Abstract—Anxiety is one of the affective factors which plays a
significant role in the teaching learning process. This study
makes an inquiry into foreign language listening anxiety among
L2 English majors in a Chinese university with its focus on
students’ learning experience. It seeks to reveal the dilemmas
encountered by L2 English majors in the foreign language
listening process. It also explores how these anxiety factors
influence L2 English majors. The Foreign Language Listening
Anxiety Scale (FLLAS) from Kim and a semi-structured
one-by-one interview are employed in the study. The sources of
English majors’ English listening anxiety found in this study are:
vocabulary recognition, grasping the main idea, and detailed
information, the speed of the delivery, lack of background
knowledge of the listening material, speakers’ accent, and high
requirement of memory and attention. The study results also
indicate that anxious listeners tend to engage in excessive
self-evaluation, worry over potential failure, and concern over
others’ opinions. The study’s findings also have some
pedagogical implications for English listening courses for
undergraduate students, especially English major students.
Index Terms—Anxiety factors, foreign language listening
anxiety, L2 English majors
Yan Qianwen is with the School of Foreign Studies, Northwestern
Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China.
E-mail: yanqianwen@mail.nwpu.edu.cn
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Cite:Yan Qianwen, "A Study on Foreign Language Listening Anxiety of English Majors in a Chinese University," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 312-317, 2023.