A Study On Senior One Student’s English Reading Anxiety

Reading is one of the four basic skills of English and an essential way for learners to acquire language knowledge.At the same time,reading comprehension takes up the largest proportion of the English test in the college entrance examination in China.Then there is a great concern about how to help students improve their reading skills.Studies generally show that anxiety is a vital factor affecting English reading,so it is of practical significance to study the reading anxiety of senior high school students.This paper is based on humanism psychology and Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis.A questionnaire survey(foreign language reading anxiety scale)and a face-to-face interview are applied to investigate the English reading anxiety situation of162 freshmen from Fangchenggang Beibuwan Senior High School.Based on reading scores in the diagnostic test,all the participants are divided into three groups: the Good Group,the Medium Group,and the Poor Group.This study explores the influencing factors that cause English reading anxiety and later gives corresponding suggestions and solutions.There are three research questions:(1)What is the current situation of English reading anxiety of the senior one students in Fangchenggang Beibuwan Senior High School?(2)What is the difference in English reading anxiety between students with different reading abilities?(3)What are the causes of the English reading anxiety among the senior one students?The data shows that first of all,English reading anxiety is common among the senior one students of Beibuwan High School,and it is at a high level.The average score of all students is 66.07.Secondly,there is a mild or moderate negative correlation between English reading anxiety and reading scores in all the three groups.Lastly,the factors causing English reading anxiety are classified into three categories:(1)Learner’s absence of positive reading attitude and the influences of their personal experience and traits of character.(2)Learner’s poor mastery of English basic knowledge,containing vocabulary,grammar and discourse comprehension,etc.(3)Learner’s absence of English cultural background knowledge.What’s more,the potential factors also include the inadequate designs of some English reading materials and improper guidance from schools,teachers and parents.Accordingly,this paper puts forward relevant teaching suggestions,hoping to help students relieve the English reading anxiety.Finally,it should be stated that the research has certain limitations due to the insufficient sample size.More scientific and representative samples will be applied in future studies.