The Analysis of Anxiety in Englsih Learning.doc

The Analysis of Anxiety in English Learning Abstract: Language learning anxiety is described as fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform the foreign language. This paper tries to analysis it and gives some strategies against it. Key Words: Anxiety; English Learning; Strategies 1. Introduction Since 1960s people have shifted the focus on language teaching to language learning with the prosperity of Humanistic psychology. Teachers acknowledge that they need to know more about learning process to: improve the success of classroom teaching. The socio-educational model proposed by Gardner then raises researchers and teachers’s attention to affective factors in foreign language leaming process. Anxiety, as one of the major affective factors, is considered to have pervasive impact at language learning and production. More and more students report that they feel tenser and more nervous in foreign language class than in any other class. Researchers and teachers then have shown an increasing interest in exploring language anxiety faced by language learners. 2. Anxiety and Theories Related to It 2.1 One Affective Side of Language Learner - Anxiety Children are expected to grow up happily at school, but actually the students get more blame than praises. Exposed to the new language, they are puzzled by the pronunciation, words and rules, thus their anxiety arises. In order to help the students to grow up happily, English teachers need to have a broad understanding of affect. Attention to affective aspects can lead to more effective language learning. In dealing with the affective side of language learners, attention needs to be given to anxiety. Anxiety is one of the most important affective variables in language learning. As a complex phenomenon, anxiety has been variously conceptualized as a stimulus condition. As a probability of a harmful future outcome, and response to a stressful condition. Maclntyre and Gardner (1994) says th