Gender, academic achievement and communication apprehension in English classroom among Chinese college students

Abstract

As development of globalization more and more students learn English, English has been the most popular language in the world, and learning English has become an inevitable trend. However, anxiety and fear occur in the process of communicating in English, such anxiety and fear as communication apprehension. Communication apprehension has been a key factor to hinder English learning (Matsuoka, 2008). This study aimed to determine the differences of communication apprehension between different genders and the correlation between academic achievement and communication apprehension. A quantitative research was employed using the questionnaire as a tool to investigate 200 Chinese college students in English class from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies who were randomly selected. Results of T-test showed that there is no significant difference of communication apprehension between female and male students. Results of Pearson-Moment Correlation showed that there is a negative relationship between students’ academic achievement and communication apprehension.