Psychological Factors in English Study

吳西

1.Introduction

The psychological factor that influences English study is dynamic， complex， and flexible.Its influence is not immediately known， but it rather accumulates over a period of time.It is inevitable that students have some psychological factors in learning English.Therefore， in the process of teaching， teachers should fully do some research about students' psychological factors and their influence on English study.This paper is to analyze some individual psychological elements which affect the learner's study of English， such as teacher， family and individual learners， and points out that the learner himself is the key to the whole study procedure.This paper also provides some suggestions in improving English teaching and learning on this point.

2.The patterns of the psychological factors influencing English study

The American psychologists Bruner（1962） thought： “The acquisition of knowledge is an active process， the students should not be passive recipients of information， and access to knowledge should be active participants in the process”.Psychological factors influence through active participation to achieve knowledge of the impact of the acquisition.The English learners are affected by the enthusiasm and desire to learn to achieve.

The further processing of the attended sound（or visual pattern） in the sensory store is done in the short-term memory.The attended information is then transferred to the short-term memory， which passes rehearsed information to the long-term memory.If the information in the sensory store is unattended then it will be lost and this means it will not get to the short-term memory.This memory holds information for a limited duration， normally less than 60 seconds.The memory span for short-term memory is very short.This means a quick repeat of number of information which is just acquired without rehearsing them will result in having to loss some of them if it is too much for the short-term memory.The memory span of the short-term memory depends on the size of the information.Information cannot be hold in short-term memory for too long because of the flowing in and out of the information in the memory.If the information did not get into the long-term memory quickly then it will be lost and will never be recovered.This situation occurs if the long-term memory has not developed how to represent the information.Rehearsal develops the memory， this point was argued by Craik and Lockhart（1978）： “Memory could only be improved by the depth of processing of information”.This means that information has to be rehearsed deeply and in a correct way.Inactive rehearsing yields a little memory improvement.

2.1 Teachers factor

Today many English teachers begin to apply the scientific and modern ways to English teaching.And many of them have gained satisfactory results.This is a great success in English teaching.But it seems that a lot of teachers are still not aware of how to use the emotional factors in English teaching.

English teaching syllabus of middle schools shows that the foreign languages are tools for international contact.We use them to absorb the advanced science and technology and as well as getting some information about the politics and economy of the foreign countries.Many of the Chinese students don't have the personal experience about the foreign countries.They only see the economic flourish of these countries.It makes them think that everything from foreign countries is good.As teachers， especially English teachers in middle school， they have the duty to help the young students to form the correct concept of the world.The teachers should help the students to gain the correct moral value， such as what is love， especially what is love for their motherland.When the teachers talk about Martin Lather King Jr， Thomas Edison， Albert Einstein or Marie Curie， they can cultivate the students sense of morality for devoting themselves to justice， science and their country.

2.2 Familys factor

Family factors which include learning atmosphere and the expectations of parents also have something to do with English study of the students from the psychological perspective.

Generally speaking， students whose parents know English have a better English competence than those whose parents without any knowledge of English.Some parents are busy with their business so that they dont take their childrens English learning into account.As a result， without parents encouragement or even the concern on the English learning， the students would have low motivation to learn English hard.

2.3 Individual learners factor

As is known to all， learners command of English is certainly different because of their different ages， different learning abilities， and different personalities.Language learner is or should be the central figure and eternal topic in any language learning and teaching practice.It is also natural and clear that psychology and psycholinguistics have a key role to play in interpreting the concept of “language learner”.However， the psychological treatment of learner factors is not easy to be put into teaching practice.Our conceptualizations of learner factors must， for the present， remain somewhat tentative.That is to say， there are no definitive answers to some questions of learner psychology up to now.

According to Rod Ellis（1985）， individual factors are classified into personal factors and general factors.There is a whole range of learner factors that potentially influence the way in which second language is acquired.They are language aptitude， and cognitive characteristics， and then affective and personality factors.

3.Ways of training students from the perspective of psychology in learning English

3.1 Cultivate the habit of thinking in English

Taking the way of thinking in English is more efficient than trying to deliver sentences stiffly by interpreting while in the communication.In learning English language and the use of it， some of the students do not think in English when speaking or translate mentally.It is a pity that even some of the teachers are not accustomed to such kind of practice.They are used to the translation method， word for word， phrase for phrase， sentence for sentence， paragraph for paragraph and the whole text for the full text.

Thinking and speaking are fundamentally and essentially the same process expressed in different forms， like thundering and lighting， the same stuff and the same meaning in motion and change.

So it is obvious that the human self-realization and collective existence and group activity make use of language as a means of expression， communication and cooperation and for their life to endure a certain period.

And it is absolutely impossible either to think without language or to use language without thinking.The soul or the value of a language is in its usage.Language is the vehicle of thought， without language there will be no civilization， no culture and the human race will be destroyed by animals and natural calamities or by self-destruction（Jackendoff， 1996， pp.14-18）.The survival of the human race is always depending on thinking and doing.

In China most of the students prefer thinking both in Chinese and in English alternately or simultaneously for the sake of accuracy， but it takes double the time with only half the result.

Cultivating the habit of thinking in English is to be involved in the English thinking patterns， not to translate into English word for word or sentence for sentence.To learn a second language is like to be born for a second time， everything is new， and one should begin from the beginning and to practice thinking in the target language.

