This study explored the potential link between Chinese-English syntactic differences and English reading anxiety in Chinese learners of English. Using the survey and the immediate written recall protocol, this study examined 202 Taiwanese university students’ perspectives on issues concerning (a) the extent of English reading anxiety they experienced; (b) factors attributing to their English reading anxiety and their reading anxiety associated with Chinese-English syntactic differences; (c) the role of Chinese-English syntactic differences in English reading anxiety; and (d) whether there exists a certain type of English structure which elicits a higher level of English reading anxiety in Taiwanese university students. The 202 survey respondents’ English reading anxiety and reading anxiety associated with Chinese-English syntactic differences were measured using two survey instruments: the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS; Saito, Horwitz, & Garza, 1999) and the Survey of Anxiety in Reading Chinese-English Syntactic Differences (SARCE, a self-designed measure), respectively. Based upon levels of English reading anxiety, 30 out of the 202 survey respondents were further selected as recall participants in an attempt to understand how they comprehended texts containing either none or gross Chinese-English syntactic differences.
The survey results confirmed the overall results of the written recall protocol data. First of all, the results indicated that the participants experienced a mid-to-high level of English reading anxiety, as could be predicted by three background variables—frequency of reading English per week, informal English learning experience, and length of time staying in an English-speaking country. The results also showed that most participants regarded Chinese-English syntactic differences as an important factor causing their English reading anxiety. In addition, it was found that the English relative clause, the English passive, and anxiety in reading an authentic text that contains large Chinese-English syntactic differences were three underlying common factors contributing to the participants’ reading anxiety associated with Chinese-English syntactic differences. Furthermore, the English relative construction was found to elicit higher English reading anxiety than did the English passive construction. Lastly, apart from the major influence of syntactic differences, the study showed that other textual factors (such as word recognition and syntactic features) and non-textual factors (such as intratextual perception, prior linguistic knowledge in L1, L2 reading proficiency, and perceived reading difficulties) could affect reading comprehension and the shaping of English reading anxiety.
This study concluded that due to the complex nature of foreign language reading anxiety, further research is needed to examine whether syntactic differences between an alphabetic language and a non-alphabetic language or among languages of the same writing system have an actual or long-term impact on the formation of FL reading anxiety.