Speaking and Anxiety Scale
Speaking and Anxiety Scale
Speaking and Anxiety Scale
, 1986)
a. The Speaking Anxiety Scale (SAS) was developed by Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope in 1986.
The scale is designed to measure anxiety in foreign language speaking situations. The
SAS consists of 18 items that assess how anxious individuals feel when they speak a
foreign language. The items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The total scores range from 18 to 90, with higher scores
indicating higher levels of anxiety.
I feel extremely nervous when I have to speak in a foreign language in front of other people.
I get tense and anxious when I have to speak in a foreign language in class.
I feel uncomfortable when I have to speak in a foreign language with native speakers.
I feel awkward when I have to speak in a foreign language with non-native speakers.
I feel uneasy when I have to speak in a foreign language during an oral exam.
Reference:
Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern
Language Journal, 70(2), 125-132.
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The Speaking Anxiety Scale (SAS) has been found to have good validity and reliability.
Validity:
Content validity: The scale was developed based on a review of relevant literature and interviews with
students, teachers, and professionals. The items were chosen to reflect different sources of anxiety
experienced by language learners.
Construct validity: Studies have shown that the SAS correlates positively with other measures of anxiety
and negatively with measures of language proficiency, indicating that it measures the construct of
language anxiety.
Reliability:
Internal consistency: The SAS has been found to have high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha
coefficients ranging from .84 to .95 across studies.
Test-retest reliability: The SAS has been found to have good test-retest reliability, with correlation
coefficients ranging from .61 to .88 across studies.
Overall, the SAS is a reliable and valid measure of foreign language speaking anxiety, and it has been
widely used in research on language anxiety.