A Study On The Relationship Among English Reading Self-efficacy,Reading Anxiety And Reading Performance Of Senior High School Students

As a crucial language skill,reading has attracted more and more attention of scholars abroad and at home.Self-efficacy and anxiety,as important factors influencing reading performance,have also received more attention.In recent years,most scholars abroad and at home have been devoted to exploring the relationship between English reading self-efficacy and reading performance or the relationship between English reading anxiety and reading performance.However,there are few studies on the relationship among the English reading self-efficacy,reading anxiety and reading performance simultaneously and research participants mostly focus on college students.Based on Social Cognitive Theory and Affective Filter Hypothesis,this study aims to explore the relationship among English reading self-efficacy,reading anxiety and reading performance of senior high school students simultaneously and find out the predictive role of English reading self-efficacy and reading anxiety in reading performance.Here are three research questions as follows:(1)What’s the general situation of English reading self-efficacy and readinganxiety of senior high school students?(2)How are senior high school students’ English reading self-efficacy,readinganxiety and reading performance correlated with each other?(3)Can English reading self-efficacy and reading anxiety predict senior highschool students’ reading performance? If it can,which one of them is thestronger indicator in predicting reading performance?This study took 190 senior two students as research participants from an ordinary senior high school in Nanchang to explore the relationship between English reading self-efficacy,reading anxiety and reading performance among senior high school students simultaneously by adopting the combination of questionnaire and interview research methods.As for the questionnaires,English Reading Self-efficacy Scale evolving from Zhang & Liu’s English Reading Self-efficacy Scale(2009)and Saito’s Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale(1999)were used.As for the interview,eight students were randomly selected to conduct an interview.The results of this study showed that(1)senior high school students reached a moderate level of English reading self-efficacy.As for three dimensions,the level of sense of effort was the highest and the level of sense of competence was the lowest.Senior high school students experienced a moderate level of English reading anxiety.As for five dimensions,the level of self-assessment was the highest and the level of reading attitudes was the lowest.(2)English reading self-efficacy was significantly and positively correlated with reading performance and English reading anxiety was significantly and negatively correlated with reading performance.Besides,English reading self-efficacy was significantly and negatively correlated with reading anxiety.(3)English reading self-efficacy and reading anxiety both significantly predicted reading performance and the predictive effect of English reading self-efficacy on reading performance is stronger.Considering the findings seen above,some implications and suggestions can be provided for both English learners and teachers.For English learners,certain confidence and no excessive anxiety in English reading can contribute to improvement of their English reading performance.For English teachers,it is very essential to help students raise their confidence in English reading and alleviate their anxiety about English reading.For example,teachers can design learning tasks of appropriate difficulty for students in English reading teaching.