The Predictive Effects Of Foreign Language Anxiety,Enjoyment And Boredom On Senior High School Students’ English Achievements

As stated in The National English Curriculum Standard of General Senior High School(2017 edition,2020 revision),emphasis should be placed on the educational value of subject teaching,on cultivating students’ correct values and positive emotional attitudes in the process of learning English,and on developing their ability to regulate their own emotions and feelings.A review of relevant literature reveals that anxiety,enjoyment and boredom are prevalent and play a significant role in the process of foreign language learning.And enjoyment and boredom are new hotspots in the study of second language emotions,but there are still few scholars who have explored the role of positive and negative emotions in jointly influencing English learning.Hence,this study conducts an empirical investigation on the predictive effect of foreign language anxiety,enjoyment and boredom on English achievement of senior high school students,with the aim of broadening the understanding of negative emotions and positive emotions,exploring the relationship between them,and providing a factual basis for enhancing positive emotional experiences among high school students.In this study,337 participants from a senior high school in Zhangzhou City,Fujian Province are investigated by questionnaires and interviews,using Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale,Chinese version of Foreign Language Enjoyment Scale and Foreign Language Classroom Boredom Scale,in order to answer the following three questions:(1)What is the overall situation of senior high school students’ Foreign Language Anxiety(FLCA),Foreign Language Enjoyment(FLE)and Foreign Language Boredom(FLB)?(2)What is the relationship between FLCA,FLE,FLB,and gender,English achievement?(3)Do FLCA,FLE and FLB predict students’ English achievement? If they do,How?The analysis of the data and the results of the interviews show the following results.1.High school students have more positive emotions than negative ones,with an overall moderate level of Foreign Language Anxiety(M=2.81),a higher level of Foreign Language Enjoyment(M=3.56),and a low level of Foreign Language Boredom(M=2.34).Among the anxiety,negative evaluation anxiety(M=2.86)and test anxiety(M=2.86)are the highest.As for enjoyment,teacher appreciation(M=4.13)is the highest,and personal enjoyment(M=3.32)is the lowest.2.There is no significant difference in the variable of gender for FLCA(p=0.29 > 0.05),a significant difference for FLE in general(p=0.03 < 0.05),but no significant difference for any of its sub-dimensions,and a significant difference for FLB(p=0.009 < 0.05).In terms of achievement variables,there are significant differences in both overall foreign language anxiety and each dimension(p=0.000 < 0.05),and in foreign language enjoyment(p=0.000 < 0.05)and its sub-dimensions personal enjoyment(p=0.000 < 0.05),teacher enjoyment(p=0.005 < 0.05)and environmental enjoyment(p=0.032 < 0.05).Also,there is a significant difference in foreign language boredom(p=0.000 < 0.05).FLCA,FLE and FLB are all significantly correlated with each other,with FLCA showing a highly significant negative correlation with FLE(r=-.509**)and a highly significant positive correlation with FLB(r=.564**).And FLE has a highly significant negative relationship with FLB(r=-.692**).In addition,the three emotions also have significant correlation with English achievement.To be specific,FLCA and English achievement shows a significant and highly negative correlation(r=-.507**),FLE and English achievement shows a significant and highly positive correlation(r=.433**),FLB and English achievement also shows a significant and highly negative correlation(r=-.496**).3.All of the three emotions are significant independent predictors of English achievement.Besides,FLCA and FLB are significant synergistic negative predictors of English achievement.Based on the above findings,this study puts forward suggestions on how to reduce students’ FLCA and FLB and improve their FLE,in an attempt to provide insights for how to help students regulate their emotional state and facilitate their English learning.