【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 gnificance of the study as well as organization of the thesis. Part two is a review of the literature. In this chapter, the author reviews the definitions of some important terms, studies concerning foreign language anxiety and foreign language reading anxiety at home and abroad, and expounds the theoretical foundations of the study. Part three involves research methodology which includes research questions, participants, instruments and procedures of data collection and analysis. Part four is the results and discussion. In this chapter, the author analyzes the results of quantitative and qualitative research in details. Part five is conclusion. The author summarizes the major findings of the study and advances pedagogical implications for English reading teaching and learning. At the same time, the author points out the limitations of the study and puts forward some remendations for future research.2 Literature Review Definition of Foreign Language Anxiety Among the affective explanations, recent attention has been paid to the role of anxiety, which is pervasive in language learning and considered to be one of the most important and influential effective variables. FLA is linked directly to performing in the target language, so it is different from the one in general sense. Arnold (1999:8) holds that language anxiety is possibly the effective factor that most pervasively obstructs the language learning process. From second language acquisition perspective, Maclntyre and Gardner (see Arnold, 1999: 59) see FLA as “the apprehension experienced when a situation requires the use of a second language with which the individual is not fully proficient”, which it has been characterized by “derogatory selfrelated cognitive feelings of apprehension and psychological responses such as increased heart rate”. Horwitz and Cope (1986: 31) conceptualize FLA as “a distinct plex of selfperceptions, beliefs, feelings and behaviors related to classroom language learning arising from the uniqueness of the Language learning process.” In other words, it refers to the anxiety occurring when a learner is exposed to a foreign language situation. It ranks high among factors influencing second language acquisition, regardless of whether the setting is informal (learning language outside the classroom)or formal (inside the language classroom). Definition of Reading AnxietyReading, on the surface, appears to be the ponent of foreign language performance least prone to anxiety effects. Reading, unlike speaking a foreign language, is primarily done privately with many opportunities for reflection and reconsideration, it is an individual act because the success of reading does not depend on a dynamic construction of meaning by two or more speakers. However, Satio et al. (1999) held that three aspects of foreign language reading would seem to have great potential for eliciting anxiety: unfamiliar scripts, unfamiliar writing systems and unfamiliar cultural material. With regard to unfamiliar writing systems, it seems likely that the less the learner can depend on the reliability of a specific system of soundsymbol correspondences, the more anxiety he or she will be experienced during reading. “In this case, the reader would experience anxiety as soon as he or she attempts to decode the script because the reader would immediately experience difficulty in processing the text” (Satio et al., 1999, p. 203). As for unfamiliar cultural, it seems to have an impact at a point in the reading process that is less immediate than that of unfamiliar scripts and writing systems. When doing reading, the reader will first e across the symbols, decode them into sounds, associate the sounds with words, and then attempt to process the meaning of a text. “It is at the point when the reader realizes that the words he or she has decoded do not constitute a prehensible or logical message entity that one would expect anxiety to set in” (Satio et al., 1999, p. 203). Previous Studies on Foreign Language Reading AnxietyAs one of the most important factors that influence foreign language learning, anxiety of language has attracted more and more attention of researchers. Research on this has generally been considered important. However, many are about speaking and listening, much less on the relationship between reading anxiety and foreign language learning scores.In recent years some researchers have been studying the relationship between anxiety of foreign language reading and learning scores. Saito used his own FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) to investigate 383 American students who were learning French, Russian and Japanese. His research expresses that reading foreign language also brings about anxiety. Seller’s (2000) research also tells that students’ anxiety decides how well their memories are, which is negative relevant with each other. Research on this in our country started late but developed quickly. Some researchers have been getting down to this study. Chen Suhong’s (2005) research explains that students who are in the failing group are more anxious than those in the successful group. Deng Huan (2003) did the research on the relationship between learners’ anxiety and English reading efficiency, which objectively points out that anxiety can produce both active affect and negative affect. It emphasizes anxiety’s double effects, so only to adjust learners’ anxiety scientifically can be good to improve reading efficiency.All of these researches on anxiety of reading have proved that learners who study foreign language are with anxiety, which obviously influences their foreign language scores. Due to the importance of English reading ability to our Chinese students, improving anxiety bees significant in the process of teaching. Teachers should recognize it sufficiently, and take effective actions to cope with students’ anxiety in the reading class in order to improve the development of students’ reading ab