Studien syftar till att kartlägga ämneslärares arbetssätt, kunskaper och attityder till elever som lider av Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety, även kallat FLSA. I bakgrunden redogörs för begreppets innebörd, dess uppkomst hos elever och vilken påverkan det har på engelskundervisningen i skolan. Vidare redogörs sambanden mellan undervisningen och språkets roll i det svenska samhället för att ge läsaren en förståelse för de utmaningar som både ämnesläraren och FLSA-elever står inför. Data för studien har samlats in genom kvantitativa elevenkäter samt kvalitativa lärarintervjuer och klassrumsobservationer. Grundad Teori (GT) är den metodansats som använts eftersom denna fokuserar på att nå resultat utifrån empiriska data framför specifika teorier. Resultatet visar att ämneslärare identifierar samma upphovsorsaker till FLSA som forskningen men att dessa inte konsekvent tas i beaktning i undervisningen.

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.

Previous studies that have utilized the Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLSAS) have performed their studies with the assumption that Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety is negatively correlated with oral skills, i.e. as anxiety increases, speaking skills decrease. In order to confirm this assumption, this study included a survey, the purpose of which is to measure three factors, in order to verify the possibility of other factors playing possibly bigger roles, among upper secondary school students in Sweden: the frequency of language use, their anxiety levels, and foreign language speaking skills. In order to be able to discuss the data thoroughly, this study includes theories regarding motivation, Self-Determination Theory, and Willingness to Communicate (WTC). The data showed that as the anxiety of the students increased, their language speaking skills decreased, i.e. a negative correlation was discovered. However, their frequency of foreign language use remained virtually the same, regardless of their anxiety levels, i.e. no strong correlation was discovered here. Lastly, the language skills of the students showed a weak positive correlation with their language use, i.e. the more they spoke, the higher their oral skills were. Therefore, the results of this study confirm previous studies claiming that foreign language speaking competence has a strong negative correlation with foreign language speaking anxiety.

This comparative study aims to discover and demonstrate the potential relationship between foreign language speaking anxiety and course level among 183 students from three consecutive courses of English as a foreign language, i.e. English 5, 6, and 7, at three upper secondary schools in the South of Sweden. Accordingly, a survey was distributed in order to account for demographic information about the students, such as course level, age, and sex, to determine the students’ oral proficiency levels, and to assess the students’ anxiety levels in relation to 33 anxiety-provoking classroom situations. The results showed that Swedish upper secondary students are not particularly anxious regardless of course level, save that the students in English 5 would feel less comfortable around native speakers of English, although not to an extent which would indicate anxiety, and that the students in English 7 would, in contrast to the other course levels, experience high levels of anxiety when volunteering answers and being called on in class. However, the most notable differences were found between the genders and between the students with high and low oral proficiency levels. Female students generally showed higher levels of anxiety than male students did. Yet, in most cases, the difference did not suggest that one of the genders was anxious while the other one was not. In terms of oral proficiency levels, the students with low oral proficiency showed higher levels of anxiety, often to the extent that they would be anxious while the ones with high proficiency would not. Thus, the levels of anxiety seem to depend on gender and oral proficiency more than the students’ course levels.

This degree project is an interview study investigating upper secondary EFL teachers’ perceptions of speaking anxiety in their classrooms. The aim of the study is to gain insight into how the teachers perceive the prevalence of foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) among their pupils, the factors contributing to FLSA and what methods they use to manage FLSA in their EFL classrooms. To achieve this aim, a phenomenological approach was applied, and six teachers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews in a mediumsized city in Sweden. Through the interviews, information of the teachers’ experiences in relation to the prevalence of FLSA, the contributing factors to FLSA and what methods they used to manage FLSA were gathered. The results showcase that the teachers perceive FLSA to be present in their EFL classrooms but to varying degrees. They perceived that the factors contributing to FLSA could be many, but the factors all the teachers named were fear of evaluation, having many people listening to your speech, being focused on correctness in the FL, and being inexperienced and afraid to make mistakes in the FL. To counteract this with methods of managing FLSA, the teachers perceived that positive reinforcement, communication, group division, individual adaptation, a focus on meaning over correctness, and showing understanding for the pupils’ feelings are suitable methods to manage FLSA in their classrooms. The most common of these methods was the usage of individual adaptations, where the teacher and pupil communicate to find the most suitable solution with reference to the knowledge requirements of the English subject and the pupil’s needs. Lastly, the results indicate that FLSA is a complex phenomenon in EFL education due to the variety of factors that might contribute to it and the variety of methods potentially useful in counteracting it.

