A Case Study on Affective Factors of English Majors in Oral English Learning

【Abstract】Affective factors have great impact on learning oral English. It functions to affiliate or debilitate oral English study. Based on qualitative research method， this paper explores how the affective components exert influence on learning oral English.

【Key words】affective factors; qualitative research method; interview; observation

【作者簡介】鐘健兒（1981-），女，漢族，廣東陽江人，陽江職業技術學院，講師，碩士，研究方向：英語教學及應用語言學。

1. Introduction

In China， most English learners take a great deal of psychological preparation and efforts to develop their oral English level but resulting in ineffectiveness. Even for many English majors， they can’t express their ideas freely and fluently in English in spite of many years study specialized in English. Learners’ affective factors play an important role in learning oral English. This paper explores how the affective components exert influence on learning oral English by a qualitative research method.

2. Literature Review

Affect can be considered broadly as aspects of emotion， feeling， mood or attitude which condition behaviour. Brown （1987） put the affective components into two facets. The first is the intrinsic side of affectivity： individual factors， which include motivation， anxiety， self-esteem， personality， inhibition and risk-taking. The second facet encompasses extrinsic factors. In China， there’s no lack of studies on the relationship between affective variables and learning outcomes.

3. Research Design

3.1 Subjects

The two subjects are Li Bing and Chen Ling， English majors of Grade two in Yangjiang Polytechnic College. The two students are in the same class and have been learning English for ten years. Li Bing has a high ability of communicating in English while Chen Ling has poor oral English.

3.2 Data collection

A qualitative research method is used in this study. The qualitative data is collected mainly through classroom observation and semi-structured interview. The observation was conducted in four oral classes for recording the performance of the two subjects. The Semi-structured interviews with the two subjects twice respectively were conducted to study and describe their affective factors in their oral English learning.

4. Findings and discussion

4.1 Motivation

According to the subjects’ responses， it shows that Li Bing has intrinsic motivation as well as extrinsic motivation. Li Bing is very interested in oral English; she believes that good oral English can enhance her ability and get respect from others; she realizes oral English will “do a great help for the future job”. Instead， Chen Ling has low intrinsic motivation; she felt little interested in oral English. She didn’t think that was the most important one. From the above， it is easy to find that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation have great influence on the students’ oral English learning. Intrinsic motivation is more powerful and leads to deeper learning and superior achievement.

4.2 Anxiety

Li Bing doesn’t feel uneasy when asked to speak English in class while Chen Ling feels highly nervous and anxious. Li Bing said that she would speak out what she thought without “caring about making mistakes”; she thought “there is no need to worry about making mistakes”. On the contrary， Chen Ling thought she would feel so “frightened to be asked” that she didn’t hope teachers to raise questions on her. The findings show that Li Bing with a low-anxiety state performs much better than Chen Ling with a high-anxiety. Moderate level of anxiety can facilitate the oral English learning; however， a state of high-anxiety will cause nervousness and worry so as to pervasively obstruct the process of oral English learning.

4.3 Self-esteem

Li Bing believes herself to be capable in oral English. She feels confident when she speaks English. She thought that “not all the people can speak English confidently from the start” but “as they practice and speak more” they got confident. Chen Ling holds a view that self-esteem is the most important factor for her in oral English learning. The findings show that self-esteem is thought to be the most pervasive aspect in oral English learning. It has great impact on oral English learning.

5. Conclusion and implication

To sum up， the study shows that oral English learners with different oral English levels are affected by their own affective factors， which function to affiliate or debilitate oral English learning. In terms of oral English instruction， teachers need to be concerned about the affective components of the students. Teachers should try to help students to foster interest and confidence of speaking English and take into account the students’ anxiety when they design and complement some tasks.

References：

[1]陳劼.英語學生課堂焦慮感與口語水平的關系[J].國外外語教學， 1997（1）：15-18.