Arabic

NO:79 Diyala Journal/2019
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STRATEGIES USED BY INSTRUCTORS TO REDUCE STUDENTS'
SPEAKING ANXIETY
Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, English language speaking-in-class
anxiety, test-anxiety
Dr. Najat Muhammed Amin
University of Salahaddin
College of Law
najat.amin@su.edu.krd
Abstract
The issue of anxiety in second or foreign language learning has been widely
studied because it has significant impact on the learners progress and
performance. This study is a case study which aimed at measuring the
speaking anxiety level of undergraduate students at college of Basic
Education and to detect instructors' use of certain strategies to reduce their
students' speaking anxiety. The study hypothesizes that the frequent use of
certain interventions by college instructors is supposed to reduce students
speaking anxiety. For this purpose, 40 fourth year students and 20 instructors
at college of Basic Education were taken as the subjects. Two instruments are
used to achieve the studies goal which are; Foreign Language Classroom
Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) designed by Horwitz et al. (1986) to assess the degree
of the students' anxiety and a Questionnaire based on Tsiplakide's &
Keramida (2009) research where many classroom interventions are used to
reduce foreign language speaking anxiety. The aim is to detect instructors'
frequent use of such strategies to reduce students' speaking anxiety level. The
results of (FLCAS) showed high speaking anxiety level with the mean(3.49) of
the 40 students , while the questionnaire also showed a frequent use of such
strategies with the mean (3. 94) which indicates a positive correlation between
the two (R= 0.1875) .A negative correlation was hypothesized to be found
since the frequent use of strategies should lead to anxiety reduction.
1.0. Introduction
Anxiety is regarded as one of the psychological factors which has a strong
influence on the learning of second language .Scovel (1991:16) states that
anxiety belongs to what is called effective factors which are connected with
how learners feel emotionally towards the language and language anxiety
belongs such factors . In this regard, Oxford (1999) made a distinction
between language anxiety and general anxiety, he highlighted that language
anxiety has a direct connection with the performance in the target language,
while the latter is connected with general performance anxiety .In defining
anxiety Horwitz (2001:113 ,cited in Humphries , 2011) states that “Anxiety is
the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry
associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” and it has been
found to interfere with many types of learning and it is only logical that this
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would also apply to second language learning . He adds that ,since the mid of
1960 , scholars started to study the relationships between anxiety and second
language learning and the effect of anxiety on EFL or second language
learners. There were conflicting set of findings ;some researches concluded
that there is no relationship between anxiety and second language
achievement, but several studies found positive relationships ,while others
have identified negative relationships. Scovel (1978) argues that having such
different finding concerning the relationships between anxiety and second
language learning is because of the use of different anxiety measures such as
facilitating-debilitating anxiety, test-anxiety, …. etc. This conflicting results
lead Horwitz et al. (1986:129) to introduce a new test which is called (FLCAS
= Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) consisting of a 33 ‐ item,
five‐ point Likert scale survey (this study uses FLCAS to measure the
participants anxiety).
Ando (1999 ,cited in Al-Otaibi,2016 ) argues that the effects of anxiety can
be positive which motivates people to have positive performance( facilitative )
or negative(debilitative) which is associated with negative results and leads to
poor performance. So, whether the anxiety has a positive or negative affect on
individuals depends on the person's personality since there are certain
strategies can be used to reduce or alleviate the negative effects of anxiety. To
Ohata (2005) the level of anxiety among participants is affected by ;
Differences in age ,personality,, language proficiency levels , attitudes toward
language learning .
Anxiety arise from many kinds of sources and knowing the sources is
important for finding strategies to help teachers and learners to reduce
anxiety. According to MacIntyre et al. (1997:269 ) , the cause of anxiety or
what is called mental disorder is Being afraid of failure which leads second
language learners to pay more attention on their perceived inadequacies
rather than on the on the task itself. Horwitz et al. (1986) identify Fear of
negative evaluation as another source of anxiety where learners are afraid to
be evaluated by others negatively . The abovementioned sources are connected
with the mentality of people but other factors like environment may also cause
anxiety. On the same line of vein, Young (1991:426) presented six sources of
anxiety where some of them are connected with the teacher ( such as the
interaction between instructor and learner and instructor beliefs about
language teaching) and some with instructional practice (classroom
procedures and language testing). According to Young learners' belief about
language learning goes side by side with the teachers' belief and classroom
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procedures. Acknowledging the sources and the symptoms of anxiety pave the
way towards finding strategies to enhance learners' anxiety. In other words,
part of the remedies lay in diagnosing the sources of anxiety.
Second Language learning is not an easy task and learners are required to
master all the four skills of language (reading ,writing, listening and
speaking) .To Young (1992, cited in Subaşı , 2010) speaking is regarded to be
the most anxiety provoking skill of all the other language skills. Many second
language learners give priority to speaking skill ,one reason is ,according to
Hedge( 2000: 261),speakers are judged on their speaking ability whenever
first impressions are being formed on speakers level of language proficiency
.Speaking proficiency does not only require grammatical knowledge but also
sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence ( Scarcella and Oxford
,1992:154 ) . One may conclude from the above mentioned information that
being able to speak proficiently requires more than having linguistic
knowledge which includes grammar , vocabulary and pronunciation but also
sociolinguistics , discourse strategic competence as well. In an attempt to
collect the various reasons of anxiety from different researches
Collecting from many researches (Wörde, 2003; Ohata, 2005; Woodrow,

