English speaking skills and the ability to collaborate with others are essential in our global society. Students need to be provided with the knowledge to actively participate in society and develop the ability to use different strategies to support their communication. However, speaking anxiety and not knowing how to cope with speaking anxiety could pose a problem for language learners, affecting their academic achievement. This quantitative study investigated students’ perceptions of speaking anxiety and working in groups or pairs in the foreign English classroom. A questionnaire was used and answered by secondary school students, attending their last year at two different schools. The study identified which strategies students use to cope with speaking anxiety. It was found that the majority of the participants experienced working collaboratively had positive outcomes on their experienced speaking anxiety and over a half of the language learner’s believed working in groups made them speak and participate more during English lessons. Fear of negative evaluation showed being the lowest source for experienced speaking anxiety while the most anxiety-provoking situation was having to speak publicly in class. In addition, the study showed that actively encourage oneself by taking risks in the language classroom was the most common used strategy to cope with speaking anxiety in the language classroom. Moreover, a third of the participants expressed they did not know any strategy to use to cope with their speaking anxiety.

The aim of the present study was to find out about teachers’ awareness, experiences and specific strategies used when dealing with Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the subject of English in Swedish upper secondary schools. Five teachers were interviewed to find out about their awareness and experiences of what contributes to Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety, and what manifestations students show who suffer from it. Further, the interviews also intended to find out about the teachers’ specific strategies used in order to reduce Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety. The results demonstrated that the anxious students generally are those who put unrealistic demands on themselves and feel that anything less than an excellent outcome is a failure. All participants agreed that two contributing factors to Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety are the fear of being embarrassed in front of others, and the emotional aspect of low self-confidence or self-esteem. Students tend to fear speaking situations where others could evaluate them negatively, which probably has to do with low self-confidence or self-esteem. The most evident manifestation of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety proved to be the strategy of avoidance, where students can refuse to speak, become silent, or do not even show up for speaking activities. The most extensively used strategy for reducing Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety turned out to be dividing students into smaller groups, in order to make each student feel more comfortable speaking English. However, the results also brought up some interesting strategies used not mentioned in previous research. / Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på lärarnas medvetenhet, erfarenheter och specifika strategier som de använder sig av när det kommer till talängslan i främmande språk i en svensk gymnasieskolekontext. Fem lärare intervjuades för att få reda på deras medvetenhet och erfarenheter kring vad som bidrar till talängslan i främmande språk och hur det yttrar sig hos eleverna som lider av det. Vidare så var även syftet att ta reda på specifika strategier lärarna använder sig av i undervisningen för att reducera talängslan i främmande språk. Resultaten visade att oroliga studenter oftast är de som ställer orealistiska krav på sig själva och känner att allt utom ett utmärkt resultat är ett misslyckande. Alla deltagare var överens om att två bidragande orsaker till talängslan i främmande språk är rädslan för att bli generad framför andra, och den känslomässiga aspekten av lågt självförtroende eller självkänsla. Eleverna tenderar att vara oroliga i talsituationer där andra skulle kunna bedöma dem negativt, vilket antagligen har att göra med lågt självförtroende eller självkänsla. Det mest uppenbara yttrandet för talängslan i främmande språk visade sig vara undvikande, som till exempel, att eleverna vägrar att prata, blir tystlåtna, eller inte ens är närvarande under talaktiviteten. Den mest använda strategin för att reducera talängslan i främmande språk visade sig vara att dela upp eleverna i mindre grupper för att de skall känna sig mer bekväma med att tala engelska. Resultaten visade även på några intressanta strategier som inte nämnts i tidigare forskning.

The purpose of this paper is to examine in depth and to synthesize the literature on foreign language anxiety, with specific focus on speaking anxiety. This paper reviews the development of the foreign language anxiety construct and extensive research on its relationship with other domains of second language acquisition, including specific language skills and language learning processes. Review of the literature has confirmed that foreign language anxiety plays a significant role in learners’ performance and achievement. However, there are still many areas that need further research and clarification. Variables such as individual differences still cloud the relationship between anxiety and achievement, thus suggesting that further research should be conducted in order to clarify the effects of foreign language anxiety and should strive to alleviate learners’ anxiety in the language classroom. / text

This study explored the relationship between the personality construct of hardiness and public speaking anxiety. Although hardiness has been widely explored in a variety of anxiety-arousing life events, its relationship with communication anxiety had not been previously studied. Therefore, hardiness, public speaking trait anxiety, and public speaking state anxiety were measured in a course requiring an oral presentation assignment. One hundred fifty students enrolled in a basic speech communication course participated in the study. A statistically significant correlation was revealed between hardiness and trait communication anxiety. Students higher in hardiness reported lower trait communication apprehension in three contexts: 1) meeting, 2) interpersonal, and 3) group. Overall, students did not differ on measures of hardiness and a fourth communication context: public speaking anxiety. Likewise, on measures of hardiness and state public speaking anxiety, students did not differ.

This study is exploratory in nature and focuses on the relation between the individual and macrosystems by investigating the link between African Americans’ fear of confirming stereotypes and their experience with symptoms and treatments for social anxiety. This study hypothesizes that 1) among a sample of African Americans diagnosed with social anxiety, there will be a significant, positive relationship between African-Americans’ self-reported concerns over confirming stereotypes relevant to both social anxiety and their own self-reported levels of social anxiety, 2) significantly more African Americans will drop-out of therapy than Caucasians, 3) amongst African Americans, significantly more will drop out of group therapy than individual therapy, 4) the racial composition of the group will matter, such that more African Americans will drop out of groups where they are the only African American participant, compared to if there are other African Americans in the group, and 5) the presence of an African American co-therapist will impact attrition from group treatment, with higher attrition rates in groups without an African American co-therapist, compared to if there is one. Thirty-four participants, 23 females and 11 males, who self-identified as African Americans and forty-four participants, 23 females and 21 males, who self-identified as Caucasian took part in this study. Results did not show a relation between stereotype confirmation concern and social anxiety. Regarding attrition, results showed that significantly more African Americans dropped out of therapy than Caucasians. Additionally, more African Americans dropped out of group therapy than individual therapy. There was no impact of therapist ethnicity or the presence of other African Americans on attrition rates, though these tests were underpowered.

