英語(yǔ)課堂焦慮對(duì)小學(xué)生英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的影響文學(xué)學(xué)士

1、AbstractNowadays people are increasingly aware of the emotion in foreign study. On Affective Filter Hypo thesis, American language educationist S.D. Larson pointed out that relaxation and anxiety both play an important role. It is visible to see that anxiety may be the most affective element in lang

2、uage learning. This paper mainly states the wide occurrence of anxiety in pupils English class and explores the sorts and reasons of pupils anxiety in English class. Many results show that anxiety has been found to be correlated with English-learning achievement among different groups of people in v

3、arious contexts. In order to explore primary school students English learning anxiety，this paper reveals what are the most effective strategies in English teaching to ease the state of anxiety for pupils. Ultimately, some problems worth noticing of researching anxiety have been put forward.Key words

4、: English class; pupil; anxiety中文摘要在英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)過程中，人們?cè)絹?lái)越關(guān)注學(xué)習(xí)者的情感因素。美國(guó)語(yǔ)言教育學(xué)家克拉申在他的情感過濾學(xué)說中指出,焦慮或放松在情感過濾中起著關(guān)鍵性的作用?？梢娊箲]可能是語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)中最大的情感障礙。本文主要指出了在小學(xué)英語(yǔ)課堂上焦慮情緒的廣泛存在性，探討了小學(xué)生英語(yǔ)課堂焦慮情緒的種類和引發(fā)的原因。許多先前調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，不同性別、英語(yǔ)課堂氣氛、學(xué)生成績(jī)和師生關(guān)系都會(huì)是引發(fā)小學(xué)生英語(yǔ)課堂焦慮的主要因素。此外，本研究者結(jié)合與教師教學(xué)活動(dòng)相關(guān)的焦慮因素，提示教師應(yīng)采取積極的措施幫助學(xué)生減輕外語(yǔ)焦慮，以提高英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)的效率。最后，文章指出了關(guān)于更多對(duì)小學(xué)生

5、外語(yǔ)課堂焦慮研究的呼吁。關(guān)鍵詞：英語(yǔ)課堂；小學(xué)生；焦慮1. IntroductionWith the rapid pace of humanism psychology, the focus of teaching methods started to shift from how to teach to how to learn. Educational workers transfer the way to research all kinds of elements influencing learners English study from researching teaching

6、methods in rapid succession. Among so many elements, affective quality is no doubt the most important one of them. And the feeling of anxiety in English class, as one of the significant element for English learner, has become an increasing researching topic. With the age of English learner is becomi

7、ng younger and younger, more and more pupils began to have English course. From the autumn of 2001, education department gradually set up English course in primary schools. After doing some research both at home and abroad, I have found that the greater part of research object is senior and higher e

8、ducational students. And there is rarely research of pupils in state of anxiety in English class. Moreover, most of the researches elaborate the theoretical statement of affective quality but not involve in actual situation where pupils with foreign educational teaching feel anxiety. In fact, anxiet

9、y of English learning is spreading in pupils. In order to improve our efficiency in English teaching in primary school, this paper has a deep analysis dealing with pupils by leasing their state of anxiety.1.1 definition of anxietyAnxiety is the distress or unpleasant feelings caused by upcoming dang

10、er or potential threats in life. According to the encyclopedia, it is defined as follows: anxiety is an uneasy and scared mood condition that occurs when an individual's self-esteem is under continual pressure triggered by worries that one may not be able to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacl

11、e. It often involuntarily affects ones mental, cognitive, behavior and somatic states. Its main symptoms include psychological and physiological anxieties. As a matter of fact, anxiety is an inherent reaction of self-preservation of humankind, appropriate amount of which will benefit one's life

12、existence and daily life while excessive amount of which will hold back work, studies and life.1.2 The cause of pupilanxiety in English learningStudents anxieties are caused by interior factors of the individual or exterior factors of the environment. These factors interwoven together triggered anxi

13、eties in the process of learning English, thus affecting the learning effects. It has been observed that classroom anxiety is gradually emerging to the surface as pupils lose the initial curiosity confusion about the English classes. It is also notable that most parents cannot properly tutor their c

14、hildren as they can in other subjects, since English is newly added to the curriculum. So what they do is simply to emphasis the importance of English learning. Once the pupils cannot adapt themselves to the teaching in class, they will feel uneasy and afraid of difficulties when faced with a heavy

15、load of information. If they have not formed good habits of learning, it is quite likely that they will lose interest and confidence in learning and feel anxious. Anxiety of different levels and forms will have an impact on learning effects.1.3 Literature review of state of anxiety in English learni

16、ngFrom the 1970s, foreign teaching methods started to shift from how to teach to how to learn. One important research area is about individual differences. Under such circumstance, some researchers also began to pay attention to affective quality like attitude, motivation, disposition, anxiety, empa

17、thy, confidence and other element in influencing language study. And the word “anxiety” has been followed with interest. Reprehensive characters in this area are Hurwitz(1986), Philips(1992), change(1994), gunshot and sparks(1996), aide(1994) and change(1998).These scholars had done a great deal of

