A Study Of The Correlation Among Foreign Language Enjoyment,Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety And Academic Performance Of Senior High School Students

The National English Curriculum Standard for General Senior High School（2017）points out that teachers should pay attention to learners’ emotional factors in the English learning process.Emotion is a direct factor affecting individual English learning behavior and learning outcome（Cheng Xiaotang,2000: 17）.The literature shows that domestic scholars mainly focus on learners’ negative emotional factors such as foreign language classroom anxiety,but seldom explore learners’ positive emotional factors such as foreign language enjoyment from the perspective of positive psychology.Therefore,this research conducts an empirical study on the correlation between senior high school students’ foreign language enjoyment,foreign language classroom anxiety and academic performance,aiming to explore the emotional factors that affect foreign language learning,and provide some factual evidence for the reform of English teaching in senior high school.Selecting 251 senior high school students from a middle school in Zhangzhou,Fujian Province as research objects,taking the English classroom enjoyment scale,the foreign language classroom anxiety scale as the main research tools,this research aims to explore the following three questions through questionnaire survey,interview and statistical analysis:1.What is the level of senior high school students’ foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety?2.Are there significant differences in foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety among senior high school students in gender groups and English score groups?3.Is there any correlation among senior high school students’ foreign language enjoyment,foreign language classroom anxiety and academic performance?Through analysis on questionnaires and interview data,the results indicate that:1.The foreign language enjoyment of senior high school students is generally at a medium level（m=3.417）,of which the enjoyment of student support is the strongest（m=3.759）,and the enjoyment of English learning is the weakest（m=3.155）.In addition,the foreign language classroom anxiety is generally at a medium level（m=2.925）,of which communication anxiety is the strongest（m=3.014）and foreign language classroom anxiety is the weakest（m=2.725）.2.There are significant differences in the overall foreign language enjoyment（p=0.002<0.05）and its sub-dimension of the enjoyment of English learning（p=0.001<0.05）between male and female students in senior high school.However,there is no significant difference in its other two sub-dimensions,including the enjoyment of teacher support（p=0.119>0.05）and the enjoyment of student support（p=0.365>0.05）.In addition,there is a significant difference in its sub-dimension of foreign language classroom anxiety（p=0.025<0.05）between male and female students in senior high school.However,there is no significant difference in the overall foreign language classroom anxiety（p=0.168>0.05）and its other three sub-dimensions,including communication anxiety（p=0.568>0.05）,negative evaluation anxiety（p=0.261>0.05）and test anxiety（p=0.813>0.05）.There are significant differences in the overall foreign language enjoyment（p=0.000<0.05）,and its three sub-dimensions,including the enjoyment of English learning（p=0.000<0.05）,the enjoyment of teacher support（p=0.000<0.05）and the enjoyment of student support（p=0.007<0.05）between students with high score of English and those with low score in senior high school.In addition,there are also significant differences in the overall foreign language classroom anxiety（p=0.000<0.05）and its four sub-dimensions,including communication anxiety（p=0.000<0.05）,negative evaluation anxiety（p=0.000<0.05）,test anxiety（p=0.000<0.05）and foreign language classroom anxiety（p=0.000<0.05）between students with high score of English and those with low score in senior high school.3.There is significant correlation among senior high school students’ foreign language enjoyment,foreign language classroom anxiety and academic performance.There is significant positive correlation between foreign language enjoyment and academic performance（r=0.649**）.There is significant negative correlation between foreign language classroom anxiety and academic performance（r=-0.645**）.There is also significant negative correlation between foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety（r=-0.510**）.Furthermore,foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety have a direct impact on academic performance.Foreign language enjoyment can predict 42.1% of academic performance,and foreign language classroom anxiety can predict41.6% of academic performance.When foreign language enjoyment and foreign language classroom anxiety are combined and correlated,55.4% of academic performance can be predicted.Based on the above research results,this research puts forward teaching suggestions from the aspects of reducing students’ foreign language classroom anxiety and improving students’ foreign language enjoyment,in order to make teachers and students pay more attention to emotional factors,help students maintain positive emotional state in the learning process,and then improve their academic performance.