A Study On Correlation Between Listening Anxiety And Listening Strategy For Non-English Majors

In recent years, affective factors in language learning have attracted the attention of more and more researchers. Anxiety, as one of the important affective factors, is most frequently discussed and various researches show that language anxiety is a key variable related to success in language learning. However, through a careful review of literature, the author finds that most researches have paid much attention to the influence of general foreign language anxiety on learners'performance, neglecting the dimensions of language-skill-specific anxieties, such as foreign language listening anxiety. What's more, it is found that most of the previous studies have been done in western counties while in China, which has the largest number of foreign language learners in the world, the empirical studies relevant to language-skill-specific anxieties, especially studies related to listening anxiety are scarcer. While at the same time, listening deficiency is still a common phenomenon in present Chinese universities and complaints about listening difficulties are often heard among college students. With the proportion of listening comprehension increasing in College English Test Band 4 and Band 6, how to promote students'listening comprehension brook no delay. Based on such a background, this thesis attempts to carry out an empirical and systematical study of the English listening anxiety of non-English majors, hoping to make contributions to the practical instructions of listening teaching.Both the quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in the present study. The quantitative component of the study focuses on the existence of English listening anxiety and the relationship between English listening anxiety and three major variables:English listening proficiency, listening strategies and learner background factors, while the qualitative study further explores the potential sources of English listening anxiety.The participants selected for this study are 110 sophomores from Shandong University at Weihai. The instruments used are Background Information Questionnaire (BIQ), English Listening Anxiety Scale (ELAS), English Listening Strategy Scale (ELSS), listening proficiency test of CET-4 and interviews.The quantitative research finds that the non-English major college students in Shandong University at Weihai do experience a high level of English listening anxiety. Listening anxiety has a significantly negative relationship with listening proficiency. In addition, it is found that low-anxiety students tend to have a higher level of listening proficiency than high-anxiety students. And the difference in anxiety level between male and female students is not statistically significant though female students are found to have achieved high scores in listening proficiency test. In terms of the relation between English listening anxiety and listening strategy, a significantly negative relationship is found between them. Among the three strategy categories, the negative correlation between anxiety level and use of cognitive strategy is strongest. Besides, the study revealed that low-anxiety group used all the three strategy categories more often than high-anxiety group. In addition, female participants are found to use listening strategy more than male participants. With regard to background variables, self-rated listening proficiency, the degree of interest and the average time spent on English learning per day have negative impact on learners' listening anxiety. However, self-rated listening anxiety is found to have a positive effect on listening anxiety.The qualitative research identifies four major sources of listening anxiety:characteristics of listening activity, characteristics of listening materials, characteristics of listening tasks and personal beliefs about English learning.The above findings suggest that English teachers should attach their attention to the possibility that listening anxiety is responsible for students' poor performance. At the same time, the instruction of listening strategies should be further conducted in order to help students to overcome listening anxiety and get better listening results.