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

Self-concept and anxiety as two very important emotional factors have always been the focus of scholars' researches.Especially in recent years,due to the prevalence of English,scholars' researches on English self-concept(ESC)and English learning anxiety have gradually increased.But most of them are about the influence of ESC on English scores,the causes of English learning anxiety,the impact of English learning anxiety on English scores,the correlation between self-concept and other factors,and so on.With the deepening of research,many scholars have paid attention to the study of the relationship between self-concept and anxiety.As far as English is concerned,scholars mostly study the relationship between ESC and English classroom anxiety.However,there are few studies on ESC and English classroom speaking anxiety(ECSA).Nowadays,as a communication tool,students' English oral expression ability is valued.However,oral anxiety is a common problem among students today.Therefore,the study of ESC and ECSA is particularly important.On the basis of theory and data analysis,this paper aims at the correlation between ESC and ECSA of Chinese high school students.The study combines the qualitative and quantitative methods to answer the following three questions:(1)What is the overall level of ESC and ECSA of Chinese high school students? Is there a gender difference?(2)Is there any correlation between the English sub-concepts? If so,what is the relevance? Is there a gender difference?(3)Is ESC related to ECSA? If so,what is the relevance? Is there a gender difference?In order to answer these questions,the researcher first conducts a survey of 118 students in two classes of Zhangjiakou No.1 Senior Middle School based on the English Self-Concept Structure Scale for Chinese Learners and Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale.Then,a semi-structured interview is conducted among the 6 students and the course teacher.Finally,the collected data are analyzed by SPSS20.0.The main findings are as follows:First of all,generally,the ESC and ECSA of high school students both are at a medium level,but the level of reading self-concept is higher,and the level of speaking and writing self-concept is lower.Although there is no obvious difference between male students and female students,female students' pronunciation self-concept is higher,while male students' reading self-concept is higher.In general,female students' evaluation of their English learning is higher than male students'.And in the case of students' ECSA,female students are more anxious than male students when speaking in front of the whole class.Secondly,the global English self-concept(GESC)is highly positively related to other sub-concepts of ESC,especially the reading self-concept and the vocabulary self-concept.There are moderate positive correlation between each dimension of ESC,and the speaking self-concept and the pronunciation self-concept have the highest correlation.Although there is no obvious gender difference in the correlation between each dimension of ESC,for male students,the listening self-concept and the pronunciation self-concept are the most relevant,while the speaking self-concept of female students is the most relevant to the pronunciation self-concept.Finally,there are significant moderate negative correlations between all the dimensions of ESC and ECSA.Among them,the speaking self-concept and the pronunciation self-concept have the highest correlation with oral English anxiety in English classroom.And speaking,pronunciation and vocabulary can explain 42.9% variations of ECSA.Based on the above research findings,suggestions are put forward on how to improve students' self-concept and reduce oral English anxiety: for teachers,firstly,teachers should create a good learning environment;secondly,teachers should use correct corrective methods and adopt group-based collaborative learning methods;thirdly,task-based teaching methods should be focused on students' learning process;fourth,teachers should provide students with sufficient comprehensible input,follow the gradual process,from simple to sophisticated,from low to high.For students,first of all,students should establish self-confidence;secondly,they should solidify their basic knowledge and master different learning strategies;finally,students should take a correct view of their learning ability and do not care too much about others' opinions.