2006; Awan et al., 2010.; Dalkılıç, 2013; Park & Lee, 2005) ,Atas (2015 :962-
963) has summarized the main reasons behind speakers anxiety ,such as:
1.Fear of public speaking and communicating orally
2.Fear of making pronunciation mistakes
3.Lack of vocabulary and limited grammatical knowledge
4.Unpreparedness
5.Fear of being laughed at
6.Taking an oral test
7.Native speaker effect
8.Error correction style of the teacher
9-Levels of English proficiency
10-Worrying about being understood or not
11-Shyness, and low self -confidence.
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The remedy of speaking anxiety is found in understanding its causes. Being
acknowledged about the main reasons of speaking anxiety leads to presenting
effective strategies used by students or by college instructors to reduce
speaking anxiety.
1.2. Strategies Used by Students and Instructors to Reduce Anxiety

Anxiety is connected with individuals feeling so students need to adopt
certain strategies to be able to reduce their anxiety . Hambree (1988 , cited in
Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) suggests that the best strategies should include
the three approaches of cognitive, affective, and behavioral . Kondo and
Ying-Ling (2004:262-263) proposed 70 basic tactics which are labeled as ;
Preparation ,resignation, Relaxation ,Positive Thinking ,Peer Seeking and.
For instance ,the first two strategies which are preparation and resignation
are associated with behavioral approach since their tactics are connected with
how learners should behave to improve their poor academic skills which
arouses their anxiety. On the other hand , Relaxation strategy belongs to
effective approach .The tactics of relaxation helps students to alleviate bodily
tension connected emotional arousal. Meanwhile ,Peer Seeking and Positive
Thinking strategies are connected with cognitive approach where students are
advised to handle their thinking disturbance by using certain tactics such as
trying not to think of consequences, convincing yourself to study harder for
next class and you are not the only students who feels anxious and other
students must also be anxious…etc. The researcher hopes to conduct a
research to detect the Kurdish students' awareness of the Kondo and Ying-
Ling (2004) strategies to reduce their anxiety at college level.
The role of instructors in reducing students' speaking anxiety in the class