3.2 Raise interest and passion of English teaching/learning

Interest plays an important role in English learning for the reason that interest is the best teacher.“When working for what they are interested in， human being will feel happy and relaxed and working with their remote interest， they will feel sick and tired.”（Pi Liansheng， 2004） Therefore， teachers and parents realized the importance of learning interest as they tried to achieve students learning motivation.For high school students who have numerous courses to learn， pressure of examination to face， will feel sick and tired about learning， even will give up learning if we do not focus on teaching method， and do not pay attention to achieve， train， and keep on their interest of learning， especially the English learning.There are mountains of vocabulary and grammars need to learn by heart.If students have remote interest in English learning， it is impossible for them to learn English well.At present， English has manifold significance to world wide communication.So teachers should engage in how to arouse students interest in learning English with changeful teaching method， harmonious teacher-student relationship and relaxed learning environment.

From a psychological point of view， the underlying motivation comes from learning the right things at the exhibition.Interested disciplines contribute to the purpose of understanding and deepen understanding help to stimulate their interests.If students are not interested in learning， they feel that learning is dull， which will lead to the loss in learning perseverance.

It can not merely base on students cognitive level and characteristic of age， but focus on teachers teaching method and material to raise students interest in learning English.It is suggested that teachers should use some proper ways and multi-media method to arouse students interest in learning English.Teachers should improve their individual accomplishment（Harmer， 2000）.In the recent years， with the constant improvement of instructional technology and the development of cognitive science， great progress has been made in theoretical research and practice on computer assisted instruction for foreign language teaching.Such mode is a perfect combination of students learning and the teachers teaching in the classroom.“Multi-media make the learning process full of fun and relaxed， with its own feature which has perfect video and audio， the picture and its accompanying essay are both excellent.It has changed the traditional teacher-based teaching method， and aroused students interest in learning English.”（Li Wenying， 2005）

3.4 Improving students self-confidence in learning English

Self-confidence plays a very important role in learning English.What happens when a student feels ‘I cant do it， ‘Im not good enough， ‘Ill never learn this？ There is no doubt that these complex questions cannot have a single， simple answer.Most of these problems seem to have the same root： a poor self-confidence， a deep fear of failure， a feeling of inadequacy.Psychologist Nathaniel Branden claims that all problems， except those that have a biological origin， are related to low self-confidence.

The question of what makes the difference between students that can easily grasp concepts， words， meaning in a second language and one that can hardly understand or utter a word often baffles language teachers.One answer can be found in a research which has shown that children who suffer from low self-confidence are greatly incapacitated for reaching their learning potential（Williams and Burden， 2000）.

Robert Reasoner claimed that it is essential to acknowledge the uniqueness of each student and to protect his or her rights and feelings in order to develop the five key components of self-confidence： a sense of security， a sense of identity， a sense of belonging， a sense of purpose and a sense of personal competence.In his hierarchy of needs， Maslow highlighted the importance of security， concluding that ‘only a child who feels safe dares to grow forward healthily.His safety needs must be gratified.He stated that the apex of his famous Pyramid， the need for self-actualization， can only be reached if all other needs --- security， belonging and self-confidence --- are fulfilled first.Similarly， Carl Rogers pointed out the importance of giving satisfaction to both the inborn needs（food， shelter） and the social needs in order to develop a psychologically healthy personality.In Rogers view the most important social need is the one for a positive regard， which he considered the main socializing force behind behavior.

This point is considered to be highly significant for language teachers， as success in language learning is inextricably linked to the way in which learners experience the classroom： as a place where their weaknesses will be revealed or as a space for growth and development.Can the classroom be an environment where values， positive attitudes and a ‘can-do-spirit are promoted？ Which practical activities could be implemented to help children approach learning with confidence and joy？ If a students self-confidence can be enhanced in the foreign language classroom， will any consequences be observed in social relationships and academic performance？ The answer is ‘yes.

4.Conclusion

According to Noam Chomsky， universal grammar in each persons brain enables him/her to acquire language from birth.“There motive， needs， attitudes and emotional state filter what they hear and therefore affect the rate and quality of language learning”（Davis， 2002）.

Performances with self-confidence and good self-image tend to do better in second language acquisition and low anxiety appears to be conductive to second language acquisition， whether measured as personal or classroom anxiety（Krashen， 1981）.According to Krashen， these psychological variables may strongly enhance or inhibit second language acquisition by playing a critical mediating role between the linguistic input available in the educational setting and the students ability to learn.In order for students to fully engage their innate capacity to acquire language within an input-rich environment， they should ideally be relaxed， motivated， and self-confident.

Therefore， psychological factors play a significant role in language learning.Positive emotions can facilitate the language learning process and improve learners language performance， while negative emotions will bring barriers to language learning and reduce learners learning capacity.

References：

[1]Bruner，J.（1962）.The process of education.Cambridge，MA： Harvard University Press.

[2]Jackendoff，R.（1996）.How language helps us think.Pragmatics and Cognition，1，14-18.

[3]Krashen，S.D.（1981）.Second language acquisition and foreign language teaching.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[4]Williams，M.& Burden，R.L.（2000）.Psychology for language teachers.Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[5]李文英，（2005）.多媒體手段與傳統方法整合的多維外語教學模式及策略——理論與實踐，山東外語教學，3，127-135.

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