A Study On The Relationship Between Learned Helplessness In English Learning And English Classroom Anxiety Of Senior High School Students In Ethnic Areas

Seligman(1967)believed learned helplessness(LH)refers to a person’s psychological state and behavior of powerlessness when facing problems after experiencing setbacks and failure for a long time or repeatedly.It is a distinct negative psychological state in motivation,emotion,behavior,and cognition after the organism experiences some kind of unconscious learning.Horwitz(1986)maintained that foreign language anxiety(FLA)refers to a meaningful self-perception,belief and emotion complex that is related to classroom learning and generated in the process of learning this language.Senior High School English Curriculum Standards(2017)requires teachers to focus on students’ emotions,so that students get a correct understanding of English learning and maintain their interest in learning English.However,learned helplessness in English learning(LHEL)and English classroom anxiety(ECA)can cause a series of negative psychological and emotional problems,which will seriously hinder the development of students.Therefore,it is important to understand whether students have learned helplessness and anxiety in English learning.Based on 819 senior high school students’ questionnaire investigation and 24 students’ interviews in Qiannan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture(QBMAP),the present study explores the situation of senior high school students’ learned helplessness in English learning and English classroom anxiety,and reveals their relationship.The present study focuses on the following four aspects:1).To know the overall situations of students’ learned helplessness in English learning and English classroom anxiety in senior high school.2).To know if there are differences among students’ learned helplessness in English learning and English classroom anxiety in senior high school in terms of grade.3).To analyze the relationship between senior high school students’ learned helplessness in English learning and English classroom anxiety.And to study whether senior high school students’ learned helplessness in English learning affect their English classroom anxiety.4).To find out the factors affecting senior high school students’ learned helplessness in English Learning.Based on descriptive statistics,one-way ANOVA,post-hoc,correlation analysis,multiple regression analysis and thematic analysis,the research results summarize as follows:1).Senior high school students’ learned helplessness in English learning at overall is at the medium level.In the dimensions,students’ cognitive helplessness(CH),motivational helplessness(MH),emotional helplessness(EH)and behavioral helplessness(BH)are also at the medium level;and motivational helplessness scores the highest,followed by emotional helplessness,behavioral helplessness and cognitive helplessness.2).Senior high school students’ English classroom anxiety in overall is at the medium level.In the dimensions,students’ communication apprehension(CA),fear of negative evaluation(FNE),test anxiety(TA)and other anxiety(OA)are also at the medium level;and test anxiety scores the highest,followed by communication apprehension,fear of negative evaluation and other anxiety.3).There is a significant difference among the three grades of students’ learned helplessness in English learning.Students in Grade One and Grade Two have higher learned helplessness in English learning than students in Grade Three.4).There is a significant difference among the three grades students’ in English classroom anxiety level.Students’ English classroom anxiety in Grade One is significantly higher than students in Grade Two and Grade Three.5).There is a positive and significant correlation between students’ learned helplessness in English learning and their English classroom anxiety.Besides,students’ behavioral helplessness,emotional helplessness,cognitive helplessness and motivational helplessness all can be significantly and better predict their English classroom anxiety.The major factors of affecting students’ learned helplessness in English learning consist of lacking a sense of achievement,lacking learning strategies,low self-efficacy,incorrect attributional style and others’ negative evaluation.Based on the present study’s results and theoretical basis,the author puts forward six suggestions:1)Teachers and parents can help students to set reasonable English learning goals according to their personal conditions,so that students have a sense of achievement.2)Students can practice learning strategies by observing and imitating others’ methods so that they can use effective learning strategies.3)Students can improve self-efficacy through personal effort,teachers’ and parents’ expectation,so that students can have confidence in English learning.4)Teachers and parents could guide students to attribute their performance in a positive way;that is to attribute failure to lack of efforts and methods,while attribute success toabilities and intelligence.5)Teachers and parents can find out students’ shining points to give them a positive evaluation,so that students can express themselves boldly.6)Because the low-grade students’ learned helplessness in English learning and English classroom anxiety are significantly higher than those in the high-grade,teachers should strive to create a positive and healthy classroom environment centered on students,especially in the low-grade,so that students can quickly integrate into the new environment.