No abstract

This study aimed to investigate EFL learner language anxiety and learning motivation of high school students. Subjects included 155 students from the same private senior high school in central Taiwan, 60 in academic track and 95 in vocational track. The majority of the participants started taking English lessons either before entering elementary school or during the first two years in elementary school. Statistical methods were conducted to investigate 1) whether learner motivation and language anxiety significantly vary between academic-and vocation-track high school students, 2) whether both academic-and vocational-track high school students feel an above-average level of language anxiety, and 3) whether there is a significant relationship between language anxiety and motivation among the EFL high school students. The findings of the study revealed that first, both groups of students felt moderate levels of language anxiety; there were no significant differences in anxiety level between the two groups of students. Second, students in the academic-track were also found to have higher extrinsic motivation and overall learning motivation than their vocational-track counterparts. Furthermore, a significant negative relationship was identified between the two important affective variables, motivation and anxiety. Important pedagogical implications for English teachers were discussed in the study.

The number of noise complaint cases increased gradually every year in Taiwan. Refer to the annual report, the major noise sources were such as entertainment and business noise, following with noise from construction sites. The high population density and mixed residential and commercial zones caused a lot of noise complaint cases in urban areas. There were also a lot of neighbor noise complaints. In addition, traffic noise with no effective buffer zone caused complaints from the residents along the wayside. In order to solve the various types of noise problems, the Environmental Protection Administration proposed a noise control policy for short-term, mid-term and long-term. This paper will describe the noise control regulation structure and introduce the control policy in Taiwan.