has to be concerned. In an empirical work ,Tsiplakides & Keramida, (2009:41-
42) collected many class interventions ,presented by many researchers, to be
used by teachers in dealing with students' speaking anxiety. The strategies
include :Using project work (where students are personally involved which
causes increase in motivation) ,2) Establishing a supportive classroom
atmosphere which involves ; firstly, Teacher-students relations where a set of
norms ,with the help of students need to be set such as making fun of a wrong
answers is not accepted, ratifying mistake tolerance. Secondly, Providing
indirect correction since it may undermine students’ confidence . Providing
scaffolding so that the students had an opportunity to continue speaking
despite making a mistake in order to encourage them to continue speaking
.Thirdly, Accepting the need for self-worth protection, there are certain
behavior which may threaten students' face and teachers should avoid
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them,for example, test scores need to be kept private and not to be announced
to the whole class but their progress need to be evaluated by using
portfolios.3)Teachers immediacy , teachers need to employ both Verbal
immediacy such as the use of humor and calling students by their first names
and Nonverbal immediacy behavior such as nodding your head ,eye contact
and the use of positive gestures. What is interesting is teachers are advised to
use nonverbal praise rather than verbal praise to anxious students ,when they
accomplish a minor task since it is indicated by students to refer to teachers
lack of confidence in their abilities(Thompson, 1997). This study adopts the
above class intervention to detect the frequent use of such strategies by the
instructors at college of Basic Education to reduce their students' speaking
anxiety.
2.Methodology
2.1.Aim of the Study

Students feel anxious when speaking the target while learning a second
language. The aim of this study is to measure the level of speaking anxiety of
EFL undergraduate students at college of Basic Education and to explore the
frequent use of certain strategies used by instructors to reduce their students'
speaking anxiety and to explore the correlation between such strategies and
the level of students anxiety.
2.2.Questions of the Study

Three research questions are formulated:
1.What are the levels of speaking-in-class anxiety among the undergraduate
students ?
2.What are the strategies used by college instructors to reduce their students'
speaking anxiety?
3.How often do the college instructors use such strategies?
4.What is the correlation between students' anxiety level and frequent use of
strategies?
2.3.Subjects
The study was conducted at Salahaddin University, College of Basic
Education , English Department in the academic year 2018-2019. 40 Fourth
year students were chosen by the researchers to participate in this study
because of the following reasons:
1.They have more experience in coping with anxiety than the students of other
stages.
2.Their language is more sufficient in order to understand all the items of
FLCAS since it was required to be completed on the same lecture hour.
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20 college instructors at the college of education participated in completing a
questionnaire in order to detect the frequent use of strategies to assist anxious
students.
2.4. Instruments
Two instruments were used by the researchers:
2.4.1.Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS)
The participants were asked to complete Foreign Language Classroom
Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) developed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986) which
originally consists of 33 items that presented communication apprehension,
test-anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Kitano (2001) shortened and
modified FLCAS into 21 items to assess the anxiety level of students during
oral practice in class. Kitano eliminated the items asking about concern over
grades, discomfort in speaking the language outside the classroom, and
anxiety over tests. The present study adopts Kitano's scale to measure
speaking anxiety since the aim of this study is just to examine speaking
anxiety and the sources of speaking anxiety while discarding test anxiety items
.Each of the 21 items of the FLCAS was scored on a five-point Likert Scale,
ranging from 5 points (strongly agree) to 1 point (strongly disagree)ranging
from strongly agree to strongly disagree(See Appendix I) . A high score
obtained through the instrument indicates a high level of foreign language
anxiety (FLA). The Cronbach Alpha was computed as .87 on the same sample.
In order to interpret the analyzed data, the following criteria were established:
• A mean score of 4.21 – 5.00 ( highest level of anxiety).
• A mean score of 3.41 – 4.20 ( high-anxiety level).
• A mean score of 2.61 – 3.40 (medium-anxiety level).
• A mean score of 1.81 – 2.60 ( low-anxiety level).
• A mean score of 1.00 – 1.80 ( lowest level of anxiety).
2.4.2.Questionnaire on Strategies
A questionnaire was set in order to be filled on by 20 college instructors to
take their ideas about the frequent use of strategies used to reduce the anxiety
of students. It is based on Tsiplakide's & Keramida (2009) interventions to
reduce foreign language speaking anxiety (See Appendix II).It consists on 10
statements with five scales of 5Always ,4 usually,3 sometimes ,2rarely and
1never .
At first the questionnaire consisted on 11 items and was given as a pretest to 6
instructors in order to check the reliability of the items .Then the
questionnaire was modified by the researcher to 10 items and one item was
eliminated depending on the 6 instructors answering.
Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS)18.0 package program was
conducted in the analysis of data. Data were analyzed using frequencies,
percentages , and arithmetic mean.
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2.5.Data Collection and Analysis
2.5.1. The Level of Speaking Anxiety
The study took place in 2018-2019 academic years with .Related to the data
collection technique, this FLCAS questionnaire was given to 40 respondents
to determine their level of anxiety speaking in the second semester . It took the
participants ( 10 to 15 minutes) to complete the questionnaire, then the mean
scores were calculated using descriptive statistics. Below is the data result:
Table 5 . The Data Result of FLCAS
Items SA A N D SD mean
1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I 10 18 4 7 1 3.72

