Interrelations Between Foreign Language Listening Anxiety and Strategy Use and Their Predicting Effects on Test Performance of High- and Low-Proficient Chinese University EFL Learners

Abstract

The present research examined the associations between foreign language listening anxiety (FLLA) and strategy use (FLLSU) and their predicting effects on test performance of high- and low-proficient Chinese university English as a foreign language learners. 1160 first-year undergraduate non-English majors answered the battery of questionnaires and took the listening test, among whom 227 low- and 243 high-proficient students were included in the final analyses of the collected data. The findings were as follows: (1) the low-proficient group was significantly more anxious about English listening and less confident in their English listening proficiency, and employed word-oriented and less active listener strategies significantly more often than their high-proficient peers, (2) FLLA was generally significantly correlated with FLLSU for both high- and low-proficient groups, and (3) FLLSU was a good predictor for English listening test performance for both low- and high-proficient students. It is thus concluded that FLLA and FLLSU are two closely interrelated and important factors in second/foreign language (SL/FL) learning, that FLLSU is a more influential factor for SL/FL listening learning, and that proficiency greatly mediates students’ FLLA levels and FLLSU frequencies.