How to reduce negative effect of anxiety in senior high English classroom in Guizhou province

Liu Jia

【Abstract】This paper mainly concerns on anxiety in English class in Guizhou province. It analyzes three essential reasons which can cause anxiety：Students（Ss） fear of communication，unsuccessful self-image and anxiety from college entrance examination.The paper focuses on the negative effect of anxiety and try to find some settlements. The study will be helpful for senior high school teachers to make some change in their teaching.

【Key words】English teaching； anxiety； negative effect； solutions

Ⅰ. Introduction

From 1970s to 1990s，anxiety， as an important affective disorder in foreign language learning， became an magnet for foreign language teaching. Oxford， Horwitz and other linguistics have done studies to investigate reasons of anxiety of second language learning（2LL）.In China，education attaches more importance on declarative knowledge and the intelligence development， but neglects Ss affect development， especially in the developing areas like Guizhou province. Here is a discussion of some reasons why anxiety occurs in senior high English classroom in Guizhou and how to deal with it.

Ⅱ. The reasons for anxiety

Gardner thinks that language anxiety is fear or apprehension occurring when a learner is expected to perform in the second or foreign language. Learners self-esteem and self-confidence would be foiled if they cant reach the expectant aims or overcome the difficulties. In Oxfords view， anxiety in 2LL consists “harmful anxiety” and “helpful anxiety”.The author mainly talk about “harmful anxiety”—negative effect of anxiety here. It affects learners energy and attention， and reduces capacity of thinking and memory， then cause the abatement of language input and output. Oxford deems learners individual features or the monotonicity of teaching activities caused anxiety， but the author thinks in senior high school in Guizhou province reasons can be：

1. the fear of communication

From 2 years teaching in a senior high school in Guizhou province， the author found Ss in Guizhou are less confident than those from more advanced cities. They fear they cant get a sufficient understanding or express themselves.So they dare not to communicate with each other.

2. Unsuccessful self-image

If Ss are always foiled in language learning， they would have an unsuccessful self-image that carries anxiety. For example， if teachers always focus on mistakes in Ss speech and correct them abruptly as most teachers do in Guizhou， Ss would be afraid of being negated by teachers and classmates. Finally， they would lose their confidence for learning.

3. College entrance examination

In China， particularly in Guizhou， Ss were told that a good future is based on passing the college entrance examination. So high attention was paid. On one hand， they are afraid of failing the exam for they fail to control the language knowledge they should control. On the other hand， if they failed many times， it would be inertia. Ss in Guizhou overemphasis exam results， so they are easier to be anxious.

Ⅲ. How to reduce anxiety

Anxiety has a great influence on Ss in Guizhou，so it is important to find solutions.

1. Solutions for the fear of communication

Ordinarily， anxiety impacts more on speaking. Anxious Ss are below the relaxed Ss. So solution is to build a relaxing atmosphere for Ss to speak out actively.The author thinks things teachers should do are respecting Ss，treating them equally and smiling more. The content should be relative with Ss real life.So they can use what they learn immediately to talk about their life. Another aspect teachers should pay attention to is error correction. Teachers ought to correct Ss error with a lenient attitude and encourage Ss to speak out. When they speak， teachers had better praise them immediately even they made mistakes. Because for Ss in Guizhou， it is a progress to speak.

2. Solutions for unsuccessful self-image

Ss would get unsuccessful self-image if they failed in learning practice. Unsuccessful self-image lead to anxiety which has two different types： debilitating and facilitating anxiety. Studies show that English learning anxiety is much different from other kinds of anxiety，as the debilitating anxiety has more negative influence than facilitating one.The authors view is that teachers can reduce anxiety by changing Ss unsuccessful learning experience. In other words， helping Ss to get self-confidence is an effective way. There is an example of the authors teaching experience in Guizhou province. A girl was always feeling herself inferior to others and never answered a question in class in the first term of senior high.Her rank is the first from back in the final examination. The author encouraged her to answer questions in every class and embolden her with rewards. Gradually， she doesnt fear answering questions and can do it more correctly and smoothly. Finally she got a good rank one year later from the last to twentieth in a 70-Ss class. We can say teachers positive encouragement can help Ss get confidence and have a comfortable learning atmosphere. In this way， the debilitating anxiety can be overcome， even be transformed into facilitating anxiety.

3. Solutions for anxiety of college entrance examination

Oxford thinks that there is “test anxiety ” in 2LL.It is ‘the tendency to become alarmed about the consequences of inadequate performance on a test or other evaluation. Anxiety of college entrance examination is one kind of test anxiety and existing only among Chinese senior high school Ss. Testing psychologists consider it ineluctable to engender a certain extent of pressure and test anxiety for most Ss when they face college entrance examination. Slight anxiety can assist Ss to pay more attention to the exam and accelerate brain thought. But serious anxiety will do harm to the test. The author found that most of the senior high school Ss are stressed for they fear failing to pass the exam so that they cant be accepted by a university. It leads to overanxious.In the authors view， there are several points to solve this excessive anxiety： First， teachers behoove treats college entrance examination with an ordinary mind.Then， Ss should be in a position related to the exam. It is not necessary to treat it as the only way to decide Ss future.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

The negative affect of anxiety in English learning can not be sneezed at. The new curriculum standards of senior high school English requires teachers to change roles from knowledge initiator to a guider， helper， promote，organizer and so forth. Teachers can using these roles to construct a relaxing student-centered ambiance. Giving more encouragement and praise to Ss and guiding them with some essential English learning strategies can enhance their self-confidence. Only in this way， English learning anxiety of Ss from Guizhou can be reduced so that they can get more achievements.

References：

[1]G.Spielmann & M.L.Radnofsky.Learning Language Under Tension：New Directions from a Qualitative Study[J].The Modern Language Journal，2001（8）：259-278.

[2]Gardner，R.C.and P.D.Maclntyre.On the Measurement of Affective Variables in Second Language Learning[J].Language Learning，1993（43）：157-194.

[3]Oxford，R.& Shearin，J.Language learning motivation： Expanding the theoretical framework[J].Modern language journal，1995：78.