Foreign language anxiety and English achievement in Taiwanese undergraduate English-major students: an empirical study

台灣英語系學生外語焦慮與英語學習成果

高柏祺(Po-Chi Kao) ； Philip Craigie

《弘光學報》 61期 (2010/12) Pp. 49-62

https://doi.org/10.6615/HAR.201012.61.04

摘要

本研究探討外語焦慮對台灣大學生英語成就的影響。為了了解外語焦慮的複雜本質，本研究檢視台灣英語系的大學生對於外語焦慮的心理反應，期望能對外語教學研究有所貢獻。本研究使用問卷設計，包含蒐集量化資料來解答研究問題。總共101位英語系的學生參與這項研究，研究結果顯示高英語成就組比一般英語成就組及低英語成就組經歷較低的外語焦慮；而一般英語成就組也比低英語成就組經歷較低的外語焦慮。研究結果證實外語焦慮是對英語系學生的英語成就的一項重要預測變因。教學部份如何因應？在教學的部份，老師可以嘗試給學生更多的時間思考、事先演練、及適當的回饋，並維持一個輕鬆、友善、與詼諧的上課氣氛。本研究讓外語教育工作者更加瞭解學生並幫助他們認知外語焦慮，希望對於外語焦慮更深入更廣泛的了解，能有助於大學的英語教育。同時也期待本研究的發現能有助於受外語焦慮所影響的學生。

關鍵字

焦慮 ； 外語學習 ； 英語成就 ； 大學生

並列摘要

This paper investigated the effect of foreign language anxiety on Taiwanese university students’ English achievement. To understand the perplexing nature of foreign language anxiety which Taiwanese students may have, this study aims to contribute to the limited literature examining the psychological reactions to language anxiety in Taiwanese undergraduate English-major students. This study employed a survey design that involved the collection of quantitative data to answer the research question. A total of 101 undergraduate English-major students participated in this study. Results of the present study suggested that Group A students (the students whose English achievement fall in the top 1/3 of all participants) experienced lower levels of foreign language anxiety than Group B students (the students whose English achievement fall in the middle 1/3 of all participants) and Group C students (the students whose English achievement fall in the bottom 1/3 of all participants), while Group B students had less foreign language anxiety than Group C stduents. The results highlighted that foreign language anxiety is an important predictor of university English-major students’ English achievement. This study also presented an insight for foreign language educators to further understand students and help them through their anxiety. It is hoped that increasing and extensive knowledge of foreign language anxiety will help both university EFL instructors and EFL learners. Ultimately, the empirical findings of the current study will have a beneficial impact on the students affected by foreign language anxiety.

並列關鍵字

anxiety ； foreign language learning ； English achievement ； undergraduate students

參考文獻

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