Dear Label_Name,

Greetings! I hope you are well.

I am writing on behalf of an international publishing house, Science and Education Publishing, USA (http://www.sciepub.com).

Science and Education Publishing (SciEP) is a multidisciplinary open access publisher of Journals covering the fields of Science, Technology and Medicine. All SciEP publications are subject to high-quality peer review, editorial and production processes and are freely available online.

Welcome to the April, 2013 edition of SciEP newsletter, providing monthly summaries of articles on science & education related topics of interest to scientist and professionals. The mission of our journals is to provide an open access forum for publishing new findings on issues pertinent to scientific and academic field. We also invite you to submit original research papers, review articles, short reports, or case studies are considered for publication in our Multidisciplinary Journals.

American Journal of Public Health Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-1-1-3

The Implementation of a Tele-Homecare System with Service Oriented Architecture and HL7 Message Transmission Standard
Ching-Sung Wang

American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
DOI: 10.12691/ajmbr-1-1-2

The Influence of Ethanol on Pyruvate Kinases Activity in Vivo, in Vitro, in Silico
Lelevich Sergey Vladimirovich, Khrustalev Vladislav Victorovich, Barkovsky Eugene Victorovich, Shedogubova Tatyana Aleksandrovna

American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
DOI: 10.12691/ajmsm-1-1-1

Clinical and Histological Features in Wegener Granulomatosis
Li Cavoli Gioacchino, Passantino Rita, Bono Luisa, Tortorici Calogera, Ferrantelli Angelo, Giammarresi Carlo, Rotolo Ugo

American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
DOI: 10.12691/ajidm-1-1-2

The Curse of Lymphatic Filariasis: Would the Continual Use of Diethylcarbamazine Eliminate this Scourge in Papua New Guinea?
Anne Lanham, Lillian Mwanri

We have released issues of some journals on February 2013.
American Journal of Public Health Research
American Journal of Medical Sciences and Medicine
American Journal of Medical and Biological Research
American Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
American Journal of Clinical Medicine Research
American Journal of Nursing Research
American Journal of Cancer Prevention
American Journal of Medicine Studies
American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology
American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease Research
American Journal of Biomedical Research
American Journal of Mechanical Engineering
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Journal of Preventive Medicine
American Journal of Food and Nutrition
American Journal of Hypertension Research
American Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
Journal of Cancer Research and Treatment
American Journal of Zoological Research
Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology
American Journal of Microbiological Research
Biomedical Science and Engineering

We are pleased to announce that submissions are now being accepted for peer review for all the journals across all our subject areas in SciEP.

Please submit your manuscript via our online submission system:
http://www.sciepub.com/author/signin

To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please click on the following link: unsubscribe

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

David Rain
Email:join@sciepub.com
Science and Education Publishing (http://www.sciepub.com)

A Study of Foreign Language Anxiety of Chinese EFL High School Students

Yan Ma, Qiong Guo*, Feng Wang

College of Culture and Communications, Shangluo University, Shangluo, Shaanxi, China

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the status quo of English learning anxiety of Chinese EFL high school students to provide suggestions to deduce it. Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) is used to make an investigation into 293 high school students of different grades in Yuemiao High School in China. By both qualitative and quantitative analyses of data collected from the questionnaires, it finds out that ① a medium level of English learning anxiety existed widely in the students of Yuemiao High School (M=3.115, SD=0.58). Test Anxiety is the highest (Mean=3.244). Fear of Negative Evaluation is the lowest (Mean=2.981). ② In terms of grade, three grades have statistically significant differences in anxiety (p=0.005<0.05). The anxiety level of grade one is the highest (M=3.247); grade three is medium (M=3.130); grade two is the lowest (M=2.975). ③ For different gender, there is statistical difference (p=0.025<0.05). The male’s total anxiety is higher than the female’s (Mean (Male) = 3.203 > Mean (Female) = 3.052), especially in Communication Anxiety (p=0.013 < 0.05; Mean (Male) = 3.233 > Mean (Female) =3.058). ④ In terms of different majors, there is no statistical significance in English learning anxiety (p>0.05). Therefore, to minimize students’ English learning anxiety, English teachers should improve their teaching skills, build a better and more harmonious relationship with students to attract students’ interest and explore a cooperative learning mode between male and female students.

