Reticence and Anxiety in Oral English Lessons

Transcription

1 Reticence and Anxiety in Oral English Lessons Bearbeitet von Meihua Liu 1. Auflage Taschenbuch. XVI, 300 S. Paperback ISBN Format (B x L): 15 x 22 cm Gewicht: 520 g Weitere Fachgebiete > Pädagogik, Schulbuch, Sozialarbeit > Pädagogik Allgemein > Pädagogische Psychologie, Entwicklungspsychologie schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, ebooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte.

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3 1. Introduction 1.1. Research Problem Because of the increasing status of English as a world language, people in Mainland China are becoming more and more aware of the importance of spoken English. This awareness was reflected in the new College English Curriculum (1999), which required that undergraduate non-english majors be able to conduct conversations in English about their major studies as well as familiar topics in daily life. Thereafter, learning spoken English has become an essential part of English learning in Mainland China. Oral English proficiency is now measured by oral tests which have been integrated into many national English examinations. College English Test bands 4 and 6 the most important national English examinations for undergraduate and graduate non-english majors respectively, adopted oral English tests in 1999, though these are only given to those with a score above 80 in the written tests. Other important English examinations also gradually integrated oral English tests into their original test structures such as Public English Graded Test and the University s English Proficiency Tests I and II. For these tests, without passing the oral test, the testee cannot get a certificate even if s/he passes the written component. Oral English tests have come to be an important means of assessing learners overall English proficiency. Despite this general awareness of the importance of spoken English, non-english majors in Mainland China, similar to learners in other foreign language contexts (Daly et al. 1995; Horwitz et al. 1986; MacIntyre/Gardner 1989), have been observed to be either quiet or to speak English with a trembling voice, make numerous unnecessary stops, or have shaking hands or legs, etc. during English lessons or oral English tests (Cortazzi/Jin 1996). As a result, both teachers and 1

4 students have become frustrated and often complain about the quality of the learning outcome. This makes it urgent to examine this phenomenon to better understand the learning situation in Mainland China and ultimately enhance the learning and teaching of oral English there. 1.2 Rationale for the Research Language learning is more than a process of acquiring linguistic rules or participating in communicative activities. It is also a process in which individual learners are constantly placed in a vulnerable position of where they risk losing face and feeling embarrassed. This process is stressful and likely to evoke much anxiety and reticence in the learners (Howritz et al. 1986). In addition to increasingly becoming the concern of speech communication scholars and educators (Burgoon 1976; Burgoon/Koper 1984; Keaten/Kelly 2000; McCroskey 1997a; Phillips 1997), reticence has captured the attention of language educators. Research has found that reticent individuals often peak less and their speech tends to be short, brief, and less comprehensible. They exhibit more negative forms of arousal such as anxiety, tension, and unpleasant affect and fewer forms of positive arousal such as enthusiasm and expressiveness (Ferris/Tagg 1996; Flowerdew et al. 2000; Jackson 2002a, 2003a; Liu 2006b; Phillips 1997; Tsui 1996). The case is the same with anxiety in second/foreign language learning. Second/Foreign language researchers and theorists have long been aware that anxiety is often associated with language learning and is a major obstacle to be overcome in learning to speak another language (Bailey et al. 1999; Gardner/MacIntyre 1992; Horwitz et al. 1986; Liu 2006a, 2006c, 2007; MacIntyre/Gardner 1989, 1994b). Highanxious people are more reluctant to speak in second/foreign language classroom activities and tend to achieve less in second/foreign language learning (Neer 1987; Hilleson 1996; Tsui 1996; Jackson 2002a; Ely 1986). 2

