Oral Language Anxiety and Solution for English MajorsVIP

1、 泉 州 师 范 学 院（二号黑体加粗） 毕 业 论 文（小初黑体加粗）oral language anxiety and solution for english majors (小二号黑体加粗) 英语专业学生口语焦虑及解决策略(小二号黑体加粗）外国语 学 院 英语教育 专 业 05 级 2 班学生姓名 学 号 050201051指导教师 职 称 讲师完成日期 2009年4月16日（横线上内容用四号楷体gb2312，其余用四号宋体）abstract: with the development of relevant researches, anxiety as one of the most

2、 important affective factors has gained a common concern not only in psychology but also in linguistics. language anxiety pervasively affects the foreign language learning, especially the oral foreign language performance. and it influences the language learning processes according to individual dif

3、ferences.on the basis of the language researchers in the relevant studies of foreign language anxiety, the present paper aims at revealing a global outlook of english majors oral language anxiety, weighing oral foreign language anxiety against personality and proving the correlation between oral lan

4、guage anxiety and the oral performance. this survey is made to a subject of 128 sophomores from quanzhou normal university with following instruments: the foreign language classroom anxiety scale, niemanns personality tests, related questionnaire, as well as marks of the oral exam. based on the rese

5、arch, an analysis and empirical investigation will be made and the recommendations to reduce oral language anxiety will be displayed.key words: english major, oral language anxiety, affective factors, personality 【摘要】焦虑不仅是心理学界普遍关注与探讨的问题，也是语言学领域思考的重要课题。作为情感因素之一，焦虑对语言学习具有重要影响，特别是对外语学习者的口语表现，并且因个体差异的不同

6、而有所不同。本文在对外语焦虑进行的相关文献研究的基础上，以泉州师范学院外国语学院英语专业的 128名大二学生为研究对象，采用外语课堂焦虑量表,尼曼人格测试,开放性相关问题以及被试者的学期末英语口语成绩，对英语专业学生的口语现状进行实证调查，对口语焦虑与个性倾向，口语焦虑水平与口语表现的相关性进行研究、分析，并在实证调查的基础上提出减轻口语焦虑的建议及策略。【关键词】英语专业,口语焦虑,情感因素,性格contentsintroduction 11. literature review 1 1.1 affective factors and anxiety 1 1.1.1 affective fi

7、lter hypothesis 1 1.1.2 about anxiety 2 1.2 language anxiety 3 1.2.1 the definition of language anxiety 3 1.2.2 the classification of language anxiety 32. oral language anxiety 4 2.1 the exhibition of oral language anxiety 4 2.1.1 oral language anxiety in classroom 4 2.1.2 oral language anxiety in t

8、est 4 2.1.3 oral language anxiety in communication 4 2.2 the cause of oral language anxiety 5 2.2.1 communication apprehension 5 2.2.2 test anxiety 5 2.2.3 fear of negative evaluation 5 2.3 the influence factors of oral language anxiety 5 2.3.1 intrinsic factors 5 2.3.2 external factors 63. research

9、es on oral language anxiety for english majors 6 3.1 objective 6 3.2 methodology 7 3.2.1 about samples 7 3.2.2 about measuring instruments and questionnaire design 7 3.2.3 about method 8 3.3 date analysis and results 84. suggestions for turning oral language anxiety to facilitating anxiety 11 4.1 tr

10、eat students differently with respect to individual difference 11 4.2 create a harmonious language learning environment 12 4.3 use different teaching methods and activities 12 4.4 improve oral language teachers ability 13 4.5 apply to on-line resources 14conclusion 14bibliography 15appendixes i 16ap

11、pendixes ii 18acknowledgement 21introductionalmost every student feels nervous when they studies foreign language. krashen (1985) proposed in the affective filter hypothesis that a number of “affective variables” play a facilitative but non-causal role in second language acquisition. these variables

12、 include motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. then anxiety is considered to be one of the most important affective variables in the area of individual differences in second language acquisition. it poses many potential problems for the students of a foreign language because it is an obstacle to

13、the acquisition. so language anxiety plays a prominent part in students oral performance.since 1970, the language scholars have taken note of the anxiety on the importance of foreign language learning, and carry out a number of empirical studies. but one problem that should be paid attention to is t

14、hat all these studies are intended to explore the causes and the nature of anxiety, discuss the relationship between language anxiety and language acquisition, and show the correlation of language anxiety in listening, reading and writing. then about the states of foreign language anxiety for chines

15、e college students in speaking and the relationships among oral language anxiety situation, oral language anxiety level and learners individual differences are seldom mentioned.prior to enrolment to college, many chinese students have studied english as their second language from junior high school

