A Study Of Senior High School Students’ English Learned Helplessness

The English curriculum standards for general high schools emphasize the educational aims of fostering integrity and promote the rounded development of people.However,some senior high students do not feel the joy of the experience due to rote memory and decontextualized English learning,while some others feel helpless.Despite their great endeavors,their English scores have not been satisfactory.This sense of helplessness in English acquisition causes a series of negative emotions in English learning,hindering their healthy psychological development.Based on the current situation of senior high school students’ English learning,this study explores the causes of "learned helplessness" and the solutions,which focus on the following three questions:1.What is the status quo of learned helplessness among high school students?2.What are the causes of high school students’ learned helplessness?3.How to reduce the helplessness of English acquisition among high school students?Taking the students of Class 9 and Class 22 of a senior high school in Hanzhong as an example,through observation,questionnaire and double interview between teachers and students,this study has found that the problems of students’ English learning behavior,cognition,emotion and motivation all point to the helplessness of English acquisition,and this negative psychology exists in senior high school students of different levels.It has become a major culprit affecting high school students’ English learning,yet it has not received due attention from teachers and students.The analysis of questionnaire data and interview shows that the main causes of high school students’ English acquisition helplessness include students’ wrong attribution and low self-efficacy in English learning and teachers’ lack of psychological and teaching guidance for students.Based on students’ learning situation,through the intervention of teaching experiments,this paper explores the solutions to students’ helplessness in English acquisition from three steps,namely,attribution training,stimulating students’ second language self-motivation system and cultivating self-efficacy,and puts forward teaching coping strategies: appropriately change teaching methods and make correct teaching evaluation on students;pursue audience-based education and provide guidance according to the students’ learning levels;Guide students to make correct attribution to English learning;adjust teaching strategy,improve students’ self-efficacy.The Study of Senior High School Students’ English Learned Helplessness reflects the educational value of English course,which has a positive effect on stimulating students’ motivation,promoting self-efficacy and improving the effectiveness of high school English teaching.