英语专业学生外语焦虑对英语词汇记忆影响的研究.docx

英语专业学生外语焦虑对英语词汇记忆影响的研究
Withtheincreasingglobalizationoftheworld,theimportanceoflearningEnglishasasecondlanguagehasbecomemoreandmoreprominent.Asaresult,thereareincreasingnumbersofstudentsstudyingEnglishasaspecializedsubject.However,manyofthesestudentssufferfromforeignlanguageanxiety(FLA),whichcouldaffecttheirabilitytomemorizeEnglishvocabulary.ThispaperaimstoinvestigatetheimpactofFLAonEnglishvocabularylearningamongEnglishmajorsstudents.
Foreignlanguageanxietyreferstothefeelingoftension,apprehension,ornervousnesswhilelearningorusingasecondlanguage.Studiesshowthatahighlevelofforeignlanguageanxietymayleadtoanegativeattitudetowardlanguagelearning,which,inturn,affectsthestudents'vocabularyacquisition.Thereasonbehindthisisthattheemotionalstateofanxietyreducesthelearner'sabilitytoprocessinput,leadingtoimpairedmemorystorageandencoding(Hauk,2017).
ResearchonforeignlanguageanxietyhastypicallyfocusedondevelopingdifferentinterventionmeasurestoreduceFLA.However,thelinkbetweenFLAandvocabularylearningisnotwell-investigated,especiallyamongEnglishmajorstudents.Therefore,thispaperseekstoexaminetherelationshipbetweenforeignlanguageanxietyandvocabularyacquisition.
Firstly,studentswithhighlanguageanxietytendtoavoidsituationswheretheymighthavetouseEnglish,suchaspresentations,classroomdiscussions,oreventalkingtoEnglish-speakingpeople.Itresultsinalackofexposuretothelanguageandreducedopportunitiestopractice.Sincevocabularyacquisitionisinfluencedbythefrequencyofexposure,alackofexposurewouldundoubtedlyhindermemorizingnewwords(Horwitzetal.,2007).
Secondly,studentswithhighforeignlanguageanxietymayexperiencedifficultyfocusingonthetaskand,therefore,facedifficultymemorizingthevocabulary.TheanxietythatstudentsexperiencemayNotonlyaffecttheretrievalofinformationfrommemorybutalsothestorageandencodingofnewdata.AstudybyLiuandErten(2020)suggeststhatstudentswithhighFLAperformpoorlyonvocabularytestscomparedtothosewithlowanxietylevels.
AnotheraspectthatcanaffectthememorizationofEnglishvocabularyisthedegreeofa