A Study Of The Correlation Between Teacher Talk And Senior High School Students’ Anxiety At Different Stages Of Cognitive Processing

Foreign language classroom anxiety has always been an issue in foreign language classroom research at home and abroad,which has aroused extensive attention from experts and scholars and a lot of studies have been done.Studies have found that alleviating students’ anxiety in foreign language classroom can improve foreign language classroom teaching quality.In English classroom,teacher talk,as an important source of comprehensible input,has a non-negligible impact on students’ anxiety in foreign language classroom.At present,the research on the correlation between teacher talk and students’ anxiety in foreign language classroom in China mainly focuses on the correlation between teacher talk and students’ anxiety at output stage in foreign language classroom.Therefore,conducting a study on the correlation between teacher talk and students’ anxiety at different stages of cognitive processing(input anxiety,processing anxiety,output anxiety)in English classroom has certain theoretical and practical significance.Based on Input Hypothesis,Output Hypothesis,Interaction Hypothesis,and Affective Filter Hypothesis,the author selected a senior high school in Yunnan Province to study the correlation between teacher talk and students’ anxiety at different stages of cognitive processing in high school English classroom,and the specific research questions are:(1)What is the current situation of senior high school English teachers’ questioning,explanation and feedback? What are the existing problems?(2)What is the level of senior high school students’ input anxiety,processing anxiety,and output anxiety in English classroom respectively?(3)Is teacher talk correlated with students’ anxiety level at three stages of cognitive processing? If yes,what are the characteristics of such correlation?This study adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods and collected data and information through questionnaire and classroom observation.The author then analyzed the corresponding data and information.First,235 senior high school students participated in the survey on the current situation of teacher talk and their anxiety level at three stages of cognitive processing.The correlations between teacher talk and students’ anxiety at different stages of cognitive processing were studied by using SPSS 22.0 to analyze questionnaire data.In order to supplement the data of questionnaire survey,the author also selected two English teachers in this senior high school and observed their ten English classes respectively,and recorded the situation of their questioning,explanation and feedback.Based on data analysis and discussion,this study has drawn the following conclusions:The current situation of teacher talk in senior high school English classroom is unsatisfactory.In the aspect of teachers’ explanation,the existing problems include“teachers’ intonation is too flat” and “teachers’ directives are not clear enough and their presentations are not comprehensible enough”.In terms of teachers’ questioning,“teachers’ ways of questioning are less varied”,“referential questions are not enough”and “wait time for answering is too short” are also problematic issues.As for teachers’ feedback,the problems are “teachers’ discoursal feedback is relatively few” and“teachers often use direct correction”.In senior high school English classroom,students feel anxious at all three stages of cognitive processing and their anxiety level is high.The highest is output anxiety,followed by input anxiety,and finally processing anxiety.Generally speaking,there is a moderately positive correlation between teacher talk and students’ classroom anxiety in senior high school English classroom.But,the correlations between teachers’ questioning,explanation and feedback and students’ anxiety at different stages of cognitive processing are slightly different.Specifically,teachers’ explanation shows a positive and weak correlation with input anxiety and output anxiety,and a moderate positive correlation with processing anxiety;There is a moderately positive correlation between teachers’ questioning and input anxiety and processing anxiety,and a positive and weak correlation with output anxiety;The correlation between teachers’ feedback and students’ anxiety at every stage of cognitive processing is positive and weak.Moreover,the important predictors of input anxiety mainly include: “students answering questions voluntarily or not”,“types of teacher feedback”,“teachers’ ways of error correction”,“teachers’ wait time for answering”.When teachers ask students to answer questions voluntarily,use discoursal feedback and immediate error correction,wait either for long or short time for answering can all lead to students’ higher input anxiety.“Teachers’ speech rate”,“the clarity of teachers’ presentation and directives”,“difficulty of questions raised by the teacher”,“students answering questions voluntarily or not ” and “teachers’ wait time for answering” are all important predictors of processing anxiety.When teachers speak fast,give obscure presentations and directives,raise difficult questions,ask students to answer questions in groups,and give students too short time for answering,students may generate higher level of processing anxiety.The important predictors of output anxiety include“students answering questions voluntarily or not”,“types of teachers’ feedback” and“ teachers’ wait time for answering”.If teachers appoint an individual student to answer questions,use discoursal feedback,and give too short time for students to answer question,high output anxiety may occur.These findings provide some teaching inspirations for senior high school English teachers.Improving the quality of teachers’ explanation,questioning and feedback may reduce students’ input anxiety,processing anxiety and output anxiety in English classroom and achieve more comprehensible input,comprehensible output and classroom interaction in English classroom.This study has certain significance for improving the quality of teacher talk and alleviating students’ anxiety at different stages of cognitive processing in English classroom.The author hopes that this study would have a positive effect on future research on teacher talk and classroom anxiety.Finally,this paper also points out the limitations of this study and aims to provide some inspirations for future research.