CHINESE LANGUAGE ANXIETIES AND ACHIEVEMENT GOALS Anxieties and Achievement Goals

120 Pages·2013·0.93 MB·English

Running head: CHINESE LANGUAGE ANXIETIES AND ACHIEVEMENT GOALS

Anxieties and Achievement Goals:
Their Relationships in Contexts of Learning Chinese as a Foreign Language

By

Ching Hung Hsiao

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

Supervised by Professor Kathryn Douthit

Margret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
2013
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Dedication
In Memory of My Fathers:
Yen-tao Hsiao and Chen-chew Pan
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CHINESE LANGUAGE ANXIETIES AND ACHIEVEMENT GOALS
Biographical Sketch
The author was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China. She attended National
Kaohsiung Normal University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. She was
granted a Master of Arts in Education by National Chengchi University. Hsiao also
attended Gonzaga University, where she obtained a Master of Arts in Computer
Education. Hsiao has been teaching the Chinese language at the State University of New
York College at Oswego since 1997. She also teaches Chinese at Jamesville-DeWitt
Middle/ High School. Since 2007, she has been an Advanced Placement (AP) Chinese
Reader for the College Board and the Educational Testing Services. Hsiao began doctoral
studies at the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the
University of Rochester in 2003, pursuing research in human development in educational
contexts under the direction of Lucia French and Kathryn Douthit. She was awarded
graduate assistantships during her residency and received a research award from the
International Society for Chinese Language Teaching in 2008. As a co-principal
investigator, Hsiao received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation
(#1065093) in 2011. She published the following during her doctoral work.
Hsiao, C.H. & Liu, Y. (2010). Achievement goals, language anxiety and learning Chinese
language in the west and the east. In J. Xu, J. Ma, R, Wang, X. Xiao, Z. Wu, Y. Wu,
Q. Li, X. Li, S. Qu, J. Yue, & M. Jiang (Eds.), 第九届国际汉语教学研讨会论文选
[Ninth International Conference of Chinese Teaching Selected Papers] (pp. 641-646).
Beijing: Higher Education Press.
Hsiao, C. H. (2008). Using Angel Learning Management System to promote language
teaching and learning. In D.B. Xu, T. Xie, L, Mu, Z. Zhang, J. Da, & J. Chang
(Eds.), Collected Essays on Technology and Chinese Teaching in the 21st Century
(pp. 113-119). Macau: University of Macau.
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CHINESE LANGUAGE ANXIETIES AND ACHIEVEMENT GOALS
Hsiao, C. H. (2007). Learning strategies and Chinese language acquisition in a web-
enhanced course: A case study at the State University of New York. In S. Xin, P.
Tsai, X. Wang, Z. Huang, Z. Lin, Y. Lai, P. Wu, S. Yang, & X. Zhan (Eds). 第五屆
華文網路教育研討會論文集 [Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on
Internet Chinese Education] (p. 115). Taipei: Oversea Compatriot Affairs
Commission.
Hsiao, C. H. & Magyar, C. (2006). The effect of socio-cultural context on
conceptualizing autistic disorder in the People’s Republic of China. International
Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 11(1), 51-60.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge a number of people who guided me through my
graduate studies and the writing of this dissertation. My deepest gratitude goes to
Professor Miron Zuckerman. His teaching was tremendously responsive to my needs,
particularly his guidance in research design and statistics. He is always ready to take
students to the next level, and this work would not have been possible without his
support. Thanks also go to my advisor and dissertation sponsor, Professor Katheryn
Douthit, who guided me with compassion, courage, and candor. I admire her proactive
work ethic that detangled complications during the last stage of my study. This work
would not have been completed without her help.
My committee deserves great thanks for all its work. I would like to extend my
appreciation to Professor Martin Lynch for his suggestions on the development of
instruments, the statistics and presentation of data. I would also like to express gratitude
to Professor John Osburg for his interest in this study and his suggestions about the
interpretation of word meanings from a cross cultural perspective. Thanks to Professor
Karen Stein for making the defense of my dissertation a pleasurable experience.
I would like to thank Professor Tyll van Geel; his classes and seminars challenged
me academically and afforded me new ways of thinking. I was greatly influenced by his
in-depth discussions of how to construct a sound argument. In addition, I would like to
express my appreciation to Professor Lucia French; she introduced me to many new
