초등학생의 영어 과목에 대한 태도와 학습 불안이 학습 활동 선호도에 미치는 영향

Attitudes, anxiety, and preference for English learning activities in primary school students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate and explore the relationships among attitudes toward English as a school subject, English classroom anxiety, and preference for English learning activities in primary school students. A questionnaire was designed to measure the variables of the study and was administered to 642 students in grades 3 through 6 in Seoul area. The findings revealed that primary school students had moderately positive attitudes toward English as a school subject and lower than average classroom anxiety. Attitude scores decreased as the grades went up, while classroom anxiety increased. There was a negative correlation between attitudes toward English and classroom anxiety. Students showed slightly strong preferences for overall learning activities. The most preferred activities were watching video clips and engaging in group activities, while the least preferred were working alone or in pairs. Preference for learning activities were accounted for mostly by attitudes alone, and in few cases where anxiety contributed, the magnitude was very low. The only exception was teaching in Korean only, which was solely accounted for by anxiety. Teaching in English only, "listen and repeat", and singing/chanting were the ones most highly related to attitudes. The results imply an ongoing need to reinvent primary English classrooms to motivate learning.