Affect and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning情感因素与外语教学.docx

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1、情感因素与外语教学摘要：认知和情感是语言教学中不可分离的两个方面，但是由于传统的以考试为中心的教育评价制度，使我国的外语教学都将培养学生的认知技能放在了首位，而忽略了学习者情感因素的培养，不但导致英语教学效率低下，也使学习者身心不能得到全面、健康的发展，影响学生的可持续发展。来自学生的焦虑问题调查结果支持了以上的观点，同时也找出了导致学生外语学习焦虑的最主要原因一一害怕否定评价和缺乏模糊容忍度。针对这些实际情况，笔者提出了降低外语学习焦虑的几点设想:建立融洽的师生关系，营造良好的课堂气氛;不纠错、少纠错，帮助学生建立一定的模糊容忍度:以合作学习的方式减轻学生的心理压力。并用实验对这些设想进行了

2、验证。本文以第二语言习得中的情感因素相关理论为指导，在教学实践的调查和实验中，摸索外语学习焦虑问题的解决方案，目的在于有效地提高英语教学的效率。关键词：情感；情感因素；模糊容忍度；合作学习Affect and Foreign Language Teaching and LearningAbstractAffective factors and cognitive factors are two important parts of English learning. However, English teaching in recent years has taken into special

3、 consideration the necessity of knowledge and intelligence and comparatively ignored the development of affection. It may greatly reduce students English learning capacity and limit the whole development of students. The present thesis is to analyze affect and some important affective factors in the

4、 second language learning process. From the questionnaires on students language anxiety, the writer finds out some basic causes leading to their anxiety in foreign language learning. The experiments on the positive and negative role of anxiety demonstrate that an appropriate amount of tension can ma

5、ke the students attentive in learning a foreign language. Nevertheless, anxiety always plays a negative role in oral communication. The author suggests that affective factors should be of vital importance in language teaching and both the second language teachers and students should be sufficiently

6、aware of the above affective factors in second language acquisition and avoid of building up high affective barriers, which would prevent the students from learning the target language. Teachers should try to create association of positive affect towards the second language and its speakers as well

7、as towards the learning activities involved. Finally the significance of this these is to find out an effective way to solve the affective problems, esp. anxiety, in learning a foreign language, using some basic theories on affective factors, so as to improve our English teaching. Key Words: Affect;

8、 affective factors; cooperative language learningTable of Contents 1.Introduction 1.1. Background information. 1.2. Literature review.2. Affective Factors in Foreign Language Learning. 2.1 Attitude 2.1.1 The Definition of Attitude . 2.1.2 Attitude and Second Language Learning 2.1.3 The Research Find

9、ing of Attitude. 2.2 Motivation .2.2.1 Extrinsic Motivation. 2.2.2 Intrinsic Motivation 2.2.3 The Present Situation of Students Motivation. 2.3 Personality. 2.3.1 Self-esteem 2.3.2 Inhibition.3. Anxiety and the Relationship between Anxiety and Foreign Language Learning 3.1 What is Anxiety . 3.2 Diff

10、erent Types of Anxiety . 3.3 Possible Causes of Language Anxiety 3.4 The problems of Learning Foreign Learning.4. Strategies to Reduce Learners Anxiety. 4.1 Changing Learners and Instructors Beliefs about English language learning. 4.2 Producing Relaxing and Pleasant Learning Atmosphere.4.2.1 Adopti

11、ng Cooperative Learning.4.2.2Adopting Flexible Approaches.4.2.3 Games.4.2.4 Motivation Internalization. 5. Conclusion . Works Cited4 1. Introduction1.1 Background information English is an international language spoken in many countries. It has been teaching in the world as a native or a second and

12、foreign language, including China. Because of the tendency of globalization, in recent years, English teaching has been attached more and more attention in our country. However, for a long time, it is true that English teaching in China has been under the model of “teaching-centeredness”. This teach

13、ing model emphasizes the cognitive aspect, while ignoring the emotional communications between the teacher and students. Students, as subjects of learning, used to be neglected. They often feel frustrated, bored and unworthy, unwilling to learn after getting a low score at the end of the term. This

14、phenomenon is very harmful to their language learning and students all-round development. Then how to successfully acquire a foreign language? What are the main factors that affect language learning? How do learners fulfill their learning tasks? Such learner-centered problems have been put forward i

15、n recent years and relevant studies have been carried out. With the development of Humanism from the 1960s, more and more researches began to study the affective factors such as anxiety, motivation, attitude, personality and so on, which are assumed to influence the individual learners greatly.The a

16、im of the study is to appeal for extensive attention toward affective factors in English learning and teaching. The study inquires into the current situations of English learners affective factors in school and the correlation between the affective factors and their strategies and achievement. At th

17、e same time, the author also tries to find the relationship between underachievers and the affective factors. To this end, the author tries to help the students and the teachers find the ways to improve the learning efficiency, the teaching quality and then help students learn foreign language well,

18、 which will help to promote all-around development of the students. 1.2 Literature Review In recent years, there has been an increasing interest among researchers and teachers alike in the role of affective factors in second language learning. Since Lambfrt and Gadner initiated a large scale researc

19、h project on the role of attitude and motivation in second language learning in the late 1950s, most research in this field has concentrated on these two factors, but many other affective learners characteristics, especially personality factors have been researched as well. In Piagets theory, constr

20、uctivism states that individuals are actively involved right from birth in constructing personal meaning and knowledge. It has been developing over the years and has become particularly influential in the latter half of the twentieth century. Jean Piaget was the leading figure in cognitive-developme

21、ntal constructivism. In the late 1960s, Douglas Brown came to the conclusion that affective factors have crucial nature in second language learning from the research of his own and others. Since 1970s there has been an increasing interest in the study of classroom interaction. The literature shows t

