(2) Self-confidence

Linguistic self-confidence refers to a person’s perceptions of their own competence and ability to accomplish tasks successfully。 Students with strong self-confidence are much more possible to achieve success because they are abundantly sure of their value in the world and always hold positive attitude toward English learning。 They are brave enough to communicate with others and express themselves in English and never afraid of making mistakes。 On the contrary, it is impossible for those students who lack in confidence to learn English well。 This linguistic self-confidence is established through the frequent interaction between language learners and others in English, and strengthened based on the quality and quantity of these interactions。 Especially in multi-linguistic communities, self-confidence fosters language learners’ identification with the language community and increases their willingness to pursue learning that language。

(3) Anxiety 

Anxiety is the feeling of unease, worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced when learning or using a second or foreign language。 Scovel defined “anxiety as a state of apprehension, a vague fear” (34)。 These feelings may arise from any second language context associated with the productive skills of speaking and writing or the receptive skills of reading and listening。

The attributes of foreign language anxiety have been broadly separated into three main components: communication apprehension, test anxiety and fear of negative evaluation。 Communication apprehension is the anxiety experienced when speaking to or listening to other inpiduals。 Test-anxiety is the fear of bad performance, or indeed failing。 Fear of negative evaluation is the anxiety associated with the learner’s perception of how other onlookers (instructors, classmates or others) may negatively consider their language ability。 According to Sparks and Ganschow, anxiety could either be a cause or be a result of poor language learning。 If a student is unable to study as required before participating in a language examination, the student could experience test anxiety。 Under such circumstances anxiety could be viewed as a result。 In contrast anxiety becomes a cause of poor language learning when the student cannot adequately learn the target language due to anxiety。 There can be various physical causes of anxiety but the underlying causes of excessive anxiety whilst learning are fear and lack of confidence。

The influences of anxiety on language learning are particularly evident in the foreign language classroom, and anxiety is a strong indicator of academic performance。 It is found that anxiety has a detrimental influence on students’ confidence, self-esteem and level of participation。 Anxious learners suffer from mental blocks during spontaneous speaking activities and they lack confidence, are less able to self-edit and identify language errors, and are more likely to employ avoidance strategies such as skipping class instead。 Anxious students also forget previously learned material, volunteer to answer less frequently and tend to be more passive in classroom activities than their less anxious counterparts。 

(4) Inhibition

Inhibition is another affective factor which is similar to anxiety。 Inhibitions develop when young children gradually learn to identify a self that is distinct from others and their affective trait began to form。 As this awareness intensifies, children need to learn to protect a fragile ego by avoiding whatever may threat the self。 Strong criticism and words of ridicule can greatly weaken the self, and learners who are subject to tough criticism and ridicule always have strong awareness of protecting ego and high walls of inhibition。 Second language learners need to practice as much as possible, and they may make mistakes, which sometimes lead to criticism and words of ridicule。 Therefore, learners with fragile ego tend to avoid language activities for fear of making mistakes, which is inhibition in language learning。 Like anxiety, it can also be overcome。文献综述