Keywords: high school students, English learning, anxiety

Citation: Yan Ma, Qiong Guo, Feng Wang, A Study of Foreign Language Anxiety of Chinese EFL High School Students. American Journal of Educational Research, 6 (6). 722-728. January 2018. doi:10.12691/education-6-6-21

1. Introduction

It is universally agreed that English as a tool for international communication plays an increasingly important role in many aspects of people’s life. In the field of second language teaching and learning, scholars and researchers have paid more and more attention to English teaching and learning.

In China, from primary education on, English is a compulsory course. It was found that some Chinese students began to learn English in school while others studied English even at earlier age at some English language centers or institutes, because a good proficiency in English has become an essential requirement or premise for those who could be accepted by universities. However, although in China, reforms and improvements in English teaching and learning have been made continually, there are still problems to be found. For instance, instead of offering students a natural and easier learning environment, the present English teaching and learning is mainly classroom-based and teacher-centered. As a result, most Chinese students lack interest in learning English and they express their anxiety---fears and uneasiness of learning English as a foreign language.

Anxiety can cause many problems in the acquisition, retention and production of language, which ultimately affects students’ language proficiency compared to those free from it. Anxiety has been an important concept in the field of psychology and linguistics for many years. Foreign language anxiety is “a salient self-awareness, belief and sentiment connected with classroom language learning” [1]. Some experiments show that almost over 50 percent of students have suffered anxiety, and most of the researchers agree that foreign language anxiety is negatively correlated with foreign language achievement.

In China, the study of foreign language learning anxiety sprang up in the 1990s. Most studies took college students as their research objects to explore the relationship between Chinese students’ learning anxiety and foreign language learning proficiency. Results found that Chinese college students had a high degree of English learning anxiety, and the anxiety negatively influenced their language learning. However, there is no sufficient information about the anxiety status of Chinese high school students. Moreover, the most efficient way to minimize the negative influences of English learning anxiety has yet to be found out. Therefore, this study makes an attempt to investigate the English learning anxieties of students in Chinese high schools to help teachers identify students’ English anxiety and find out effective ways to diminish their learning anxiety.

2. Literature Review

The affective and emotional factors influencing language learning have been an interest in the field of language teaching for many years. Many studies and experiments on students’ English learning have shown that anxiety is one of the most important learner’s affective factors leading to different learning styles and learning achievements.

2.1. The Definition of Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological phenomenon featured by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, such as distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune. Anxiety is “subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated with an arousal of autonomic nervous system” [2]. According to Arnold, “anxiety is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively obstructs the learning process. It is related to negative feelings, such as embarrassment, depression, self-doubt, apprehension and nervousness” [3]. In general psychology, anxiety as a common psychological reaction, refers to a feeling of fear, worry, and uneasiness, usually generalized as an overreaction to a certain situation. Anxiety can be appropriate, but when it is too much and continues too long, the individual may suffer from an anxiety disorder [4].

2.2. The Study of Foreign Language Learning Anxiety

Anxiety is one of most important affective factors permeating through the process of language learning. Foreign language anxiety is a type of situational anxiety. Horwitz et all, defined foreign language anxiety as “a distinct complex of self-perception, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors closely related to classroom language learning resulting from the uniqueness of the language learning process” [1]. They found that foreign language anxiety was not the same as the other academic anxieties since it was subjective feelings caused by English classroom learning. Gardner and Maclntyre referred to language anxiety as a kind of situation-specific anxiety the learners experience in particular second or foreign language contexts [5]. MacIntyre described language anxiety as “the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when learning or using a second language” [6]. Language anxiety is learners’ fear or apprehension of using or learning a second or foreign language [7].

