Study On The Correlation Between Listening Comprehension Anxiety And Listening Strategies Of Non-English Major Postgraduate Students In Xinjiang University

Since the 1980 s,many researchers begin to research the learner’s individual differences and the process of foreign language acquisition.The research’s focus on second language acquisition is shifted from researching on teaching to the learner’s individual differences in the process of language acquisition.Researchers also start to concern about how affective factors have an effect on their learning behaviors and learning outcome directly.In this thesis,Non-English major postgraduate students in Xinjiang University are regarded as research subjects,which aims at investigating the whole situation of listening anxiety,the whole situation of their using listening strategy and correlation between their listening anxiety and listening strategies.The research questions are put forward as follows:1)Do postgraduate students have English listening anxiety? What is the degree of their listening anxiety and general usage of listening strategies?2)Is there any correlation between their listening anxiety and listening strategies and what is the correlation of their listening anxiety and listening strategies?3)What are the differences between effective listeners and ineffective listeners in the use of listening strategies?The thesis is based on the theoretical frameworks of Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis,constructive learning theory and Rod Ellis’ s learner’s individual differences,and conduct with questionnaires,a semi-structured interview and think-aloud report.In this study,two hundred non-English major postgraduates in Xinjiang University are investigated.All the data are entered into SPSS19.0.In order to guarantee reliability of questionnaires,Cronbach’s alpha is adopted.The descriptive statistics analysis,independent-sample T-test and Person correlation analysis are also applied in this study.The results reveal that: firstly,there exists listening anxiety among non-English major postgraduates.Cognitive strategies are used the most by non-English major postgraduates,followed by meta-cognitive and social/affective strategies the least.Secondly,there is a negative correlation between listening anxiety and listening strategies,in the meantime,there is a strong negative correlation between listening anxiety and cognitive strategies,followed by meta-cognitive and social/affective strategies.Thirdly,the independent-sample T-test analysis shows that there is difference in the use of meta-cognitive strategies between effective listeners and ineffective listeners.The important implications are as follows: firstly,teachers are supposed to consider that there is a negative correlation between listening anxiety and listening strategies,thus students’ anxiety with the training of listening strategies can be reduced.Secondly,teachers ought to pay attention to improving ineffective listeners’ meta-cognitive awareness and enhance their ability to the use of monitoring strategies.Thirdly,the researcher advises students to improving their self-learning ability in order to reduce anxiety,making full preparations before listening,and mastering listening strategies by massive practice after class.