College students are increasingly engaged in watching online videos and using social media. Therefore, researchers should attempt to better understand how these variables as well as other social and cognitive variables, affect the communication competence of students. The researcher administered a questionnaire to 392 college students from a private medium-sized West Coast university using various modified scales examining student-to-student confirmation, social support through social media, online video viewing, self-esteem, personal reports of public speaking anxiety, and communication competence. Student-to-student confirmation and online video viewing were measured using new sets of scales developed by the researcher. The data from the surveys was analyzed to determine which independent variables have the greatest influence on communication competence. Student-to-student confirmation, social support through social media, online video viewing, and self-esteem all have a significant positive relationship with communication competence. The correlation analysis also found a significant negative correlation between personal reports of public speaking anxiety and communication competence. A regression analysis showed that the combination of social support through social media, online video viewing, self-esteem, and personal reports of public speaking anxiety demonstrated predictive power regarding communication competence. These results suggest that there are important relationships between both social and cognitive variables and communication competence.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore what underlying factors play into students´ motivation towards participating in verbal communication in the classroom. The first aim is to find out what the students themselves express and believe motivates them to learn spoken English, and the second aim is to find out what the students feel hinders them from engaging in verbal communication in the classroom. This qualitative study is based on questionnaires followed by group interviews with students who were selected as a result of the survey. The study was carried out at an upper secondary school in southern Sweden in the courses English A and B. The results show that the students are motivated both by the relevance of English for their future studies and professions as well as the will to identify with English speaking cultures, thus showing a combination of instrumental and integrative motivation. The students also express elements such as speaking anxiety and group size to be a hindrance in their language learning. In addition, several points were made regarding how the teacher might help the students participate more in oral communication through for example arranging smaller groups, only allowing English and having more speaking exercises in class.

This study explores the influence of collaborative learning on motivation and speaking anxiety in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom for young learners. The study highlights a crucial research aspect by examining the role of collaborative learning in addressing speaking anxiety. The research question is explored by multiple investigators, and Lundahl's (2022) groundbreaking work particularly stands out, emphasising the vital role of collaborative learning in education. Building on this foundation, Fenyvesi's (2020) study on Danish learners aligns with these collaborative learning findings, emphasising the importance of fostering positive attitudes from the early stages of language acquisition. Kopinska and Azakari's (2020) study of collaborative reconstruction tasks provides a task-based perspective, illustrating the positive impact on motivation and a preference for collaboration. Nilsson's (2019) research reveals several triggers of speaking anxiety amongst Swedish learners, emphasising the role of classroom situations. Collaborative learning relieves speaking anxiety, as highlighted by Nilsson (2019) and supported by Bozkurt and Aydin's (2023) study involving 34 EFL students. Pladevall-Balusters (2019) study in Catalonia, Spain, compares motivation levels in traditional and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) settings, acknowledging the potential and challenges of CLIL. The result of this study shows that collaborative learning has a positive impact on young EFL learners' motivation and speaking anxiety in English classes. It reduces anxiety, increases confidence, and fosters a supportive classroom atmosphere, ultimately contributing to improved motivation and vocabulary acquisition.