It is conducive to students’ English learning with low anxiety, while high anxiety and medium anxiety obstruct students’ learning. Many students feel much stressed to learn foreign language, as anxiety hinders the improvement of their English proficiency, which makes them unable to express their meanings accurately and effectively. As a result, they may feel nervous and scared to learn English, especially in listening and speaking. From a medical point of view, students with greater English anxieties are found to have such behaviors as emotional tension, apprehension, flush, cold hands and feet, rapid heartbeat, slow-thinking, inattention and confusion. They always escape teacher’s eye contact, sit in the last row and are unable to follow their teachers. Some of them are even more likely to be absent from class, or never finish their homework, or even fail in the English exams. Anxiety is a hidden factor making students sluggish, less motivated and uninterested in English. Therefore, foreign language learners often perform very badly in English class and they may feel self-abased, even self-denied.

2.3. Classification of Foreign Language Learning Anxiety

The factors that cause anxiety in foreign language learning can be classified into three categories: communication anxiety, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation.

Communication apprehension or similar reaction obviously plays a large role in foreign language anxiety. Communication anxiety is a type of fear or anxiety in real communication. McCroskey pointed out that the behavior patterns of typical communication anxiety include the avoidance of communication and withdrawal from communication [8]. Communication anxiety is a type of shyness characterized by fear of anxiety about communicating with people which is further divided communication anxiety into oral communication anxiety, such as the difficulty in speaking in pairs or groups or in public, and receiver anxiety, such as the difficulty in listening and learning an spoken message [1]. Compared with those who have a good command of language, people with low English proficiency have more trouble and high communication anxiety in communicating with others in social situations. McCroskey studied the relationship between communication anxiety and self-consciousness of American university students who studied Spanish and English. He found out that students were prone to a high level of communicative fear because of their low English level [8].

Since the evaluation of students’ performance is a continuous feature of most foreign language classes, test-anxiety is thus a relevant topic to foreign language anxiety. Test-anxiety refers to a type of performance anxiety stemming from a fear of failure [1]. According to Oxford, test anxiety is the inclination to become worried about the consequences of poor performance on a test or other evaluation [9]. Sarason defined test anxiety as the “tendency to view with alarm the consequences of inadequate performance in an evaluative situation” [10]. Culler & Holahan speculated that test anxiety was possible to be caused by the deficiency in students’ learning skills [11]. Horwitz also discovered that oral tests have the potential of eliciting both test and oral communication anxiety simultaneously in impressionable students [1]. Test-anxious students often feel stressed in a test or an examination because they are afraid of making mistakes and getting low scores. Many studies found out that students with high test learning anxiety often set unrealistically high demands for them and held that poor exam result was hard to accept. As a result, the high test anxiety makes them experience considerable difficulty in their English learning and stop them in playing their English knowledge to the full during exams.

In terms of Fear of Negative Evaluation, Watson first interpreted it as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively” [12]. Students afraid of negative evaluation are very sensitive in the English learning classroom. Studies have shown that people who focus too much on others’ evaluation are more likely to form negative behaviors, such as avoiding or consciously leaving early, not willing to participate in class activities and keeping silent.

3. Research Methodology

In this part, the design of the whole study was reported, including the research questions, the subjects of the research, the procedure as well as the instruments used in the research.

3.1. Research Objects

This paper tries to find answers to the following four questions:

1. What is the overall situation of high school students’ English learning anxiety?

2. What are the differences between male and female students in terms of the communication anxiety, test anxiety and negative evaluation anxiety?