Firstly, in this study, foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels of the non-native EFL instructors working at preparatory schools of two state and two private universities in Turkey were discovered. Next, if their L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience, the length of their teaching experience and the institution they work at affect their listening and speaking anxiety levels was scrutinized. Secondly, these EFL instructors&rsquo / perceived competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills were identified. In addition, the effect of different variables on their perceived competency levels such as their undergraduate departments, their participation in graduate studies and in-service teacher training programs, the length of their teaching experience and also the institutions where they work was analyzed. Besides, the relationship between the listening and speaking anxiety levels of these instructors, and their self-reported competency levels in teaching these skills was explored. Finally, this study identified the EFL instructors&rsquo / frequency of addressing listening and speaking skills in listening and speaking tasks in the lessons according to the curriculum of the institution where they work in order to discover its relationship with the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, both of which were used in a complementary fashion in this study. In addition, a total of 150 non-native EFL instructors participated in the questionnaire phase of the study and nine instructors from the participant universities were interviewed. The findings of this study indicated that the participant instructors experience moderate level of foreign language listening and speaking anxiety. Moreover, these instructors&rsquo / L2 learning contexts, English-speaking country experience and their length of teaching experience significantly influence their foreign language listening and speaking anxiety levels. Furthermore, the instructors perceive themselves as competent in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills and their participation in in-service teacher training programs, graduate studies and their length of teaching experience were found to be the contributors of their competence. In addition, a moderate level of negative relationship between foreign language anxiety levels of the instructors, and their self-reported competencies in teaching listening and speaking skills was identified. Finally, a positive relationship was explored between the frequency of the instructors&rsquo / addressing listening and speaking skills in the classroom considering the curriculum of their institutions and their perceived competency levels in teaching these skills. In this sense, the results demonstrated the effect of the institution and the curriculum on the instructors&rsquo / perceived competency levels in terms of teaching listening and speaking skills.

Oral proficiency plays a crucial part in mastering the English language. It is, because of that, heavily debated among professors and teachers. Among teachers, uncertainty prevails regarding how oral proficiency should be taught and assessed. This qualitative study aims to raise awareness of how teachers define, understand, and experience oral proficiency in the upper secondary EFL classroom. Furthermore, this study seeks to analyze teachers’ conflicting perceptions regarding the assessment process along with what problems they encounter and how they solve these problems. Four EFL teachers from three schools in the south of Sweden lay the foundation for the study. Semi-structured interviews were used as the method of data collection in order to gain insights from the teachers’ reflections. The data of the interviews were analyzed with the help of the grounded theory approach. Adopting this theory, the results of the study show that the four EFL teachers had general difficulties understanding the terms assessment and oral proficiency. While one teacher viewed oral proficiency as a two-fold challenge, another stated that in order to get a good grade, good discussion abilities are vital. When assessing students’ oral proficiency, the teachers focused on different features such as pronunciation, fluency, variation, interaction, content, and vocabulary.

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.

Language anxiety (LA) is “the worry and negative emotional reaction when learning and using a second language and is especially relevant in a classroom where self-expression takes place” (Gregersen & MacIntyre, 2014, p. 14). In the present study, particular attention is drawn to the development of students’ communicative competence and speaking proficiency in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classrooms. The prevalence and effects of foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) were examined among Swedish EFL lower secondary school students, reporting the triggers of foreign language anxiety (FLA) and FLSA from the perspective of pupils and teachers. A mixed-methods approach was applied to collect data from pupils (N=273) where a self-report questionnaire, a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) operationalised originally by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) is administered, plus open-ended semi-structured interviews with open-ended and closed questions were conducted with pupils (N=67) and teachers (N=5). The participants were grouped into three categories: low, medium and high anxiety, based on their scores. The results showed that 26% of the participants were assigned as low anxious learners; 59% of the students experienced medium levels of FLSA and 15% of the pupils were highly anxious language learners. Interviews with pupils and teachers explored the effects and the sources of the FLA and FLSA on pupils’ oral and general English language proficiency (fear of negative evaluation (FNE), affective variables, grades, teachers, classmates, pronunciation, and classroom atmosphere), noting that some pupils reported that monologic genres such as long episodes of speaking, evaluation situations and giving an oral presentation present the most anxiety-provoking contexts in EFL lessons.