On Anxiety-relieving Questioning Techniques In Junior Middle School English Classrooms

Owing to the development of second language acquisition and humanistic psychology, the focus of research on English teaching and learning has been shifted from the way the teachers teach to the way the learners learn. Increased attention has been paid to the learners'affective variables. Anxiety, as one of the most important affective variables, has drawn researchers'concerns. In the 21st century, most English learning will be conducted in the classroom in China. English teachers, as the principal factor in classroom teaching, their questioning may have an impact on the learners'anxiety and their normal language acquisition.The present study is based on Krashen's the affective filter hypothesis and the theory of humanistic psychology. The target samples were 15 English teachers and 120 Grade 2 students from the Junior Middle School of Tancheng Township, Tancheng Prefecture. The instruments employed in the study were three questionnaire surveys. All data collected from questionnaireas were put into SPSS17.0 to analyse and compile statistics. The first of questionnaire was Horwitz's FLCAS designed to investigate the students'anxiety in their English classes. The results of this survey showed that language anxiety existed among Chinese English learners in the setting of classroom learning and their anxiety degree varied. Others were about the teachers'questioning, error correction and evaluation, the data was we found that teachers'questioning and feedback did arouse high anxiety to learners. On the basis of the survey results, the author conducted an experiment, in which the author adjusted teacher'behaviors including their ways of questioning, error correction and evaluation. The results of this experiment showed that the level of the students'anxiety was eased and their study was improved.Several pedagogical implications are suggested based on the results. Firstly, teachers should carry out some activities that students are interested in, arouse their active participation and create a less anxiety-provoking and harmonious English learning environment. Secondly, teachers should adjust their behaviors (questioning, errror correction and evaluation ) to moderate students'anxiety.This thesis studies the causes of anxiety in view of teachers'questioning, error correction and evaluation, and the approaches of adjusting the teachers'behaviors to ease the learners'anxiety in the classrooms. It is hoped that this research can raise the teachers'attention on affective factors in classroom and help the teachers create a less anxiety-provoking and harmonious English learning environment.