Spoken English Obstacles Confronted by Chinese Non-English Major College Students

Abstract

This study surveyed 30 non-English majors in Jiangxi University of Engineering, based on Swain’s output hypothesis, Krashen’s input hypothesis, and Nattinger and Decarrico’s language block theory, aiming to explore the specific manifestations and causes of spoken English obstacles among non-English majors. In this study, the data were collected by questionnaire survey and analyzed by SPSS23.0 software. It is found that the spoken English obstacles of non-English majors mainly include two categories: verbal obstacles and non-verbal obstacles. The causes of them are accounted from subjective and objective aspects. Subjective factors include students’ anxiety, timidity, insufficient knowledge level, and poor learning methods and habits. Objective factors include lacks of cultural background knowledge, authentic language environment and teachers’ professional quality.