The Foreign Language Anxiety and English Proficiency in EFL Junior High School Classroom

• Main Authors: Fang-hui Su, 蘇芳慧
• Other Authors: Tzu-fu Wang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/87445134456410770285

碩士 === 國立雲林科技大學 === 應用外語系碩士班 === 101 === Foreign language anxiety is one of the affective factors existing among non-native speakers in the process of learning English in the EFL context. In Taiwan, students feel a lot of pressure of the overwhelming tests and homework. Recently, because of the education reform “the 12-year compulsory education program,” English listening plays an important role as well as reading. Students experience anxiety in English learning. Many researchers have indicated the correlation between foreign language anxiety and proficiency among college level students. However, little research has reported on whether foreign language anxiety bears the relation to proficiency among junior high school students. Moreover, it is of particular interest to investigate the relationship between anxiety of listening and reading and English proficiency. There is a sample of 63 8th-grade students of junior high school in Yunlin. Among the 63 students, 35 are males and 28 are females. Three kinds of data are collected for the quantitative analysis through SPSS 13.0 program in the study: (1) the FLLAS and FLRAS questionnaires; (2) the monthly English achievement exams; (3) the listening comprehension unit tests. The major findings of the research showed as follows: 1.There was negatively moderate correlation between language anxiety and proficiency. 2.Reading anxiety negatively affected junior high school students’ English reading proficiency. 3.Going to cram school contributed to the anxiety decrease. 4.Self-perceived level of listening and reading proficiency had a positive influence on anxiety reduction. This study provides some pedagogical implications for EFL teachers and educators to create less anxiety-provoking instructional environment so as to make the learners increase the motivation to learn.