Linguistic Distance,Language Anxiety,and Coping Strategies:A Comparative Study of Chinese and Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners in Classroom Settings  

作　　者：TAO Jifen KENNEDY Teresa J. HE Zhaomin LI Bai 

机构地区：[1]Zhanjiang University of Science and Technology,Guangdong,China [2]University of Texas at Tyler,Tyler,USA [3]Changchun University of Finance and Economics,Changchun,China [4]Queensland University of Technology,Brisbane,Australia

出　　处：《US-China Foreign Language》2024年第6期314-328,共15页美中外语（英文版）

摘　　要：This study explored the relationship between linguistic distance and language anxiety among English Language Learners(ELLs),and the strategies that ELLs and their teachers adopted to help cope with classroom language anxiety.It was hypothesized that Chinese ELLs may experience higher levels of anxiety than Mexican ELLs in English language classroom settings due to greater linguistic distance between Mandarin Chinese and English than between the Spanish and English languages.English classroom language anxiety of a sample of 108 Chinese and 72 Mexican undergraduate students was examined using the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS)in combination with two open-ended questions regarding strategies used to ease classroom language anxiety.Analyses of covariance were performed,the results of which showed significant differences.On average,the Chinese students reported higher levels of language anxiety than the Mexican students in classroom settings,and the same pattern was observed regarding various aspects of student language anxiety including communication apprehension,fear of negative evaluation,and test anxiety.Additionally,a gender difference was observed among the Mexican but not the Chinese students,with the Mexican female students experiencing a higher level of anxiety than their male counterparts.Student responses to the two open-ended questions echoed the statistical results,suggesting that language anxiety might be the consequence of language learning difficulty.

关 键 词：coping strategies English Language Learners(ELLs) foreign language anxiety(FLA) foreign language classroom anxiety(FLCA) Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale(FLCAS) intercultural communicative competence(ICC) language score(LS) linguistic distance(LD) unwillingness to communicate(UTC) 

分 类 号：H31[语言文字—英语]