am speaking in my foreign language class.
2. I don't worry about making mistakes in 7 13 6 11 3 4.25
language class.
3. I tremble when I know that I'm going to 3 19 7 8 3 3.27
be called on in language class.
4. It frightens me when I don't understand 14 11 5 8 2 3.67

what the teacher is saying in the foreign
language.
7. I keep thinking that the other students are 10 14 6 7 3 3.52
better at languages than I am.
9. I start to panic when I have to speak 5 20 6 6 3 3.45

without preparation in language class.
12. In language class, I can get so nervous I 7 15 5 10 3 3.32
forget things I know.
13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in 12 11 11 1 5 3.6

my language class.
15. I get upset when I don't understand what 7 16 8 5 4 3.42
the teacher is correcting.
16. Even if I am well prepared for language 7 19 3 9 2 3.5
class, I feel anxious about it.
17. I often feel like not going to my language 9 17 6 7 1 3.65
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class.
18. I feel confident when I speak in foreign 9 19 1 7 4 3.77

language class.
19. I am afraid that my language teacher is 16 9 7 5 2 3.72
ready to correct every mistake I make.
23. I always feel that the other students 8 11 6 14 1 3.27
speak the foreign language better than I do.
24. I feel very self‐ conscious about speaking the 6 15 7 9 3 3.3
foreign language in front of other students.
27. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking 9 11 8 7 5 3.3
in my language class.
29. I get nervous when I don't understand every 4 21 5 7 3 3.4
word the language teacher says. .
30. I feel overwhelmed by the number of 3 11 16 9 1 3.15
rules you have to learn to speak a foreign
language.
31. I am afraid that the other students will 7 11 6 9 7 3.5
laugh at me when I speak the foreign
language.
33. I get nervous when the language teacher 4 14 9 9 4 3.12
asks questions which I haven't prepared in
advance.
Total Average 3.49
Note: SA (strongly agree),A (agree) ,N (neutral ) ,D (disagree) and SD(strongly
disagree)
The overall statistical result shown in Table -1- reports that the 40 students
experience (3.61) which indicates a high level of English-speaking anxiety
within the range of 3.41 – 4.20 ( high-anxiety level) . It can be concluded from
the result above that generally the students in this study are highly anxious
about oral communication in English. The level of their perceived anxiety is
above moderate. The results reveals that the 40 fourth year students feel
highly anxious and they are in need to use strategies by themselves and by
their instructors to reduce their anxiousness. In the coming section we will
discover the frequent use of certain strategies used by their instructors .
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2.5.2.Strategies Used by Instructors to Reduce Students' Speaking Anxiety
Based on the information about the strategies used by teachers to reduce
students' speaking anxiety ,a questionnaire consisting on 10 statement was set
by the researcher .The main aim of this questionnaire is to detect the frequent
use of such strategies by 20 instructors at college of Basic Education. Below is
the data result:
Table -2- Strategies used by Instructors
ITEMS Always usually sometimes rarely never Mean Percentage
1.Project Works(short term 2(10%) 7(35%) 8(40%) 2(10%) 1(5%) 3.35 67%
projects) are used .
2.Making fun of a wrong answer 11(55%) 9(45%) 0 0 0 4.4 88%
is not accepted.
3.Mistake tolerance is ratified. 6(30%) 4(20%) 9(45%) 1(5%) 0 3.75 75%
4.Errors are considered a natural 6(30%) 11(55%) 2(10%) 1(5%) 0 4.1 82%
part of learning a foreign
language
5.Students are 12(60%) 8(40%) 0 0 0 4.4 88%
encouraged to ask for
help without running
the risk of
embarrassment.
6.Groups are formed from 6(30%) 8(40%) 4(20%) 1(5%) 1(5%) 3.85 77%
mixed ability students, students
are given equally academically
challenging tasks, and the same
questioning strategies are used
for all students
7. Providing indirect correction 8 (40%) 4(20%) 7(35%) 1(5%) 0% 3.95 79%

