Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety among Chinese English Majors: Causes, Effects and Strategies

Abstract

Language anxiety is becoming an important issue of research in our profession, especially speaking anxiety. The study aims to explore the affective factors, effects and coping strategies of speaking anxiety among Chinese English majors. A mixed approach was used: survey, and interview. In total, 123 English majors answered the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), other basic questionnaires, they participated oral English test hold by school teachers. Two teachers and three students with varying degrees of anxiety were interviewed. The results were: (1) According to the survey, half of the students have oral anxiety, though most of them are moderately nervous; (2)Speaking anxiety negatively impacted how well students’ oral performance, which was further confirmed by the statistical analysis; (3) A variety of factors was revealed to cause the students’ speaking anxiety; (4) When faced with speaking anxiety, there are some effective solutions from the perspective of both students and teachers. This paper contributes to making teachers realize the existence of oral anxiety in students English learning, its impact on English learning, and to better adjusting teaching strategies.