A Study On Foreign Language Listening Anxiety Of Senior Three Students

In recent years, affective factors in language learning have drawn the attention of more and more researchers Anxiety is one of the most important affective variables that can influence learners’learning effect. Language anxiety is a complex psychological phenomenon that is peculiar to the language learning. However, the number of the researches on foreign language listening anxiety is far less than the number of the researches on speaking anxiety and writing anxiety. So the study of listening anxiety is of vital significance. The theoretical foundations of the thesis are Affective Filter Hypothesis and Constructive Learning Theory.By adopting both quantitative method and qualitative method, this paper intended to investigate the following questions:(1) What is the general state of senior three students’listening anxiety? Is there any difference in students’English listening anxiety between male and female students? Is there any difference in students’English listening anxiety between Arts students and Science students?(2) Is there any correlation between students’English listening anxiety and students’ English listening proficiency?(3) What are the causes of senior three students’English listening anxiety?A total of 183 senior three students of four intact classes from High School Affiliated to Yangzhou University took part in the quantitative research; however, the valid sample was 172 students. English Listening Anxiety Questionnaire (ELAQ) was adopted to measure students’ English anxiety levels. This questionnaire consisted of 24 items of three dimensions. Besides, English Listening Proficiency Test was employed to measure students’listening ability. The data was analyzed with SPSS 17.0, including Reliability Analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis and Independent Samples T-test. With respect to qualitative research,183 students were required to write down the causes of English listening anxiety on the survey sheet. The purpose of the qualitative research was to collect and analyze the possible causes of English listening anxiety.The findings of the study were summarized as follows:(1) Most senior three students (62%) experienced moderate and high level English listening anxiety and while only 38% students experienced low level listening anxiety.The difference of listening anxiety scores between male students and female students is not statistically significant. But male students demonstrate significant differences in their ability to differentiate words and their satisfactory levels of their English proficiency.There was no significant difference in listening anxiety level between Arts students and Science students. They tended to experience similar English listening anxiety in the listening process.(2) There was a significantly negative correlation between students’ English listening anxiety and students’ English listening proficiency. If a student was extremely anxious during English listening exams, it would be very likely for him to get a low listening score.(3) English listening anxiety was mainly caused by factors on individual characteristics, listening process characteristics and text characteristics. Comparatively speaking, individual characteristics had greater influence on listening anxiety than listening process characteristics and text characteristics. Individual characteristics mainly included poor English proficiency, lack of self-confidence and lack of attention in the listening; Listening process characteristics covered lacking integrating information ability and necessary listening skills; Text characteristics consisted of fast speed of the text, unfamiliarity with some topics as well as long and complex sentence structures.This study had practical significance to the high school English listening teaching. First of all, teachers should strive to create a relaxing learning environment for students. Teachers should encourage students frequently. Besides, teachers should give male students more attention and guidance. Moreover, teachers should strengthen the students’ basic language skills and select the appropriate listening material for students. Finally, teachers should give instructions on listening skills to alleviate students’ listening anxiety and help students get better listening scores.There were four limitations in this study. Fist, the number of subjects in this study was relatively small; Second, one single English listening proficiency test might not be enough to accurately measure students’ real listening proficiency; Third, the questionnaire data were based on students’ self-reports which might not be reliable and trustworthy due to some uncontrollable reasons. Last but not least, the study only focused on the correlation between students’ listening anxiety and students’ listening proficiency. Further researches can explore the relationship between listening anxiety and other aspects of language learning anxieties, such as reading, speaking and writing.