A Study On The Relationship Among English Learning Anxiety,Self-regulatory Strategies,and English Performance Of Junior High School Students

Foreign language learning anxiety is a complex of self-perception,beliefs,emotions,and behaviors related to foreign language learning in the classroom due to the uniqueness of the foreign language learning process(Horwitz et al.1986).Junior high school stage is the ambivalent phase of physical and mental development.During this period,students are under the great pressure of family,society,and themselves,so they can easily get English learning anxiety(Shi & Xu,2013).In this study,203 students in the eighth grade of Q Junior High School in G City,Jiangxi Province(English is the only foreign language course in the school)are selected as the research participants.Horwitz(1986)’s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(the FLCAS)and Xu and Kou(2015)’s Self-regulatory Strategies for Foreign Language Learning Anxiety Reduction are used as research instruments.Knowing the current situation of junior high school students’ English learning anxiety and their use of self-regulatory strategies,this study explores the relationship among English learning anxiety,the use of self-regulatory strategies,and English performance.According to Oxford and Burry-Stock’s division standard of five-point Likert scale,the participants are divided into high anxiety group(3.5-5 points),medium anxiety group(2.5-3.4 points),and low anxiety group(0-2.4 points),of which 53 are in the high anxiety group,109 are in the medium anxiety group,and 41 are in the low anxiety group.According to Professor Qin’s grouping criteria,the participants are divided into three groups in the light of their English performance: high group,medium group,and low group,of which 57 are in the high group,93 are in the medium group and 53 are in the low group.This study uses SPSS17.0statistical software for data analysis,and aims to answer the following four questions:Firstly,how is the current situation of junior high school students’ English learning anxiety and their use of self-regulatory strategies? Secondly,what is the relationship between English performance and English learning anxiety in junior high school students? Thirdly,what is the relationship between English performance and the use of self-regulatory strategies in junior high school students? Fourthly,what is the relationship between English learning anxiety and the use of self-regulatory strategies in junior high school students? The main findings are as follows.Firstly,this study finds that junior high school students generally have a medium level of English learning anxiety in the process of English learning,and they moderately use self-regulatory strategies.Secondly,there is a significant negative linear relationship between English performance and English learning anxiety.The level of English learning anxiety of learners in low group is significantly higher than learners in medium group,and the level of English learning anxiety of learners in medium group is significantly higher than learners in high group.Thirdly,there is a significant positive linear relationship between English performance and self-efficacy enhancement strategy,solving problems strategy,and diverting attention strategy,and a significant negative linear relationship between English performance and diverting attention strategy.In addition,learners in medium group and high group use self-regulatory strategies more frequently,and learners in low group use self-regulatory strategies the least.Fourthly,there is a significant negative linear relationship between English learning anxiety and self-efficacy enhancement strategy,solving problems strategy.There is a significant positive linear relationship between English learning anxiety and escaping problems strategy.But there is no significant linear relationship between English learning anxiety and diverting attention strategy.Learners with different levels of anxiety use self-efficacy enhancement strategy,solving problems strategy and escaping problems strategy significantly differently.Learners in high anxiety group prefer to use negative self-regulatory strategies,while learners in low anxiety group are better at using positive self-regulatory strategies.And all learners like to use self-efficacy enhancement strategy and diverting attention strategy to alleviate their English learning anxiety.According to the above findings,this study makes the following suggestions for English teachers: creating a relaxed and harmonious classroom atmosphere;raising students’ awareness of English learning anxiety;enhancing students’ self-confidence in English learning;improving questioning strategies and oral training methods;treating students’ English performance correctly;forming English learning anxiety mutual aid groups in the class.