Recently, anxiety has received great attention in studies of second language acquisition. The results of many studies indicate a relationship between anxiety and second language acquisition, and some provide evidence of the influential effect of anxiety on second language learners. Research also suggests a close relationship between anxiety and self-esteem. Therefore, the present study was conducted to examine the correlation between communicative anxiety, self-esteem, and Chinese students' oral and listening proficiency in English. The effect of gender, field of study, and level of study were also investigated to see if these variables were related to English proficiency, anxiety, and self-esteem.; The findings indicated that there was a negative correlation between language anxiety and English oral and listening proficiency. Students who are more anxious in communicating in English obtained lower scores on second language proficiency tests. The results also showed a negative correlation between language anxiety and self-esteem, for subjects who were highly anxious in speaking English also scored low in self-esteem. However, subjects' self-esteem did not correlate positively with oral and listening proficiency test scores. Moreover, subjects' scores on English proficiency tests, anxiety measures, and self-esteem scales did not differ significantly according to the background variables of gender, level of study, and field of study.
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