16、to senior high school. some students even began their english study from primary school to achieve the required level of english. the nature of language is communication, and learning a language is learning to communicate. however, after six or more years of english study, more often than not, many

17、chinese students still feel difficult to have a good command of foreign language and feel anxiety in foreign language classroom, especially in oral production. in spite of substantial advances in teaching methods and techniques, apprehension continues to exist in foreign language classroom.therefore

18、, the aim of this thesis is to post the phenomenon of oral language anxiety, to investigate the relationship among students personality, oral language anxiety level and oral english performances, then attempt to explore effective solutions to reduce the learners oral language anxiety.1. literature r

19、eview1.1affective factors and anxiety1.1.1 affective filter hypothesisthe concern of affective factors in education begins in the first part of 20th century. with the growth of humanistic psychology, effect in learning gained its importance. among the affective factors, oxford (1999) argued that the

20、 affective side of the learner was probably one of the most important influences on success or failure in language learning. the affective factors related to second language or foreign language learning were complex tasks that were susceptible to human anxiety. in krashens input theory (1981:85), th

21、e famous affective filter hypothesis was being discussed, and it explained the reason why not everyone is successful in learning a second language. in krashens view, two conditions are necessary in order to be acquired: the first one is comprehensible input and the second is a low or weak affective

22、filter to allow the input “in”. the following picture shows the procedure: chart1 procedure of affective filter hypothesis language acquiredinput filter acquisition competence output devicethe term “affective filter” is often used to describe a kind of barrier to acquisition that results from negati

23、ve feelings or experiences. in the affective filter hypothesis, krashen points out that a number of “affective variables” play an important role in second language acquisition. these variables include motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. he claims that language learners with high motivation and

24、self-confidence, a good self-image and a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language acquisition. negative feelings of learning, like low motivation, low self-esteem and debilitating anxiety can combine to raise the affective filter and form a “mental block” that prevents

25、 comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. in other word, if the filter is “up”, comprehensible input cannot get through. if it is “down”, they can make effective of it.after many researches, krashen found that there might be an acquisition barrier even during the “optimum age”. if there

26、 is a strong element of unwillingness or embarrassment in attempting to produce the different sounds of other language, then it may override whatever physical and cognitive abilities. if this self-consciousness is combined with a lack of empathy with foreign culture, then the subtle effects of not w

27、anting to sound like a foreigner may strongly inhibit the acquisition process. this type of emotional reaction or effect may even be occasioned by dull textbooks, unpleasant classroom surroundings, anxiety or an exhausting schedule and so on. basically, if the learners are stressed, anxious, uncomfo

28、rtable, or unmotivated, they are unlikely to learn anything.in order to have an efficient input, both language teachers and learners should try to reduce the negative affect to the minimum. krashens affective filter hypothesis calls for low anxiety in language learning.pedagogical awareness of reduc

29、ing the anxiety level among learners should possibly help better their learning achievements.1.1.2 about anxietyanxiety is one of the important factors in the field of “individual difference” in the second language learning that influences learners language learning acquisition. as it is not easy to

30、 define anxiety, different scholars also provide different definitions of anxiety. spielberger (cited in scovel 1978:32) says that anxiety is “an unpleasant emotional state or condition that is characterized by subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, and worry, and by activation or arousal of t

31、he automatic nervous system”. according to scovel (1978), anxiety is an emotional state of apprehension, a vague fear that is only indirectly associated with an object. this emotional state has both negative and positive effects that motivates or inhibits peoples cognitive actions, such as learning.

32、 h.d.brown (1987) showed that the construct of anxiety was intricately intertwined with self-esteem, inhibition and risk-taking, and that it played an important affective role in second language acquisition. no matter what the definitions are, the language scholars generally agree that anxiety is a

33、physiological and psychological state of mind with uncomfortable feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, apprehension, nervousness and fear when one cant reach the goal or cant overcome the threat of obstacles then ones self-esteem and self-confidence decrease and the feeling of frustr

34、ation and guilt increase. 1.2 language anxiety 1.2.1 the definition of language anxiety language anxiety is linked to perform in the target language. according to gardner (1985), language anxiety has been one of the so-called personal factors that have been considered worth studying once a psycholog

35、ical theory of the process of second language learning started to develop. when a learner is expected to perform in a second or foreign language then the language anxiety (fear or apprehension) occurs. horwitz et al define it as an obvious anxiety emotion. this kind of emotion includes the learners

36、self-consciousness, belief, feeling and behavior which relate to classroom language learning environment. it is due to the uniqueness of language learning process.1.2.2 the classification of language anxiety second language theorists and researchers have long been aware of that anxiety is often rela

37、ted with language learning. according to the effect of anxiety, the following two types of classification are the most prominent.1.2.2.1 facilitating and debilitating anxietyin light of the effects of anxiety on performance, anxiety is divided into facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. as t

38、o foreign language learning, facilitating anxiety enhances language learning acquisition while debilitating anxiety hinders language learning acquisition.albert & haber (1960) are pioneers to distinguish between facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. they hold that the facilitating anxiety i

39、s considered to be an asset to performance. it is a positive sense that gives learners concern and apprehension to complete a task, motivates learners to fight the new learning task and makes the task accomplished. in contrast, the debilitating anxiety is considered to be detrimental to performance.