since it can undermine students’
confidence, and because it
discourages learners who are
anxious .
8. Information about students’ 7(35%) 7(35%) 3(15%) 1(5%) 2(10%) 3.8 76%
test scores is kept private and is
not announced to the whole
Classroom
9. Both verbal (use of humor, 7(35%) 10(50%) 3(15%) 0 0 4.1 90%
use of students’ first names) and
nonverbal (eye contact, positive
gestures) are employed.
10. Non-verbal praise (e.g. a 4 (20%) 8(40%) 6(30%) 2(10%) 0 3.7 74%
positive head movement) is
most often used, instead of
direct verbal praise.
Average 3.94 80%
The aim behind setting this questionnaire is to detect the frequent usage of
strategies to reduce students anxiety, the data results were interpreted as
follows;
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a. Statement No.1: “Project Works(short term projects) are used.”

The result showed that 10% of instructors choose always and 35% of them
said they usually use project work in their classes. However 10% of the them
reported that they sometimes use it . 10% rarely and 5% never use project
works in their classes . It could be said that this statement got effective
response from the instructors .Based on the data obtained from 20
respondents, the use of project or group work was in frequently used category
(M= 3.35) which means 13 of the instructors declared the use of this strategy
frequently in their classes while 7 instructors expressed sometimes or rarely
use it. The reason behind not using project work frequently is having the
large classes at public colleges which make it difficult to control the groups
which obliges instructors not to have project works. However it is preferred to
ask groups of students to present seminars and cooperate together.
b. Statement No. 2: “Making fun of a wrong answer is not accepted” The
result showed that 55% of the instructors that always use this strategy , and
45% of them usually use it . It could be said that this statement got very strong
response from the instructors. Based on the data obtained from 20
respondents, the statement was very frequently used (Mean =4.4) .One of the
main causes of second language anxiety is the students' fear to be laughed at
by h/her colleagues which increases their anxiety and prevents them even to
participate in the class. This results shows complete awareness of the 20
instructors of making fun of wrong answers in the class rejected and not
allowed.
c. Statement No. 3: “Mistake tolerance is ratified.” The result showed that