3. What are the differences in English learning anxiety in terms of different majors?

4. What are the differences in English learning anxiety among students in the three grades?

3.2. Subjects of Study

The subjects of this study are the students from Yuemiao High School in Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, China. These students are from grade one, grade two and grade three. Those from grade two and three are either liberal arts students or science students. 90 students are from grade one, with a percentage of 30.7; 96 students are from grade two, accounting for 32.8%; 107 students are from grade three, accounting for 36.5%. 171 subjects are females, accounting for 58.4% of the total; 122 subjects are males, accounting for 41.6% of the total; 96 students in literal art, which is 32.8% of the total; 107 students are in science, with a percentage of 36.5. The detailed information is listed in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 1. Description of subjects in grade

Table 2. Description of subjects in sex

Table 3. Description of subjects in major

The statistics reveal the largest number of students is from grade three; the number of students in grade two is a little more than that in grade one; the number of female subjects is slightly more than that of the males; the largest number of students are science group, followed by liberal arts group, with non-majoring group the smallest in number.

3.3. Instrument

In this research, the FLCAS (short for Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) designed by Horwitz is employed to identify and assess anxious students’ specific concerns. This scale is widely used at home and abroad because many studies have shown that it is of high reliability and validity during the inspection of learners’ foreign language learning anxiety. The questionnaire contains 33 items (1-33) and is divided into three dimensions: the CA (Communication Anxiety), TA (Test Anxiety), FNE (Fear of Negative Evaluation). All the items were translated correspondingly into Chinese for the convenience of the students’ understanding. The FLCAS is answered on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. And the score for each of the five answers is from 5 to 1. Some of these items involve reverse scoring. The higher score one gets, the more severe anxiety one would have.

The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha) of the data about the 33 items is 0. 853, which shows a very high credibility, as shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Reliability statistics of all items in anxiety

The internal consistency co-efficiency (Cronbach’s Alpha) of each of the three anxieties is between 0.575 and 0.729, as shown in Table 5, Table 6 and Table 7.

Table 5. Reliability statistics of 16 items in communication anxieties

Table 6. Reliability statistics of 8 items in test anxiety

Table 7. Reliability statistics of 9 items in fear of negative evaluation

3.4. Data Collection and Analysis

Three hundred questionnaires were distributed to students in class with the help of their English teachers. In the uniform instruction, the subjects were required to independently finish the questionnaires which were taken back on the spot. Altogether 297 questionnaires were retrieved and the recovery rate is 99%. The valid questionnaires are 293.

The effective questionnaire rate is 98.65%. The data collected were put into computer and analyzed by the software Statistical Package of Social Studies (SPSS). First, the overall situation of students’ English learning anxiety was examined by descriptive statistics analysis, with means and standard deviations of each factor being worked out at the same time. Next, T-Test was used to examine whether there were statistically significant differences in terms of genders groups and majors groups, and ANOVA was used to find out whether there were statistically significant differences in terms of different grades.

4. Findings and Discussion

In this chapter, the data from the questionnaire is analyzed one by one. And results of the research are presented.

4.1. The Overall Situation of High School Students’ English Learning Anxiety

From Table 8 below, we can see that the mean of students’ English learning anxiety is 3.115, which is above the middle anxiety level 3.0. This finding indicates the English learning anxiety is wide-spread in Yuemiao High School, and suggests that the overall anxiety of high school students’ English learning is a little high.

Table 8. Descriptive statistics of the overall anxiety

There are two factors for the students’ high anxiety in English learning: internal and external factors. The first internal factor is that students are unconfident about their English proficiency and are afraid of speaking English. Thus, some feelings of negativity appear very common and obvious in these unconfident students, hindering their English study. The second internal reason is that they have such strong self-esteem that they are afraid to be mocked by others because of their mistakes in English learning. The external factor is that the pressure from their family and school is powerful enough to cause their learning anxiety. In China, there is an idiom “望子成龙, 望女成凤” which means all parents wish their children to be talented and successful. However this desire is so strong that it becomes a heavy burden to the parents and children. In addition, many high schools put pressure on them in order to improve the proportion of students enrolled in universities and colleges. Therefore, the emphasis on college enrollment in high school makes students immerse themselves into books. In the long run, students cannot breathe under the heavy load of assignments and tests. This kind of passive learning brings about students’ English learning anxiety.