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experiences at Warner, and her passion for language development and learning theory has
had a lasting effect on my professional growth.
My friends and family must be thanked as well. Liu Yan at Zhejiang University
helped me in my data collection. The participants in this study offered their valuable
time. I owe a debt of gratitude to my two Warner friends, Crys Cassano and Brenda
Grosswirth, for their encouragement and continuous support. Last but by no means least,
my deepest love and appreciation go to my mother Li-hong Zhou, my husband Ming-te
Pan, and my son Gordon Pan, for their endless support. We all learned how to be patient
and responsible while enriching our lives.
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Abstract
In this study, I investigated language anxiety and the relationships between
language anxieties and achievement goals among college students in the context of
learning Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language. Specifically, I focused on the following
research question: Does the level of anxiety during the learning of Chinese differ
according to achievement goals (performance, learning), and if so, is the level of anxiety
related to language tasks and/or length of time studying Chinese as a foreign language?
Based on previous theories about anxiety (Eysenk, 1992, 1997; Hozwitz, 2010)
and achievement goals related to cognitive processes and behaviors (Dweck, 2000), I
used a quantitative method to examine the research question. A mixed-design ANOVA,
residual effects, and contrast analysis were conducted to analyze the data.
When the hypotheses were examined against empirical evidence, all three were
supported. First, anxiety levels differed according to the particular language tasks:
listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Reading tasks (such as reading aloud) aroused
the highest levels of anxiety, arguably because activation of the phonological and
semantic information inherent to the unique visual word form of the Chinese language
poses a significant challenge to students of Chinese. Second, students with a performance
goal experienced higher levels of anxiety than students with a learning goal. The effect
was greater for speaking and writing anxiety. Third, length of study moderated students’
anxiety levels during the performance of various tasks according to their achievement
goals. Overall, students experienced the most anxiety while reading, followed by writing,
listening and speaking. This effect was greater for students with a performance goal than
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students with a learning goal among students who had studied Chinese for less than a
year. For students who had studied Chinese for more than a year, the pattern of anxiety
was reversed.
As there are limitations in the research design, a confirmatory factor analysis to
verify the reliability and validity of the developed instruments in a new sample is
certainly warranted. Further research, such as examining the relationship between
fluctuating levels of anxiety and learning strategies according to students’ achievement
goals and length of study, is called for.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Statement of the Problem 1
Research Question 3
Significance of the Study 5
Chapter 2 Review of Cognitive Demands and Characteristics of the
Chinese Language 7
Cognitive Demands of Processing Phonological Information 7
Sub-syllable components 7
Homophony 10
Semantic changes 11
Cognitive Demands of Processing Orthographical Information 12
Chinese writing system 12
Recognition and segmentation of words 13
Interrelated Cognitive Processing of the Chinese Language 15
Orthography-to-phonology connections 15
Phonology-to-orthography connections 15
Memories 16
Summary 17
Chapter 3 Review of Anxiety Literature 18
Concepts of Anxiety 18
Definitions of anxiety 18
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The construct of anxiety: state anxiety and trait anxiety 18
Linking anxiety with contextual factors: situation-specific
anxiety 20
Linking anxiety with language tasks: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing 21
Effects of Anxiety on Learning a Foreign Language 23
Debilitating effects of anxiety 23
Facilitating effects of anxiety 25
Insignificant effects of anxiety 26
Fluctuating effects of anxiety 26
Anxiety and Cognitive Processes 28
Cognitive interference 29
Processing inefficiency 30
Attentional control 32
Summary 34
Chapter 4 Review of Achievement Goals Literature 36
Concepts of Achievement Goals 36
Association between Achievement Goals and Self-Theories of
Intelligence 39
Dweck’s self-theories of intelligence 39
Achievement goals and self-theories of intelligence 40
Achievement goals and understandings of effort 41