An Investigation Into Students’ English Learning Anxiety In A Senior Middle School

Since the 1970 s,research on language teaching and learning has shifted its focus from exploring how to teach a language to examining individual differences in learning a language.Researchers believe that language learning is affected by a variety of factors.By exploring how these factors influence students’ learning process,students may improve their learning efficiency in classroom.Of all these factors,language learning anxiety has increasingly attracted researchers’ attention.The present study contributed to the research in this area by examining students’ English learning anxiety in a senior middle school.This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate students’ learning anxiety.The data were collected by a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview.It first examined the general tendency of senior middle school students’ English learning anxiety,and then explored whether there was any relationship between English learning anxiety and their learning achievements.It also attempted to discover the effects of gender and academic major on students’ English learning anxiety.The participants of this study were 217 students in a senior middle school.Of all these students,140 were males and 77 were females.The instrument used in this study was Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety(FLCAS)designed by Horwitz(1986).In addition,10 participants were invited to take part in a semi-structured interview.The data of the study were computed by the software SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)20.0.The study has resulted in a number of major findings concerning the students’ English learning anxiety.First,the study showed that a majority of students suffered a moderate level of English learning anxiety.It also showed that the students’ English proficiency affected their learning anxiety.The students with high English proficiency tended to be less anxious than those with low English proficiency in English learning.Secondly,the study found a significant difference in learning anxiety between the Art students and Science students,with the Art student reporting higher levels of anxiety than Science students.Finally,the findings of this study demonstrated that there was significant difference in learning anxiety between the male and female students.On the whole,the female students showed a higher English learning anxiety than the male students in English learning.On the basis of the major findings above,some pedagogical implications were offered for English teachers in senior middle schools to alleviate their students’ English learning anxiety.First,teachers should help students aware of their learning anxiety.Some efficient measures could be taken for this purpose,such as discussing the nature of language learning anxiety.Secondly,teachers should help their students increase their self-esteem and build up their confidence.Besides,English teachers should try to create a harmonious classroom atmosphere in classroom,so as to reduce their students’ English learning anxiety.Finally,teachers should pay attention to their ways of error correction and help their students increase tolerance of ambiguity in English learning.Only in such ways will teachers be able to help their students reduce learning anxiety and increase their English learning efficiency.