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本研究旨在了解大學生的演說焦慮情形，並探討背景變項、幽默感、情緒調節與演說焦慮的關係以及演說焦慮與創造力、職業選擇的關係。本研究以台灣地區公私立大學的學生為抽取對象進行施測，有效問卷共863份(男290人，女573人)。研究工具包括「演說焦慮量表」、「情緒調節量表」、「幽默因應量表」、「創新行為量表」、「職業選擇量表」。所得資料採用因素分析、信度分析、描述統計分析、皮爾森積差相關、多元迴歸分析、典型相關分析、單因子多變量變異數分析等方法進行統計分析。 本研究結果如下： 1.有半數以上的大學生認為自己有演說焦慮。在性別方面，女生較男生容易感到演說焦慮，而男生會運用互動幽默的策略來降低焦慮。在地區方面，南部大學生比北部大學生容易感到演說焦慮。 2.在情緒調節方面，愈傾向使用重新評估和沈著冷靜策略，則愈少感受到演說焦慮，也愈會用正向的因應策略，並較能從過去的焦慮演說經驗中獲得正向的影響。而愈傾向使用壓抑策略，則愈常在演說時感受到身心緊張與準備不足，也愈會用負向的因應策略，並且也愈會從過去的焦慮演說經驗中獲得負向的影響。 3.大學生愈傾向使用幽默來因應生活和困境，或是愈會在社交場合和一般生活中創造出幽默的想法或行為，則愈會使用較正向的演說焦慮因應策略，並愈能從過去的焦慮演說經驗中獲得較正向的影響。大學生愈傾向使用幽默來因應生活，則愈少感受到演說焦慮，也愈會使用較正向的演說焦慮因應策略，並愈能從過去的焦慮演說經驗中獲得較正向的影響。 4.大學生愈不會感受到演說焦慮，則其創新行為與創意擴散會愈高。大學生的演說焦慮因應和演說焦慮經驗影響愈正面，其創新行為與創意擴散會愈高。 5.大學生愈容易感受到演說焦慮，則會較傾向選擇不需要公開發言的工作。在演說焦慮因應和演說焦慮經驗影響愈正面，則會傾向於選擇需要公開發言的工作。 6.在以情緒調節和幽默感預測演說焦慮的多元迴歸模式中發現，情緒調節方式愈傾向沈著冷靜，且在生活和困境中會以幽默來因應、並能在社交場合創造出幽默的想法或行為，則其演說焦慮感受會愈低；情緒調節方式愈傾向重新評估、沈著冷靜，愈不傾向使用壓抑的方式，且在生活中會使用幽默來因應、並能在一般生活中創造出幽默的想法或行為，則其演說焦慮因應會愈正向；情緒調節方式愈傾向重新評估、沈著冷靜，愈不傾向使用壓抑的方式，且在生活中會使用幽默來因應、並在一般生活中創造出幽默的想法或行為，則其演說焦慮因應和演說焦慮經驗影響會愈正向。 7.在以演說焦慮為自變項，創新行為做為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，演說焦慮因應和演說焦慮經驗影響愈積極正向，則愈容易有創新行為。在以演說焦慮為自變項，創意擴散做為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，演說焦慮感受愈低、演說焦慮經驗影響愈正向，愈容易有將創意擴散給其他人。在以演說焦慮各變項為自變項，逃避需要公開說話的工作為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，愈容易出現演說焦慮感受、而演說焦慮經驗影響愈負向，愈傾向選擇逃避需要公開說話的工作。在以演說焦慮各變項為自變項，逃避需要公開說話的工作為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，演說焦慮感受愈低、演說焦慮因應和演說焦慮經驗影響愈正向，則愈傾向尋求需要公開發表的職業選擇。 8.在以情緒調節、幽默感、演說焦慮各變項為自變項，創新行為做為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，演說焦慮經驗影響愈正向、情緒調節方式愈傾向壓抑、並能在社交場合和一般生活中創造出幽默的想法或行為時，愈容易出現創新行為。在以情緒調節、幽默感、演說焦慮各變項為自變項，創意擴散做為依變項的多元迴歸模式中發現，演說焦慮感受愈低、演說焦慮經驗影響愈正向、社交場合創造和一般生活創造並能在社交場合和一般生活中創造出幽默的想法或行為時，愈容易將創意擴散或分享給其他人。 最後，本研究根據資料分析的結果進行討論，並對實務與未來研究提出建議。 / This study attempted to discover the extent of Taiwanese college students’ public speaking anxiety (PSA) and to investigate how the college students’ public speaking anxiety (PSA), sense of humor, and emotion regulation related to creativity and career choice. Eight hundred and sixty-three college students (male = 290, female = 573) completed a self-report survey which consists of five instruments: Public Speaking Anxiety Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Humor Coping Scale, Creative Behavior Scale, and Career Choice Scale. Results indicate that more than 50% college students reported having PSA. Female students reported more PSA feelings than did male students. During the speaking, male students use more skills such as interacting with audience to lower their anxiety than did female students. The more students preferred to use reappraisal or calm down emotion regulation strategy, the less public speaking anxiety they felt, the more they used positive strategies such as preparing before speaking to reduce anxiety, and the more they learned from past speaking experience to have sufficient preparation, take the audience into consideration, etc for their future public speech. Students having lower PSA and coping with life events with a sense of humor in their life had more creative behavior and diffusion of creative ideas, and preferred to choose jobs requiring public speech. Suppression was found to be negatively correlated with use of active PSA coping strategies. Use of active PSA coping strategies were found to be positively correlated with sense of humor, creativity and jobs requiring public speech. Implications for education and future research are discussed.

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.

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.

The aim of this study was to show what influences the students’ use of English during class and what the students themselves believe would develop their use of English. The aim was also to study what the teachers thought affected the use of English, and what they said they did to influence students to speak more. The data was collected through electronic and paper questionnaires. The study found that the reason for not talking English during lessons was that the students did not felt comfortable speaking in class. This was something both teachers and students agreed upon. The students felt most comfortable talking English outside the classroom and they wanted other things to develop their use than what their teachers offered them.

<p> The purpose of this study is to use close textual analysis, informed by the neurodiversity paradigm and critical disability theories, to explore the coverage of CA in an introductory public speaking collegiate textbook to see how the experience is depicted and what thematic narratives about dis/ability are included in its coverage. This research is required to comprehend the phenomena more holistically and aid communication educators in creating curricula attentive to the needs of the high CA student, embodying best practice for a diverse set of students.  Incorporating dis/ability perspectives into public speaking pedagogy signals an opportunity to advance interdisciplinary knowledge about CA, mental health, dis/ability, neurodiversity, and education accessibility at large. By analyzing literary representations of CA, this research furthers the goals of critical dis/ability studies by de-naturalizing ideas about the binaries in which “ableness”/“disability” and “normality”/abnormality, are typically read and related to “success”. The overarching goal of this project is to demonstrate that these rhetorical representations of communication/performance bound anxiety are not only relevant, but of central importance for contemporary discussions on dis/ability within education.</p>