation of reading strategies and form the whole consciousness of text;and encourages students to read widely and expand their knowledge.