18、research in purpose language learning in different situation and the relationship with anxiety. For example, Hurwitz considered that anxiety in English class may contain three aspects: communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation), and General Feeling of Anxiety. He also designed the FLAC

19、AS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) which was later widely used in foreign language study. In our country, some educational workers have done some research on anxiety. Liu runqing have considered that being absolutely free from anxiety does not benefit to students. So as to those who are c

20、ompletely in state of anxiety. The moderate state of anxiety is the best. At the same time, some educational workers also make positive contribution to the research of anxiety. For example, the author of the book (The Influence of Foreign Teacher Manner on Student English Learning) Chen jing and Den

21、g xiaofang analysis how the foreign teacher influence the student English learning in reading, writing, and listen comprehension. They also pointed out that without any state of anxiety and within higher state of anxiety both do harm to learners English study, yet the moderate degree of anxious feel

22、ing can benefit to English learning. Such researches above all make improvement to the study of anxiety.2. State of Anxiety Influence Primary School Students in English learning2.1 The reaction of English Classroom Anxiety to PupilsAnxiety is a state of mood. The kind of mood conducive to the fulfil

23、lment of tasks is called positive mood, while the kind impeding the completion of goals is called negative mood. As a general rule, anxiety is categorized as a negative mood as opposed to happiness, a positive mood. However, anxiety shifts between negative and good moods as its levels change in the

24、actual practice of classroom teaching. In this sense, anxiety and happiness are not absolutely opposing experience of mood. There are three levels of anxiety: moderate, low and high. The moderate level has positive effects on classroom English learning of pupils while the latter two are proved to be

25、 otherwise. Detailed symptoms are as follows.2.1.1 Fidgety. This mood naturally occurs when pupils have been nervous for a long time. The symptoms are quite obvious as pupils too young to have a good control over themselves. Fidgety of all kinds can contribute to restlessness, palpitation and dizzin

26、ess, which may lead to pupils' failure to control their behaviors, such as wriggling, playing with hair or clothes, trembling, or other symptoms indicating illness such as complaints about headaches, tweaks of muscles and indefinable pains in body.2.1.2 Auto punition.In the mood of anxiety in cl

27、ass, pupils will feel scared of the English studies. That is, they are afraid of speaking, writing or reading in the wrong way. They cannot demonstrate what they are capable of under such circumstances, so they will have suffer losses of marks in English tests, which in turn adds to their guilty fee

28、lings. They often reproach and doubt themselves. This is a vicious cycle that hinders English learning in class.2.1.3 Sensitiveness. Sensitive pupils are afraid of losing self-esteem as well as being mocked by peers and criticized by teachers. Sometimes pupils take teachers casual looks or reminder

29、as negative hints or severe criticism.2.1.4 Illusion. In this case, pupils tend to be perfectionists. When they see the progress other students are making, those with anxiety often go to extremes and do not allow themselves to make more mistakes than others. Furthermore, over-anxious pupils work exc

30、essively hard on learning English, avoid the public and dare not look at others in the eyes.2.2 The Influence on Pupils English Classroom Anxiety2.2.1 To Influence the Pupils English Listening ComprehensionListening comprehension is a complex process, which does no exist in space, but only stays in

31、a complex process, which is more demanding, for listeners cannot go back to what they do not understand. Listening is one of the most important aspects to broaden the pupils interest of English, especially to the pupils who cannot catch the speakers main ideas. The characteristics of listening mater

32、ials include speed, pronunciation, length of listening materials, the level of vocabulary and the topic of the materials. At this situation, pupils who is lack of confidence or listening strategies will find that it is difficult to deal with the coming information promptly, thus they feel worried an

33、d finally fall into a state of anxiety.2.2.2 To Influence the Pupils Oral English Expression and English communicationIn reaction to anxious moods pupils often feel nervous and are at a loss. So they become passive listeners and receivers of knowledge, lacking in opportunities to practice and commun

34、icate in English in a real, relaxing and natural language environment, and feel worried of being asked to answer questions. When they are questioned, they will appear to nervous and scared, not saying a word or looking down to avoid meeting the teachers' eyes. Some pupils feel so embarrassed tha

35、t they stumble along the answers mixed with utterances like "that", "no", and "me". Anxiety brings worries and self-doubt to the learners, reducing their participation and making them avoid expressing themselves in public as much as possible. Different levels of anxiety

36、 diminishes pupils' motivation for autonomous study in class, leading to a complete loss in interest and confidence in English learning and avoidance of anything related to English lessons and activities in the end.2.2.3 To Influence the Pupils Distraction of English Reading and WritingExcessive

37、 nervousness and fidgety will distract pupils from classes. Research abroad has shown that anxiety lead to distraction. "Highly anxious individuals divide their attention between new materials and their feeling of uneasiness." Pupils worry about that they cannot complete study tasks and ge

38、t good marks, lagging behind their peer students. Their distracted minds, which should have been paying a hundred percent of the attention on what is being learnt, fail to memoires things under the influence of anxious mood.If pupils can keep up with moderate amount of anxiety in class, they will th

