Language Anxiety in English Learning.docVIP

Language Anxiety in English Learning 　　Abstract：This paper aims to discuss the language anxiety in English learning from the following two aspects： the definition of anxiety and the effects of language anxiety. Meanwhile， it provides some pedagogical implications to college English teachers and learners. 　　Key words：Language anxiety； English teaching； English leaning 　　I.Introduction 　　It is commonly observed that some people can learn a foreign or second language better and faster than any other people. The reason of this variation is because of the individual learner differences. In the field of second language acquisition， individual differences may include some factors， such as motivation， anxiety， age， beliefs， personality and aptitude and so on. Among these factors， anxiety is considered to be more unstable variable as the result of learning experience. Studies in the aspect of anxiety have found that there is an inverse relationship between anxiety and language achievement in second language learning. 　　II.Language Anxiety 　　1. The Definition of Language Anxiety 　　Language anxiety can be defined as “the feeling of tension and apprehension specifically associated with second language contexts” （MacIntyre Gardner， 1994： 284）. Horwitz and Cope defined anxiety as “a state of uneasiness and apprehension or fear caused by the anticipation of something threatening” （1986：45）. Horwitz et al. conceptualize foreign language anxiety as“a distinct complex of self-perceptions， beliefs， feelings， and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from uniqueness of language learning process” （1986： 31）. 　　2. Effects of Language Anxiety 　　Educational psychologists involved in researching language anxiety are concerned with the relationship between anxiety and L2 achievement. The results of different researches on language anxiety will be showed in the following table. The correlation between language anxiety and second language learning is negative i