Though the field of psychology is moving forward in its awareness of the importance of studying and addressing cultural issues, there is still a dearth of literature on the subject, especially in the area of anxiety (Heurtin-Roberts, Snowden, & Miller, 1997). The current study tested the following hypotheses 1) African-Americans’ self-reported concerns over confirming stereotypes would be related to their own self-reported levels of social anxiety. 2) There would be a negative relationship between how negatively African-Americans think others view African-Americans in general, and levels of social anxiety; 3) The relationship between public regard, concern over confirming stereotypes, and levels of anxiety would be partially mediated by beliefs about the probability and consequences of a negative outcome from their speech for group members. Results showed that the relation between public regard and fear of negative evaluations was fully mediated by the consequences of a negative outcome for group members.

This study aimed to identify the relationship between foreign language speaking anxiety and foreign language learning motivation. In addition to this, the motivational level of learners, the effect of gender on this motivational level and the relationship between motivational orientations were examined. Besides, the level of foreign language speaking anxiety that the students experience, the effect of gender on this anxiety and the relationship between foreign language speaking anxiety and students&rsquo / motivational level were also investigated. Finally, foreign language speaking anxiety was studied in detail via face to face interviews. Participants of the study included 383 pre-intermediate students at Afyon Kocatepe University English preparatory program. The data were collected via two questionnaires administered to these participants and 19 participants were interviewed to get in-depth data on speaking anxiety. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results of the quantitative data revealed that students had a moderate level of foreign language learning motivation, female students were more motivated than males and motivational orientations were positively correlated on a moderate level. It was also found that students at AKU experienced a low level of foreign language speaking anxiety and female students got more anxious than males while speaking English in classroom atmosphere. Besides, foreign language speaking anxiety and foreign language learning motivation were found to be negatively correlated on a moderate level. Quantitative data of the study demonstrated that foreign language speaking anxiety is a separate phenomenon with its own sources, aspects, variables and effects on learners.

Being able to communicate, interact and speak your mind in our time is considered one of the most essential proficiencies, especially in English which is accepted as a lingua franca. The most frequently used word in the Swedish course syllabuses for English is communication. Although there is an instant occuring communication in a classroom, some students stay silent since they fear to speak, they fear to fail and their way of preventing that from happening is to stay silent. In order to assess students language proficiencies, students must in some way demonstrate and show their knowledge to the teacher, a procedure that in some cases can be very demanding and difficult for students who suffer from speaking anxiety. The present study aimed to investigate how Swedish teachers meet and handle speaking anxiety among Swedish upper secondary students in English language education. The study was conducted through a qualitative method and semi structured interviews among four Swedish teachers. The gathered data was analyzed by thematic content analysis and resulted in three main categories, anxiety, the role of the teacher and teaching strategies. The study showed that the numbers of students suffering from speaking anxiety in Swedish upper secondary schools were in two out of four cases much higher than previous research. The study also showed that speaking anxiety has an impact on both students’ educational progress and in teaching aspects where teachers in some cases have to re-plan their planning and teaching material in order to help all students to reach the teaching goals.

Although public speaking anxiety is one of the most commonly reported causes of both clinical and non-clinical anxiety, many of the currently used questionnaire measures of public speaking anxiety do not reflect the advances made in recent decades regarding empirical methods of test construction, including item generation and determination of subscale composition. The current study administered 35 empirically-generated cognitive self-statement items related to speaking anxiety to a sample of 367 undergraduate students along with measures of public speaking anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, generalized social anxiety behaviors, and self-consciousness tendencies. Using exploratory factor analysis and item-total correlations, participant responses to the 35 self-statement items were examined, producing the 30-item Speaking Cognitions and Attention Scale (SCAS). Data indicated that in the current sample the SCAS displayed a three-factor solution, with factors composed of items reflecting positive self-statements, negative self-statements, and catastrophic self-statements. The scale also demonstrated excellent internal reliability, with alphas in the range of .90 to .97. Discriminant validity analyses supported the specificity of the measure in measuring public speaking anxiety by correlating highly with another measure of speaking anxiety, at a moderate level with measures of general social anxiety, and at a small level with a measure of self-consciousness with no theoretical relationship to speaking anxiety. Results are discussed with respect to implications of the current findings for questionnaire measurement of public speaking anxiety, needed future directions in further validation of the measure, and potential applications for treatment of public speaking anxiety.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka fenomenet talrädsla i svenskämnet bland gymnasieelever genom att fokusera på faktorer som kan bidra till och motverka talrädsla. Utgångspunkt i studien var 44 elevers egna erfarenheter av att tala inför grupp. Studien genomfördes via enkät som sändes till informanterna via e-post. Svaren analyserades både kvantitativt och kvalitativt i relation till olika teman funna i enkätsvaren, dels i vidare begrepp och dels kring talrädsla i skolan. Resultatet visar att gruppstorlek, lokal och vilka som är i gruppen bidrar till elevers talrädsla och är också faktorer som kan underlätta talrädsla i svenskämnet. Slutsatsen som dras i denna studie är att lärare måste införskaffa sig kunskap om talrädsla, samt att det bör finnas en koppling mellan den psykologiska kunskapen och den pedagogiska praktiken i svenskämnet.