30% of the participants always , and 20% usually use this strategy but 45% of
them use it sometimes. It can be said that this statement got positive response
from the instructors. Based on the data obtained from 20 respondents, the
statement was frequently used (3.75). This statement is about ratification of
students' mistakes while they are speaking in order not to interrupt their
speech and to let them continue in their communication which decreases their
anxiety. This strategy was frequently used on by the college instructors while
some of them disagreed and assumed mistake correction is necessary to
improve students' proficiency in the second language. Correction of mistakes
will lead to increase students speaking anxiety and is regarded as an important
reason of negative evaluation by instructors and colleagues. It is better to
provide scaffolding rather than interrupting students speaking.
d. Statement No. 4: “Errors are considered a natural part of learning a

foreign language.” 30% of the 20 participants have always used and 55% of
them usually used this strategy. However 10% of them have neutral opinion
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and sometimes couldn’t endure errors. This strategy or instructors' point of
view about errors committed by students to be taken as a natural part of a
foreign language learning was in very frequently used (mean=4.1). Errors
are expected to be committed by foreign language learners at any level of their
learning process. Instructors should not cause a kind of embarrassment or
insulting their students for committing errors which may lead to increase their
speaking anxiety. The use of scaffolding to watch students progress and
focusing on the errors committed by students to be explained in the coming
lectures without drawing students attention directly to such errors at the time
of speaking or during the communication.
e. Statement No. 5:" Students are encouraged to ask for help without running
the risk of embarrassment. ”This statement was in a very frequent category
with the mean of (4.4) which indicates that instructors are aware of the
psychological aspect of students in the teaching process like not causing
embarrassment when students ask questions via creating a positive and
friendly atmosphere which decrease students speaking anxiety .Students need
to be encouraged to ask for help and instructors play a crucial role in creating
a friendly atmosphere in the class 60% of the instructors always and 40%
usually used this strategy.
f. Statement No. 6: “groups are formed from mixed ability students, students
are given equally academically challenging tasks, and the same questioning
strategies are used for all students .” The result showed that 30% of
instructors always , and 40% of them usually used it while 20% have
sometimes used this strategy. It could be said that this statement got strong
positive response (77%) from the instructors use this strategy frequently with
the mean (3.85) . The strategy of grouping students ,especially in large classes
,is very effective. However, instructors in forming the groups should be aware
not to increase the anxiety of students by putting the students with high level
of proficiency in a group and giving them difficult tasks. Equally students
should be treated in performing the tasks and in mixing the abilities anxious
students will be motivated to speak and communicate more efficiently.
g. Statement No. 7: "Providing indirect correction since it can undermine

students’ confidence, and because it discourages learners who are anxious ."
The result showed that 40% always and 20% of them usually used this
strategy . However , 35% of them sometimes used this strategy. Based on the
data obtained from 20 college instructors , the statement was in frequent
category (79%) with the mean (3.95).The strategy of providing indirect
correction is strongly agreed on since direct correction is regarded as a cause
of increasing students' speaking anxiety. Students' self-confidence and their
social image need to be protected and taken into consideration by instructors
to decrease students anxiety in general.
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h. Statement No. 8: “Information about students’ test scores is kept private

and is not announced to the whole Classroom .” 35% always and 35%
usually used this strategy by not providing test scores of students in front of
the class .However, 15% of them sometimes used this strategy. The strategy is
in a frequent category (76% )with the mean (3.8).Whatever causes
embarrassment and demean students' self-confidence should be avoided by
instructors. However, 10% of the instructors asserted on announcing cores in
front of the class is used by them , which has aroused the curiosity of the
researcher to ask for the reason behind their disagreement .One of the
instructors said" Announcing Students scores will motivate and encourage
them to gain higher scores in the next exam". The honest reply of this
instructor is appreciated but his reply indicates that students' scores are not
kept private by instructors and announced to the whole class which may have
a negative impact on students psychology and increases students anxiety.
j. Statement No. 9: "Both verbal (use of humor, use of students’ first names)
and nonverbal (eye contact, positive gestures) immediacy are employed". The
result showed that 35% of the instructors always and 50% usually ,while 15%
have sometimes used such behaviors. This statement was in a very frequently
used category 90% with the mean (4.5) ,which is a remark of instructors
awareness of the importance of the use of humor and positive politeness by
calling student's using their first or having eye contact and nodding the head
to show consent .Positive reinforcement is presenting a reward after a desired
behavior, whereas negative reinforcement is taking away an aversive stimulus
after a desired behavior .Some instructors may assume that college students do
not need to be praised or provided by positive expressions but the impact of
instructors immediacy should not be neglected.
k. Statement No. 10: "Non-verbal praise (e.g. a positive head movement) is
most often used, instead of direct verbal praise for a minor accomplishment
since it had a negative effect." Thompson (1997) argues that using verbal
praising for minor accomplishment may have negative effect on students since
it is regarded as an indication that the teacher had little confidence in their
abilities. The result showed that the statement was in frequent position in the
category scale with the mean (3.7) . 20% of the participants have always and
40% usually do not praise students for minor accomplishment . Meanwhile
30% showed a neutral point of view and sometimes used this strategy.
However,10% reported that they use this strategy and strongly disagreed with
the negative effect of non-verbal praise for minor accomplishments. Students
should be reinforced for any kind of accomplishment whether minor or
major.
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The data analysis of the questionnaire shows that 80% with the mean
(3. 94)of the instructors have frequently used the 10 strategies to reduce
students' speaking anxiety.
The results of speaking anxiety level (FLCAS) of the 40 undergraduate

