A Study Of The Correlation Between English Speaking Self-concept And English Classroom Speaking Anxiety Of Senior High School Students

The two major elements of psychology for language learning,that is English self-concept and English learning anxiety,have profoundly affected English teaching and learning.Recently,little attention has been paid to English speaking self-concept and English classroom speaking anxiety,let alone their correlation.Therefore,the present study investigates the current situation of the two affective factors and analyzes their correlation,hoping to offer some valuable pedagogical suggestions to English teaching and learning in senior high schools.In this study,Krashen's Affective Filter Hypothesis,self-concept concept and Horwitz' foreign language classroom anxiety serve as theoretical foundations and questionnaire survey is the primary means for data collection.300 senior high school students are selected randomly as research subjects from three senior high schools in Guilin.Two questionnaires are adopted as the research instrument in this study.They are English Speaking Self-concept Questionnaire and English Classroom Speaking Anxiety Questionnaire for Senior High School Students.The former is based on Wang Chuming & Pan Wei's ASQHSS(2008),and this study adopts two dimensions of the ASQHSS,including English pronunciation self-concept and English speaking self-concept.The latter is developed from Apple's Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety Scale,which is classified into five categories: general English speaking anxiety,anxiety in group discussion,anxiety in speaking to the teacher,anxiety in speaking to the partner and anxiety in speaking before the class.The three research questions addressed in the present study are:(1)What is the overall situation of English speaking self-concept of senior high school students?(2)What is the overall situation of English classroom speaking anxiety of senior high school students?(3)What is the correlation between English speaking self-concept and English classroom speaking anxiety? The research findings are:(1)Senior high school students have the comparatively negative English speaking self-concept.Moreover,English speaking self-concept is slightly negative than English pronunciation self-concept.(2)Senior high school students suffer from a median level of English classroom speaking anxiety.Among the five dimensions,students suffer from a higher level of anxiety when they speak to their teachers in English classroom and speak before the entire class,while they experience a lower level of anxiety when they speak to their group members and partners.(3)There is a significant,obvious and negative correlation between English speaking self-concept and English classroom speaking anxiety of senior high school students,which infers that senior high school students' English speaking self-concept is more positive,and their English classroom speaking anxiety is lower,or vice versa.Based on the investigation results,some pedagogical suggestions are presented for senior high school English teachers:(1)providing friendly learning atmosphere for students;(2)optimizing approaches to feedback and evaluation;(3)enhancing students' self-confidence and their sense of achievement.Some implications for senior high school students are also put forward:(1)treating others' comments and evaluations properly;(2)strengthening oral English practice.