An Investigation of Chinese University Students’ Foreign Language Anxiety and English Learning Motivation

Abstract

The present paper reports on the findings of a study on the general patterns of Chinese university students' foreign language learning anxiety and motivation and their relationships to the students' performance in English. Analyses of 1697 questionnaires revealed that 1) the whole sample, as well as male and female students, reported a medium or even low level of foreign language anxiety and a moderate or even high level of English learning motivation; 2) more than 60% of the respondents reported to be at the low level of foreign language anxiety but at the mid level of English learning motivation. And the differences among students of low-, mid-, and high-level foreign language anxiety and English learning motivation were all statistically significant; 3) the students' foreign language anxiety and English learning motivation were significantly correlated with each another, and the students' performance in English; and 4) external motivation, intrinsic motivation, test anxiety, motivation intensity, academic achievement, personal development and going abroad were powerful predictors of the students' performance in English.

eTandem Language Learning and Foreign Language Anxiety among Colombian learners of German

“…The fact that many learners fear being listened to while speaking a foreign language was also observed by Hilleson (1996) in his article I want to talk with them, but I don't want them to hear. Similarly, Liu and Jackson (2008) found that "most of the students were willing to participate in interpersonal conversations, but many of them did not like to risk using/speaking English in class" (p. 71). Findings of the present study align with these results, indicating that learners indeed do want to speak, but apart from their discomfort when being listened to, they also sensed that their lack of vocabulary inhibited them from speaking (more) in class, making them feel unable to express their thoughts and opinions: Both observations correspond with Liu and Jackson's (2008) findings of a significant correlation between students' unwillingness to communicate and their self-rated English proficiency.…”

The Subtypes of Foreign Language Anxiety

“…Most of them proved the debilitating effect on foreign language competence and performance (MacIntyre, Gardner, 1994). Negative correlation between FLA and foreign language achievement has been well established in literature (e.g., Horwitz, 1986;Young, 1991;MacIntyre, Gardner, 1991;Aida, 1994;Horwitz, 1996;Kunt, 1997;Mac Intyre, 1999;Kitano, 2001;Yan, Wang, 2001;Liu, Zhang, 2013). Researchers have mostly focused on the negative side of foreign language learning for a long time with FLA being one of the most studied topics.…”

Students’Attitudes towards Foreign Languages

“…She also presented two demotivating factors which refer to a negative evaluation of the teacher, teaching materials and teaching methods, and difficulties related to English language learning as a consequence of insufficient previous knowledge or lack of talent. Liu and Zhang (2013) used a substantially large number of Chinese subjects at several universities to examine attitudes and motivation during English language learning. The results indicated that the subjects who demonstrated a high level of integrative motivation spent more time learning, and adopted the target language much faster with respect to the subjects who had a substantially low level of integrative motivation.…”