students showed high anxiety level with the mean (3.49) within the range of (
3.41 – 4.20) .Meanwhile , the results of the questionnaire showed frequent
category with the mean (3. 94) indicating frequent use of such strategies by
college instructors. The correlation value ( R =0.1875) which refers to a
weak positive correlation, which means there is a tendency for high X variable
scores go with high Y variable scores (and vice versa).A negative correlation
was hypothesized since it is logical to assume that the frequent use of the
strategies should lead to students' speaking anxiety reduction.
Conclusion
College students at different stages of their learning process of English as a
Foreign language experience language anxiety .Their anxiety level ranges
from sever , high, moderate , low to lowest level such variety depends on their
age, personality , experience , language proficiency and the practice of the
target language. Speaking anxiety is the most provoking skill all of the other
skills because in the speaking skill, students are personally involved and their
language proficiency are mostly evaluated via their speech proficiency which
are based on grammar, vocabulary , fluency , accuracy and pronunciation .
Researchers have presented various sources for speaking anxiety such as not
being able to express ideas, not having or knowing enough vocabulary but the
major source is lack of speaking proficiency. Since the cause of speaking
anxiety is personal so certain strategies should be used by learners to reduce
their speaking anxiety. The most effective strategies are those which are
presented by Kondo and Ying-Ling (2004) which are associated with
cognitive (positive thinking) , behavioral (well preparation) and affective
Psychological like relaxation) strategies. Other causes of speaking anxiety are
connected with the class environment including the teacher. College
instructors need to be aware about their students' speaking anxiety symptoms
in order to be able to assist such students to at least alleviate their anxiety
since it may have a strong influence on their , class interaction , performance
and academic achievements .This study examined the frequent use of 10
strategies presented by Tsiplakides & Keramida (2009). The speaking anxiety
level (FLCAS) of the 40 undergraduate students showed high anxiety level
with the mean (3.49) within the range of ( 3.41 – 4.20) .Meanwhile , the
results of the questionnaire with the mean (3. 94) indicating frequent use of
