A Research On The Influence Of Listening Anxiety In English Listening Comprehension Of Senior High School Students

In recent years,more and more researchers and language teachers have begun to pay attention to emotional factors of learners.A large number of related studies have shown that anxiety is one of the complex and influential affective factors in the process of language learning.There are five aspects of language learning,listening,speaking,reading,writing and viewing,among which listening is deemed to be the most likely to cause anxiety.Listening is the premise and foundation for understanding language input and communication,and it plays an important role in the development of students’ comprehensive ability of language.It is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the relationship between anxiety and listening comprehension in order to improve the listening level of senior high school students.In this thesis,as research subjects,106 students from two parallel classes of senior two in the Secondary School Affiliated to Shandong Normal University are studied for three months.Based on the theories of constructivism,affective filter hypothesis and humanistic psychology theory,this study is intended to explore:(1)the current level of English listening anxiety among senior high school students;(2)the relationship between students’ listening anxiety and their listening comprehension.The research instruments used in this thesis are questionnaire,interview,pre-test and post-test.For the collected data,the social science statistical software SPSS21.0 is used by the author to carry out correlation analysis,independent sample T-test and paired sample T-test.First of all,through the analysis of the questionnaire,the author finds that listening anxiety is widespread in the process of senior high school students’ English listening.Secondly,by collecting and analyzing the pre-test data of questionnaire and listening comprehension ability,the researcher concludes that there is a negative correlation between listening anxiety and listening comprehension.After the teaching experiment,the negative correlation between the two is confirmed through the analysis of post-test data.Besides,this study also notes that the foursources of anxiety: self-evaluation,listening habits,characteristics of listening materials,and listening situations which are included in the questionnaire,are all negatively related to listening comprehension.Finally,by randomly selecting 8 subjects for individual interviews,the author summarizes that the lack of listening confidence and listening strategies,the use of unsuitable materials and other reasons are likely to cause listening anxiety.So combined with the questionnaire data,the corresponding measures are proposed.By comparing the results of the pre-test and post-test,the author proves that measures such as improving listening content,training listening strategies,conducting psychological counseling,and using error correction strategies have feasibility and effectiveness in reducing listening anxiety.This research will help educators better understand the relationship between listening anxiety and listening comprehension ability,and raise the awareness about anxiety phenomenon in senior high school students’ English listening process,so that they can take effective measures to help students reduce listening anxiety and improve listening comprehension ability.This thesis also provides some feasible measures for teachers,including choosing listening materials suitable for students,teaching listening skills and strategies,cultivating students’ confidence in English listening,and creating a relaxed classroom environment.