5 Thus, it is evident that reticence and anxiety are closely correlated with each other, just as Phillips stated that reticence often masks strong emotions. It is often accompanied by anxiety that can impede both performance and receptivity to instruction (1997: 142). Moreover, language proficiency, personality, motivation, willingness to speak the target language, and other factors may interact with each other to determine whether the learner is passive or active, confident or nervous in the classroom (Ely, 1986). The interaction of these variables in language classrooms makes it even more worthwhile to explore these issues in second/foreign language learning situations. In recent decades, research on reticence and anxiety in second/ foreign language learning has been flourishing (Bailey 1983; Horwitz et al. 1986; Jackson 2002a, 2003a, 2003b; MacIntyre/Gardner 1989, 1991b; Tsui 1996). Though a facilitating effect of anxiety has been found in some studies (Kleinmann 1977; Scovel 1978), reticence and anxiety predominantly have a debilitating impact on the learning of a second/foreign language in the classroom (Horwitz et al. 1986; MacIntyre/Gardner 1989; Sato 1990; Steinberg/Horwitz 1986; Tsui 1996; Young 1991a; Zhang 2001). Even though there are a large number of EFL learners in Mainland China, little research in this area has been done there, as detailed in Chapters 2 and 3. Although many studies targeted Chinese ESL/EFL learners (Chen 2002; Cheng et al. 1999; Cortazzi/Jin 1996; Hilleson 1996; Jackson 1999, 2002a, 2003b; Liu/Littlewood 1997; Tsui 1996; Wang/Ding 2001; Yan/Wang 2001; Zou 2004), only a couple explored the issue of reticence in Mainland China (Cortazzi/Jin 1996; Liu 2006b; Wen/Clément 2003; Yan/Horwitz 2008; Zou 2004); a few investigated foreign language learning anxiety in Mainland Chinese students (Chen 2002; Hu 2003; Wang 2003; Wang/Ding 2001; Zhang 2002) or SL learners of Chinese there (Zhang 2001). The rest all focused on learners in the Hong Kong context with the exception of Cheng et al. s (1999) study which was situated in Taiwan and Mak and White s (1997) which was conducted in New Zealand. This scarcity of research, coupled with the complicated process of second/foreign language acquisition, the large number of English learners as a foreign language and the increasingly important status of spoken English in 3

6 Mainland China, calls for more exploration of reticence and second/ foreign language anxiety in various contexts in the country. Furthermore, given the complex nature of reticence and anxiety in second/foreign language learning, a combination of different research methods is essential to provide a comprehensive picture of the issues. Thus, diverse factors and consequences underlying these issues could be revealed thereafter, as evidenced by Jackson s three-year ethnographic investigation (1999, 2000, 2001a, 2001b, 2002a, 2002c, 2003a, 2003b). A large-scale quantitative study makes it possible to get data from a large number of participants and draw a general overall picture of the situation (Nunan 1992; Richards 2001; Wallace 1998), whereas, a more focused qualitative study helps to examine the issues in more depth, revealing more about the nature of learners feelings and perceptions about their learning situations (Allwright 1983; Bailey 1983; Halbach 2000). Adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches to reticence and anxiety, the present research sought to investigate these issues in oral English lessons at the tertiary level in Mainland China in order to contribute to our understanding of reticence and anxiety in foreign language classroom-learning situations. 1.3 Research questions To investigate the issues illustrated above, the following questions about reticence and anxiety were formulated. A. Reticence (1) To what extent do Mainland Chinese students experience reticence in oral English classrooms? (2) What is the relationship between classroom reticence and students oral English proficiency? 4

7 (3) What factors contribute to student reticence in oral English classrooms? What strategies are utilized to cope with reticence in the classroom? B. Anxiety (4) To what extent do Mainland Chinese students suffer anxiety in oral English classrooms? (5) What is the relationship between classroom anxiety and students oral English proficiency? (6) What factors cause Mainland Chinese students to be anxious in oral English classrooms and what strategies are employed to cope with it in the classroom? 1.4 Significance of the study The large-scale survey administered in the present research revealed whether and to what extent reticence and anxiety were experienced by Mainland Chinese EFL learners at the tertiary level. The focused study made it possible to better understand the causes and effects of reticence and anxiety during oral English lessons. Based on the rich data gathered in the present research, two models a communication model and a model of anxiety in the Chinese EFL classroom-learning situation were proposed. In particular, these models expand the existing ones by incorporating new elements such as cultural, educational and social factors, thus making it possible to generalize the findings to other FL contexts. In addition, some ways and strategies were identified to improve the learning and teaching of oral English in Mainland China. By providing implications for curriculum designers as well as language teachers and learners, the present research hoped to draw more attention to this largely neglected area of research in Mainland China and contribute to the overall literature of research on reticence and anxiety in second/foreign language learning. 5