A Study Of The Correlation Between English Learning Motivation And Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Among Chinese First-Year Undergraduate Students

The present study investigated motivation and anxiety as the most common psychological variables that affect the learning of English as a foreign language among Chinese first-year undergraduate students.The samples were taken from eighty-nine students and seven teachers who participated in this current study in the academic year 2021/2022.This study aimed to explore the following: 1)The current situation of English learning motivation and foreign language classroom anxiety of Chinese first-year undergraduate students.2)The correlation between English learning motivation and foreign language classroom anxiety,and 3)How do teachers increase English learning motivation and reduce foreign language classroom anxiety of Chinese first-year undergraduate students.The study employed a mixed methods design to collect data.Data were collected through two sets of questionnaires consisting of 106 Five-Point Likert Scale Items,and were:1)LMLEL,Learners’ Motivation towards Learning English Language Questionnaire,which adopted from D(?)rnyei,2010,and 2)FLCA,Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Questionnaire,which adopted from Horwitz,E.,Horwitz,M.,& Cope,J.(1986).Then,a purposive sampling approach was used to meet particular criteria to select seven teachers;t w o m a l e s a n d f i v e f e m a l e s t o c o n d u c t o n l i n e s e m i-s t r u c t u r e d i n t e r v i e w s.The findings of the descriptive statistical analysis revealed that: 1)Chinese first-year undergraduate students had a bit high instrumental motivation orientation.2)Fear of Negative Evaluation and Test Anxiety were the most factors that trigger Chinese first-year undergraduate students’ anxiety.3)Pearson Correlation’s analysis indicated that Chinese firstyear undergraduate students had a high level of motivation and a high degree of anxiety.That is to say,a positive and significant correlation between English learning motivation and foreign language classroom anxiety was found among Chinese first-year undergraduate learners.Simply put,the more motivation Chinese first-year undergraduate students get,the more anxious they become.The present study has contributed towards learning English as a foreign language among Chinese learners in China.Significantly,it investigated the correlation between motivation and anxiety among Chinese first-year undergraduate students.The findings can also give further insight on learning English as a foreign language in China,which promotes the awareness of instructors toward the most investigated psychological factors motivation and anxiety in learning English as a foreign language.In conclusion,it is recommended that more mixed methods research is needed to support these findings.Moreover,future research with different educational levels,and different majors should be conducted.