ABSTRACT

The study has a test on 58 English majors in order to understand the present situation of their foreign language anxiety and the relationships between their anxiety and English achievements, with the assistance of Horwitz’s Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). These results indicate that many English majors actually are anxious to some degree and this kind of anxiety influences students’ learning. Finally, the foreign language anxiety and English achievements are negatively correlated. From the information above, we can conclude that the foreign language anxiety has a noticeable impact on the language learning of the English majors and longtime anxiety will make them inimical to learn English. As a result, teachers in college ought to be aware of the effects of anxiety on the students. In order to help them against the negative effects and solve the severe mental problems, teachers had better create a happier and more relaxing teaching atmosphere and try to improve their English achievements.

Key words: English majors; Foreign language anxiety; FLCAS

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One-1

INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Significance of the Study-1

1.2 Purpose of the Study-1

1.3 Outline of the Study-2

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-4

2.1 Review of Foreign Language Anxiety-4

2.1.1 Definition of foreign language anxiety-4

2.1.2 Classification of FLA-5

2.1.3 Sources of anxiety-6

2.1.4 Measures of FLA-7

2.1.5 Impacts of anxiety on language learning-7

2.2 Summary-8

Chapter Three METHODOLOGY-9

3.1 Research Subjects-9

3.2 Research Instruments-9

3.2.1 FLCAS-10

3.2.2 Questionnaire-10

3.2.3 Interview-11

3.3 Procedures-12

Chapter Four RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-14

4.1 Results-14

4.1.1 Total anxiety level in terms of grade-14

4.1.2 Total anxiety level in terms of gender-15

4.2 Discussion-15

4.2.1 The foreign language anxiety of English majors-15

4.2.2 The relationships between FLA and language achievements-16

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-17

5.1 Summary of the Present Study-17

5.2 Implications-18

5.3 Limitations-19

5.4 Suggestions for the Future Study-19

REFERENCES-19