40、 it plays a negative role on learning that impedes the achievements, motivates the learner to flee the new learning task.williams (1991 cited in ellis1994) suggests that the distinction between these two types of anxiety may correspond to the intensity of the anxiety, with a low-anxiety state having

41、 a facilitating function and a highanxiety state having a debilitating effect. in baileys (1983) study of competitiveness and anxiety in second language learning, facilitating anxiety was found to be one of the keys to success. besides, kleinmanns (1977) study found that foreign language learners wh

42、o scored high on facilitating anxiety were emotionally equipped to approach the very structures that their classmates tended to avoid.in a word, the facilitating anxiety stimulates students to face difficulties, challenge the new learning tasks, try their best to overcome the feeling of anxiety ,whi

43、le the debilitating anxiety lead students to escape from learning task by way of avoiding the root of anxiety.1.2.2.2 three levels of language anxietyaccording to the effects of anxiety on language efficiency, language anxiety can be divided into three levels. they are high level, moderate level and

44、 low level. lazarus & folkman found that the correlation between language anxiety and learning efficiency formed a shape of the inverted-u-model. with the high degree of anxiety, learners are always too nervous, worried, or even frightened while learning. with the low degree of anxiety, learners cou

45、ld not exclude those unrelated factors in learning environment. all of these result in slow response and less exactitude. while the moderate anxiety on language learning is a positive factor, learners can maintain a special status of activeness and agility. while too much or too little anxiety could

46、 have a negative effect, a moderate amount of anxiety could produce positive results. this kind of mild and incompletely relaxed mood is most helpful in language learning to get an excellence result.2. oral language anxiety oral language anxiety is one of the most important parts in language anxiety

47、. in the following section, the exhibition, cause and influence factors of oral language anxiety will be presented.2.1 the exhibition of oral language anxiety2.1.1 oral language anxiety in classroom language learning is an anxiety-breeding business. a negative classroom atmosphere will produce a sen

48、se of insecurity and suppression, and will have psychological alert. in this kind of classroom situation, students experience fairly high level of classroom anxiety, especially when they are called to respond orally in english. when asked to speak, students constantly feel they are representing them

49、selves badly, showing only some of their real intelligence. so they do not have a strong sense of participation. in addition, students express that performing in a foreign language class is somehow more stressful than performing in other subject classes. in language class, even if in a sense they ge

50、t the answer right, the students may still fear of making mistakes in what they say, for example with imperfect pronunciation of individual sounds, wrong word stress or sentence stress, and so on. for this reason, the probability of being wrong in some way or other is vastly great in language learni

51、ng. with large amount of anxiety existing in the classroom, language learning can be inhibited. therefore, something must be done to help the learners reduce the language anxiety so that efficient language learning can occur. with a safe and harmonious classroom atmosphere, students will contribute

52、more and improve more of their oral performances.2.1.2 oral language anxiety in test spoken english test for english majors is primarily a direct and subjective test. some language learners tend to become alarmed about the consequences of inadequate performance on a test or other evolutions (sarason

53、 1984). there are two exhibitions in the test situation: direct indicators and indirect indicators. the former one includes physiological symptoms and psychological symptoms. the term “direct” means these indicators can be easily diagnosed by testees themselves as they can feel the plague of those “

54、symptoms”, such as sudden strong skin response and heart rate, dizziness, nausea, panic and so on. the indirect indicators refer to those non-self-diagnosed indicators that also contribute to anxiety arousal, for example, lack of confidence, perception of difficulty level, low self-worth and so on.2

55、.1.3 oral language anxiety in communication the biggest obstacle for foreign language learners is the sense of fear and tension. if the learners receive some negative responses to their attempts at communicating with their close environment throughout their lives, they may learn very soon that it is

56、 better to be silent than to be talkative. negative experiences of a learner who attempts to speak a foreign language are met with contempt from his or her environment can cause language anxiety.whats more, the learners helplessness is also an extensive psychological phenomenon. in the absence of an ordinary reinforcement pattern for verbal communication behaviors, the student may develop behavioral regressi