In terms of the three English learning anxiety: CA (Communication Anxiety), TA (Test Anxiety), FNE (Fear of Negative Evaluation), Statistics show that the mean for Communication Anxiety is 3.131, Test Anxiety is 3.244, and Fear of Negative Evaluative is 2.981. (See Table 9).

Table 9. Means of the three learning anxiety

The results show that the higher the average score, the more serious the students’ English learning anxiety. Among the three learning anxiety, students have the highest score in test anxiety, followed by communication anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. The findings suggest that in the process of learning English, what worries students most is to take English tests, and fear to communicate in English is the second thing worrying them. The least worry for them is negative evaluation.

According to the results of the questionnaire, test anxiety is the highest one, with a mean score of 3.244. This data show that tests have a great influence on students’ English learning anxiety. There are some reasons leading to this. First of all, it lies in the existing exam-oriented Chinese education environment. Chinese students are facing the pressure of college entrance examination. Although Chinese education reform has been advocating quality-oriented education system, the university entrance exam largely depends on scores, which causes students to study hard for the exam since they entered the high school. And they are afraid of failure in each exam. This finding shows that students were more anxious in a test environment than in an ordinary classroom environment.

The second thing worrying students is communication. The study of high school English learning emphasizes grammar in China and neglects the training of the students’ oral English communication ability. A considerate number of English teachers in China pay less attention to the cultivation of students’ communicative ability because of the exam-oriented educational system. English teachers focus more on grammar and vocabulary teaching than on oral practice. They also seldom design more class activities to improve students’ English communication skills. As a result, some students who are poor in English are very much afraid to speak in class and unwilling to participate in classroom activities. Their anxiety is becoming more and more serious at last.

The reasons why so many students have anxiety in fear of negative evaluation may be caused by students’ high self-esteem. Chinese students value “face” more than Western students do; they are very concerned about the negative evaluation from their teachers or any other students. The students who are not good at English usually feel diffident and inferior to those excellent English learners. This inferior feeling rises up when they hear their teacher or classmates give them negative evaluation.

4.2. Differences in English learning Anxiety between Science and Literal Art Students

Table 10 shows that there is no statistical difference in terms of the three English learning anxiety between science and literal art students (p=0.130>0.05 in CA, p=0.942>0.05 in TA, and p=0.483>0.05 in FNE). The mean scores of anxiety for science and literal art students are 3.016 and 3.092, which suggests that both of the science and literal art students have some degree of learning anxiety.

Table 10. Students’ anxiety in different majors

English is a compulsory course for both science and liberal arts students, so they pay more attention to English. However, most students in this school are from rural areas and do not do very well in English due to the backwardness of English education there, so they have some difficulties in learning English and often feel anxious about English learning. As a result, English learning anxiety is widespread in both science and liberal arts students in this high school and no significant difference in English learning anxiety between them is found.

4.3. Differences in English Learning Anxiety between Male and Female Students

The differences in English learning anxiety between male and female students are presented in the following table.

Table 11. Students’ anxiety in different genders

Statistics show that male and female students show significant difference in CA (p=0.013<0.05) and total anxiety (p=0.025<0.05), with the mean score of 3.233 for males and 3.058 for females in communication anxiety; and with 3.203 for males and 3.052 for females in total anxiety. This finding means that male students generally have higher anxiety than female students, specifically in communicative environment. Therefore, gender is a significant variable influencing the high school students’ English learning anxiety. This finding is consistent with Shang’s [13].

