Abstract

The situation of underachievers exists widely in any class, which is also the problem that teachers find difficult and can’t avoid. This issue not only hinders underachievers’ study, but also influences the atmosphere of class. As we all know, interest is the best teacher for students, and the lack of interest relates motivation and other affective factors, so some scholars came out Affective Filter Hypothesis to help students acquire knowledge. In this article, the writer would test the effect of this hypothesis for lessening filter and raising learning interest. Besides, some strategies would also be presented in accordance with result of experiment.. 

This research was carried out mainly in the form of teaching experiment. After pre-test and questionnaire, experimental class and controlled class were taught by different methods. Then another test and questionnaire were done after the experiment, and all the data were analyzed by SPSS19.0. 

After a series of measures, the outcome was apparent. It shows that students in experimental class were more active than before and their grades improved a lot, which shows evident change over that in controlled class. So it can be concluded that underachievers’ English learning interest in Senior High School could be raised with adequate practice of affective factors.

Key Words：Affective Filter Hypothesis; Underachiever; English teaching in High School; Learning interest

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

1.1 Background description-1

1.2 Value of research-1

2 Literature Review and Theoretical Basis-3

2.1 Literature Review-3

2.1.1 Researches on Affective Filter Hypothesis at home and abroad-3

2.1.1.1Researches on Affective Filter Hypothesis abroad-3

2.1.1.2 Researches on Affective Filter Hypothesis in China-4

2.1.2 Affective Filter Hypothesis in English teaching in China-4

2. 2 Theoretical Basis-5

2.2.1 Humanism-5

2.2.2The Affective Filter Hypothesis-6

2.2.2.1 Learning Motivation-6

2.2.2.2 Self-Confidence-7

2.2.2.3 Anxiety-7

2.2.3 The English Curriculum Standards-8

3 Research Design-9

3.1 Purpose-9

3.2 Subjects-9

3.3 Instruments-9

3.3.1 Questionnaire-9

3.3.2 Test Papers-9

3.3.3 Interviews-10

3.4 Procedure-10

3.4.1 Pre-experiment-10

3.4.2 While-experiment-12

3.4.3 Post-experiment-13

4 Strategies for raising underachievers' English learning interest-15

4.1 Improving self-confidence-15

4.1.1 Holding the difficulty of input knowledge-15

4.1.2 Helping students set up feasible targets-15

4.1.3 Helping students attribute properly-15

4.2 Erasing anxiety-16

4.2.1 Adopting cooperative learning-16

4.2.2 Creating harmonious classroom atmosphere-16

4.3 Enhancing motivation-16

4.3.1 Analyzing students’ learning motivation-17

4.3.2 Inspiring seeking desire-17

4.3.3 Holding competitive activities-17

5 Conclusion-18

5.1 Findings-18

5.2 Limitation-18

AppendixⅠ 关于英语学习与情感因素的调查-20