22、hat various dimensions of interaction have been studied: teacher questioning, student production, teacher feedback, teacher-student negotiation of meaning, turn distribution and turn talking and so on (Van Lier, 1988; Chaudron, 1988). In recent several decades, partly due to the impact from humanist

23、ic psychology and improve notions of education, researches on second or foreign language learning and teaching has gradually changed its center to study of multiple variables which influence learning. Researchers investigated and experimented from different standpoint. Among them the research relate

24、d to psycholinguistics obtained notable achievement comparatively. Under such background, the influence of affective factors to language learning attracted much attention, and efforts have been made to explore ways of incorporating aspects of the affective dimension of the learner into language teac

25、hing and learning. Since the middle of the 1980s,there are many monographs in the aspect, such as Cognitive and Emotional Needs in Foreign Language Learning (Wang Churning,1991), Psychology of Affective Teaching(Lu Jiamei,1993), Two Key Factors in FL Teaching (Wang Chuning,2001) and Affective and Co

26、gnitive Factors in FL Classrooms Cooperative Learning (Guo Shucai,2002). Studies on the relationship between learner variables and learning outcomes appeared in China, among which there was no lack of research on the relationship between affective variables and language learning outcomes. Hua Huifan

27、g (1998) published the Studies on English Learning Motivation and Strategy Use, and explored the effect of motivation on strategy use. Wu Bo (1996) summarized the most important findings in personality research and exemplified the effect of personality factors on foreign language learning by a detai

28、led discussion of extroversion. But the detailed function of the affective factor in language learning was seldom found in literature. Even the relevant articles lack demonstrations that can prove the idea. In summary, affect and affective factors have invited much attention in the field of second o

29、r foreign language learning .At present, no one can deny the significant role of affect in teaching and learning. Teachers and experts have also done a lot in the work of controlling affect rationally to promote teaching, which surely leave much space for further exploration on affective language ed

30、ucation. However, affect of human being is so complicated and subtle that it could never be an easy matter to be handled. Moreover, the foreign language teaching and learning conditions are not totally same in different countries and areas, which make good method of language learning with lower affe

31、ctive barriers in one area, may not be feasible in other places. Hence, its strange that the learning theories and good methods mentioned above in foreign language learning. 2. Affective Factors in Foreign Language LearningTo explore the domain of affect in foreign language learning and teaching, a

32、relative broad understanding of the affective factors and problems in language learning and teaching should be possessed by learners and teachers at first. Thus, in this chapter, affective factors in foreign language learning will be detected and analyzed to provide clues for the solution of affecti

33、ve problems. Such factors will be interpreted one by one generally from the aspects of what they are, what their influences to language learning are and how they influence. Affective problems extensively existing in Chinese foreign language learners learning will also be concluded, according to the

34、investigations made by language teachers, to pose the emergency as well as to provide target for coping with affective problems. 2.1 Attitude2.1.1 The definition of Attitude Most theorists would seem to agree that “attitude” refers to some aspects of an individuals response to an object or class of

35、objects (Lett, 1977:269). Attitude has often been considered in terms of the following components (Krech, et al. 1962): (1)A cognitive component, which refers to ones beliefs about the object; (2) An affective component, which refers to the amount of positive or negative feeling one has towards the

36、object; (3) A cognitive component, which refers to ones behavioral intentions, or to ones actual behavior towards the object. There is also agreement that “attitudes can be described as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given obje

37、ct (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975:6)2.1.2 Attitude and Second Language LearningIn the early literature on the role of attitude and motivation in second language learning, attitude and motivation have usually been lumped together into a cluster of factors which were held jointly responsible for relative s

38、uccess or failure in second language learning. But it is now argued that attitudes are directly related to motivation, which in turn is related directly to second language learning. In other words, attitudes should be viewed as motivational supports and not as factors which have a direct effect on s

39、econd language learning. Moreover, motivation to learn a language is not only determined by attitudes, but also by other motivational props, such as the desire to please teachers and parents, promise of a reward, or experience of success, etc. Also, the relation of attitude to motivation is dependen

40、t on the type of motivation. An integrative motivation, for example, presupposes a positive attitude of the learner towards target language speakers and their culture, but a learner who is instrumentally motivated does not necessarily have a positive attitude towards the target language group. Other

41、 attitudes which are relevant to L2 learning, such as attitudes towards the language, the teacher and the course, are probably related to both types of motivation.Most research in the west on attitudes with regard to language learning has tended to concentrate on attitudes toward target languages an

42、d their speakers. D. Littlewood& T.William (1984) has found that there is a close fink between the way we speak and the way we perceive our identity and our world. When we learn a new language, we try to adopt new speech patterns and we are to some extent giving up markers of our own identity in ord

43、er to adopt those of another cultural group. In other respects, we are accepting another cultures way of perceiving the world. If we are agreeable to this process, it can enrich us and liberate us. If not it can be a source of resentment and insecurity. Our attitude toward the foreign culture influe

44、nces how we experience this process. If this attitude is negative, there may be strong internal barriers against learning, and if learning has to take place because of external compulsion, it may proceed only to the minimum level required by these external demands, so favorable attitude toward targe

45、t language and its culture can affect our language learning motivation and proficiency. Similarly, the learners attitude toward the speakers of the target language will constitute a motivation for learning. When a learner is favorably disposed toward the speakers of the target language, he will wish

46、 for more intensive contact with the second language community, thus a communicative need compels him to learn the language well.Of course, there are some learning situations where learners have not had sufficient experience of the second language community to have attitudes for or against it. For example, in a Chinese learning context, English is learned primarily not for the sake of contact with the na