The reason for this difference is that first, girls are better than boys in both memory and language development. Girls have advantage in mastering and using language over boys and they are better at expressing their ideas, opinions, thus they showed lower anxiety; while boys are inferior to girls in language learning. Second, males regard the idea of “lady first” as the basic standard of gentlemen. They generally have higher self-esteem and tend to protect their self-image, therefore they are reluctant to put hands up to answer questions in class or discuss the problems with teacher after class in order to avoid destroying their self-image by making mistakes or exposing their defects in knowledge. Thus, they have much less opportunity to practice and improve their English, which gradually leads to their stronger anxiety.

4.4. Differences in English Learning Anxiety among Students in Different Grades

The results show that the total anxiety among students in the three grades is significantly different (p=0.005<0.05). This indicates that “grade” is a variable which leads to students’ English anxiety. Specifically speaking, students in the three grades have statistically difference in CA (p=0.011<0.05), TA (p=0.024<0.05) and FNE (p=0.014<0.05). (See Table 12)

As Table 13 indicates students in grade one get the highest scores in the three anxieties: CA (M=3.271), TA (M=3.361), FNE (M=3.122), while students in grade two get the lowest scores in the three anxieties: CA (M=3.008), TA (M=3.116), FNE (M=2.804). The scores of the three anxieties of students in grade three are respectively in between. This reveals that students in grade one have scored highest in each of the three anxieties, followed by students in grade three and grade two.

Table 12. ANOVA of students’ anxiety in different grades

Table 13. Comparison of students’ anxiety in different grades

The main reasons are as follows:

The structure of English knowledge and way of teaching in high school are different from those in middle school. Therefore, it is not an easy job for students in grade one to be adapted to the completely new learning environment and they are often under great learning pressure, thus anxious most.

The mean score of English learning anxiety of grade two is relatively small. Because students in grade two have gone through the adaptation of senior school life, they have found the most suitable way for them to learn English and been more accustomed to the English learning environment than those in grade one after one year’s adaptation. In addition, they have relatively small pressure from the college entrance examination.

The high English learning anxiety can also be found in grade three. The aggravating learning task, the increasing amount of knowledge, and the pressure coming from the college entrance examination cause their anxiety in English learning. The final year of high school education mainly revolves around the university entrance exam. Examination becomes the only standard to evaluate students’ learning. So the competition of test is unavoidable. Bailey found that competition can also lead to language anxiety. According to his study, although competition does not cause anxiety in all the students, the competition will bring negative effects for those average students or poor students [14]. What’s more, the higher expectations of children from their parents can sharpen the students’ anxiety. Actually almost all parents have high aspirations for their children, expecting their children to be admitted by a good or even famous university. It causes great pressure to children, which is very serious if it could not be well solved [15].

5. Conclusion

This paper has mainly discussed the English learning anxiety of high school students with regard to grade, sex and major. The major results have given us a very clean picture of the English learning anxiety in high school students. This study has found out that English learning anxiety is widespread in Yuemiao high school. The male students’ anxiety is higher than that of females, especially in communicative anxiety. All the students have anxiety in learning English. Major is not a noticeable variable in students’ English learning. Both art and science students have English learning anxiety. In terms of grade, students in grade one have the highest level of anxiety, followed by students in grade three and two.

According to the results, English teacher should try their best to relieve the English learning anxiety of high school students. Suggestions are put forward as follows:

Firstly; English teachers should try their best to arouse students’ interest in English. As Einstein once said “interest is the best teacher”. Interest is one of the most important elements in English learning, because it functions as powerful determinants of students’ attention, recognition, and recall which contribute to the increased comprehension. Some research found out that interest did not simply enhance the amount of recalled information, but had a strong influence on the quality of learning. Therefore, the more students are interested in English, the higher English learning proficiency they would achieve. How to elicit students’ interested? There are some ways that can be considered in the teaching process. Firstly, English teachers should employ different teaching methods since interest can be evoked by sources other than text characteristics. For example, they can use role-play, classroom discussion, pair work, free talk and presentations to interest students and make them actively involved in learning. Meanwhile, English teachers should not only use blackboard in their class, but make good use of all kinds of modern instrument---visual and auditory stimuli, such as computer, internet and multimedia to provide students with more authentic language environments where students could get fun, relaxation and more information. These methods will make students more motivated and encouraged in the whole process of learning.

