A Study On The Influence Of Teacher Discourse On Senior High School Students’ English Learning Anxiety

Under the background of the development of humanistic education and English subject core competences,more and more attention is paid to the affective factors of students in English teaching than past.Among the affective factors that affect language learning,anxiety is the main affective disorder.At present,the phenomenon of senior high school students’ English learning anxiety is quite common in our country.In senior high school English classroom teaching,teacher discourse as a tool to transmit information,has an important influence on students’ inner psychology and learning behavior.Through literature survey,it is found that due to the influence of traditional teaching methods and examination system,there are still many practical problems of teacher discourse.Besides,there is relatively little analysis and discussion on alleviating students’ learning anxiety and improving learning efficiency from the perspective of teacher discourse.Therefore,this study is aimed at investigating senior high school students’ learning anxiety and its influencing factors,investigating and analyzing the use of teacher discourse,exploring the influence of teacher discourse on students’ learning anxiety.Then it is expected to promote high school English teachers’ focus on students’ English learning anxiety and students’ English learning quality by using scientific and effective use of teacher discourse,so as to improve the teaching efficiency,better implement the core competences requirements of English subject and achieve the educational objectives.With the basis of Krashen’s affective filter hypothesis and Maslow’s humanistic education theory,this study selected six teachers and the students in their teaching classes in a senior high school in Suzhou as the research subjects.By adopting the combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods and through classroom observation,questionnaires,interviews with teachers and students,the following three questions were discussed :(1)What is the status quo of senior high school students’ English learning anxiety?What are the major influencing factors?(2)What are the characteristics and forms of teacher discourse use in senior high school?(3)What are the effects of high school English teacher discourse? How to enhance the quality of teacher discourse?Firstly,through classroom observation,questionnaires and interview,the author made a preliminary understanding of the status quo of students’ learning anxiety,its influencing factors and the use of teacher discourse.Then followed was the investigation of the influence of different aspects of teacher discourse on students’ learning anxiety.And then interviews with teachers and students were conducted to make supplementary surveys.Through data collection,processing,analysis and discussion,the results of the study show:(1)Most senior high school students’ English learning anxiety is at the middle or higher level,and there is no significant difference between male and female students’ English learning anxiety;The factors that cause students’ English learning anxiety include communication,examination,English classroom and teacher discourse,among which teacher discourse has a more prominent influence.(2)Teacher discourse make up too much of the whole classroom discourse;The quality of teacher discourse is generally high,but the speaking speed is relatively fast;Teachers ask mainly demonstrative questions but few reference questions;Teachers tend to leave tight thinking time after asking questions;Teachers’ feedback is mainly simple praise and leading discourse;(3)The influence of teacher discourse on students’ English learning anxiety is reflected mainly in speed of speech,pause time of questioning,and way of questioning.In view of the above research results and combined with the practice of English teaching in senior high school,the author tentatively puts forward some specific teaching suggestions for senior high school English teachers from the perspective of improving teacher discourse to relieve students’ learning anxiety:(1)Continuously improving their professional quality and recognize the important role of classroom discourse in classroom teaching.(2)Optimizing classroom feedback strategies and improve the quality of classroom feedback.(3)Scientifically using classroom discourse for students with different levels of anxiety.(4)Effectively using teacher discourse to create a harmonious classroom atmosphere,so as to promote students’ English learning and improve English teaching.