39、erefore be motivated to learn English under the influence of positive mood over learning activities. Moderate anxiety helps pupils concentrate in class, because it is a threat to self-esteem like any level of anxiety. It stimulates senses of urgency to change the present situation of the individual,

40、 facilitates the hyper function of the faculty of thinking, shortens reaction time, coordinates actions and strengthens memorizing ability. Besides, pupils will be further motivated to achieve a certain goal so as to win credit from the teacher and to acquire self-satisfaction and self-affirmation.3

41、. Effective Solutions to Deal with the ProblemThis paper analysis the causes through the characters involved in to deal with the problemteachers, pupils and other aspects. 3.1 Teachers are the leader for guidance.Teacher is the one who performs as a leader. 3.1.1 to help pupils to set up confid

42、ence during English classFirst of all, teacher should interfere actively pupils who are in the state of anxiety, and help them to set up confidence in English learning. The process of language learning is a relatively monotonous, dry and tasteless work. Some English teachers just depend on durative

43、language knowledge but interest cultivation. For pupils, the invariable way of teachers teaching and students listening will certainly disperse their interests in English class and they absolutely can not master it well. Besides, English classes arrangements which are over firmly landed closely pack

44、ed together or over scattered, continuous repeat of dull textbook, or frequent test or homework to exam the extent of English class result, all these ways can dispel pupils interest to English, even result in nervous tension and resistance. If so, the opportunity of anxiety will rise in a great exte

45、nt. Teachers can transmit pupils a kind of message that “Where there is a will, there is a way.” When pupils state their own views during answering questions, teacher should listen attentively with smile and appreciation, encouraging them quietly. In order to experience the joyous of success, somewh

46、at exaggerate praises are much favorable to the kids as long as they give the right answer. At the same time, confronting with some wrong answer by pupils, English teacher should absolutely not can not simply say a word “no” to make a wholly negative evaluation. They should try their best to find ou

47、t the right part of the answer, no matter a word or phrase, and as big as sentence pattern, and tense. If there is only some crumbs of the answer are right, English teacher should make improvement, and try their best to use enlightened words to help them to find out the proper answer, and then give

48、a generous praise. If pupils come up with some problems in the English class, English teacher ought to be a director and instructor them with their efforts.3.1.2 To cultivate pupils interest in English learningSecondly, English teacher can ease the tensions of the classroom and cultivate pupils inte

49、rests in English learning the saying goes: “Interest is the best teacher as phrase is the best gift.” As soon as pupils interest is stimulated, they can fulfill the teaching assignments and the targets with English teacher as ease during the teaching process. For this reason, English teacher should

50、work hard to make teaching mode varied to arouse pupils interest in English learning. Therefore, they will enjoy English class in the depth of heart, for they feel endless “fresh air” and relaxation there. For instance: some English teachers can prepare some colorful cards before the class when to t

51、each the new words such as “nose, ear, eye”To pupils in grade one. Besides showing cards to draw their attention, English teacher also can go around to read these new words in the English class with touching his or her nose, ear, or head. As time goes on, confidence of pupil in English class can be

52、strengthened definitely, thus the degree of anxiety caused by lacking of confidence can be served as a buffer and eased.3.1.3 to build up a free and happy English classroom atmosphereThe last point is that a teacher should build a free and relaxed, happy and unrestrained environment for their class

53、in primary school. According to Hurwitz, anxiety can be divided into three kinds: state anxiety, trait anxiety and situation anxiety. State anxiety in English class is caused by specific state, such as quiz, test, examination, etc. The feeling of main body is that “I am feeling anxiety.Generally, pe

54、ople in state anxiety can easily find that “the incident is over and the circumstance are different:, but it is hard for pupils owning excessive anxiety to get from that state, because they are developing stage of body and mind. Pupils in English class mainly confronted with teachers questions, some

55、 English teachers like to put questions to students, leave no time enough to let them think about the questions, and criticize those who answer wrong. These teachers regard a totally lose face as a meaningful lesson to the pupils, which will urge pupils to make efforts on study; however, they hardly

56、 know they have already give a blow to some weak whose mentality is fragile originally. In the end, they may be led to no longer active participation in English class, even turn to be anxious in English study. According to analysis we can find that classroom is a major place in causing anxiety, and

57、English teachers manner and attitude in class are the key factor to endanger English classroom anxiety. In this situation, teachers are bound to gain knowledge of environment element in English class, create a comfortable and advantage English learning environment. Actually, most of time spent on En

58、glish learning is under Chinese circumstance, which will make students dumb English learner. Despite no negative English environment, our teachers should deliberately build such environment. For example, English teacher can attempt to try to urge conversation with senior students in primary school a

59、t the beginning of the first class in a new semester, say, “Hello, boys and girls. I am your new English teacher. My name is Yandi. And you can also call me Miss Yang. Welcome to my English class. A good beginning is half the battle. I wish you work hard at English. I would like to make friend with you!” Besides, using this wording for introduction at the beginning of a new term or a new class, English teacher also can use some simple words or p