Secondly, English teachers should try to build a harmonious relationship with students. A good relationship can make learning enjoyable for students and teaching worthwhile for the teachers [16]. However, a poor relationship would increase students’ anxiety in learning, so a harmonious relationship between teachers and students is very necessary. Most anxious English learners are always afraid of talking to their teachers because of their poor performance in English class. Therefore, English teachers should pay special attention to those students. They need to encourage and praise students timely and sincerely so as to help students to build their confidence and make progress in English; teachers should be patient, friendly and kind to the anxious students, and they should also be good at observing and discovering students’ potential psychological problems, and solve the problems with students, making them free from psychological burdens.

As for the third year students, in China, it is a common fact they are under pressure not only from their study, but also from their parents and teachers who expect them to be admitted to universities. It is their high hopes that make students feel stressed and anxious, especially for those students who are poor in English. Therefore, both families and schools should have a rational understanding of the college entrance examination. Teachers and parents should stop putting too much pressure on students. Instead, they should create a relaxing learning environment for their students or children, because great pressure would lead to anxiety, which can destroy students’ confidence. More seriously, it could make students develop psychological problems and misbehaviors.

Finally, male and female students should be treated differently in English learning. Compared with males, females are more talented in learning language. Therefore, teachers should encourage female students to help male students in daily English activities and enhance the interaction between them.

References

[1]   | Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J., “Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety,” The Modem Language Journal, 70 (2), 1986, 125-132.
[2]   | Spielberger, C. D., Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1983.
[3]   | Arnold, J., Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: CUP, 1999.
[4]   | American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013.
[5]   | Gardner, R. C. & Maclntyre, P. D., “On the Measurement of Affective Variables in Second Language Learning,” Language Learning, 43(2), 1993, 157-194.
[6]   | MacIntyre, P. D. “Language anxiety: A review of the research for language teachers,” In D. J. Young (Ed.), Affect in foreign language and second language learning. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1998, 24-45.
[7]   | Zhang, X. H., “A strategic study of the learning anxiety of the English majors,” Journal of Hebei Normal University (Educational Science Edition). (8), 2012, 85-88.
[8]   | McCroskey, J. C., “Validity of the PRCA as an Index of Oral Communication Apprehension,” Communication Monographs 45(3), 1983, 192-203.
[9]   | Oxford, R. L., “Anxiety and the Language Learner: New Insights,” In J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in Language Learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, 58-67.
[10]   | Sarason, Irwin. G., “The Test Anxiety Scale: Concept and Research,” In Spielberger, Charles. D. and Irwin. G. Sarason (Eds). Stress and Anxiety, Washington, DC: Hemisphere, (5), 1978. 193-216.
[11]   | Culler, R. E., & Holahan, C. J., “Test anxiety and academic performance: The effects of study-related behaviors,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 72 (1), 1980, 16-20.
[12]   | Watson, D., & Friend, R., “Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33(4), 1969, 448-457.
[13]   | Shang, J. G., “An empirical study of the influence of sex on students’ English learning proficiency,” Modern Education Science. (3), 2009, 86-88.
[14]   | Bailey, K. M., “Competitiveness and Anxiety in Adult Second Language Acquisition: Looking at and through the Diary Studies,” In Seliger, Herbert W. and Michael H. Long (Ed). Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition, Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1983, 67-103.
[15]   | Wan, Y. S., “A Survey About Resulting Causes of Junior Middle School English Slow Students and a Research About Transformation Strategies”, Thesis. 2008.
[16]   | Ma, Y., “A study of the cases and solutions for ELD students in local universities,” Journal of Shangluo University, (2), 2013, 84-88.