such strategies by college instructors. There was negative correlation between
the two results since it is logical to hypothesize instructors' frequent use of
strategies should lead to the reduction of speaking anxiety. It can be
concluded that instructors at the college of Basic Education need to pay more
attention to their students' speaking anxiety and the implementation of
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‫‪NO:79‬‬ ‫‪Diyala Journal/2019‬‬
‫‪certain strategies to help their students in reducing their speaking anxiety‬‬
‫‪.The study recommends students to use certain strategies to cope with their‬‬
‫‪level of anxiety since anxiety is a result of individuals' apprehension and‬‬
‫‪instructors' use of strategies in the class is not enough to reduce their anxiety.‬‬
‫االستراتيجيات التي يستعين بها المراجعون لتقميص قمق الطالب‬
‫الكممات المفتاحية‪ :‬القمق بالمغات األجنبية ‪ ،‬القمق الناطق بالمغة اإلنجميزية في الصف ‪،‬‬
‫اختبار القمق‬
‫د‪ .‬نجاة محمد أمين‬
‫جامعة صالح الدين‪/‬كمية القانون‬
‫الممخص‬
‫تتة ل تتة‬ ‫تتأ عمتتن قتتةم ة ت‬ ‫ة‬ ‫تمتتد ا ةس تتأ م تتقلأ ةل متتم اتتغ تامتتن ةلموتتأ ةلية تتأ‬
‫تقي س ك س عمن ت ان ةلقالب اةءهن‪ .‬هته ةلا ةس تأ ع تةسن عتا ا ةس تأ تةلتأ ت تاي سلتن تة‬
‫ة تتغ ةلك تتي عتتا‬ ‫م تتت ا ةل متتم ةل تتةقم لتتاا قتتالب ةلمستمتتأ ةل ةما تتأ اتتغ كم تتأ ةلتامت ن ة‬
‫ةلا ةس تأ‬ ‫ةد ما أ لمتا متا ةل متم ةل تةقم لتاا ةلقتالب‪ .‬ت تتس‬ ‫ة تخاةن ةلمامم ا ال تسةت‬
‫ا م تتض‬ ‫ةلت تتاخالد م تتا تتض ماس تتغ ةلكم تتأ م تتا ةلم ت تتس‬ ‫ا ةال تتتخاةن ةلمتك تتسس لت ت ا‬
‫تتتن ةخت تتةس ‪ 04‬قةل تةف اتتغ ةل ت أ ةل ةس اتتأ‬ ‫ةلقتتالب ةلتته ا تتتتاي ا عتتا ةل متتم‪ .‬ل تتهة ةلوتتس‬
‫ة تغ‪ .‬تتن ة تتخاةن ةي ت ا متا ة ا ةد لتت تم هتاي ةلا ةس تتةد‬ ‫‪ 04‬مامتن اتغ كم تأ ةلتامت ن ة‬
‫تأ‬ ‫ةل متم لماتي ةلا ةس تغ لموتةد ة‬ ‫‪ Horwitz et‬اتمم )‪ (FLCAS‬ةلتتغ هتغ م تة‬
‫)‪al. (1986‬‬ ‫تتت ا سلتتن تتتة‬ ‫‪ Tsiplakide‬لت ت ن اس تتأ متتم ةلقتتالب ة تتت ةا‬
‫تتن ة تتخاةن ةلاا تا متا ةلتتاخالد اتغ ةل ات ض ةلا ةس ت أ لمتتا )‪Keramida (2009‬‬ ‫تت‬
‫تتأ‪ .‬ةل تتاي م تتا هلتتل هت ت ةلك تتي ع تتا ةال تتتخاةن ةلمتك تتسس‬ ‫متتا ةل متتم ةل تتةقم ةلموتتأ ة‬
‫ت تتسد تت تتة‬ ‫ةد لت م ت تتض م ت تتت ا ةل مت تتم لت تتاا ةلقت تتالب‪.‬‬ ‫لمماس ت ت ا لميت تتض هت تته ةال ت تتتسةت‬
‫م تت ا متم عتةلغ اتغ ةلتتتا مت مت تق ‪ )9.03‬متا ‪ 04‬قةلفتة اتغ تت ا )‪(FLCAS‬‬
‫تسس لميتض هته ةال تتسةت ةد مت ةلمت تق ‪ )30.9‬ةلته‬
‫تخاةمة متك فة‬
‫ف‬ ‫ضة ة‬
‫س ةال ت ةا ف‬
‫ا عال أ س ة أ ا ةالي ا‬ ‫س سلن‬ ‫ا ه ةل ةست ةق ‪( R = 0.1875).‬‬ ‫تن ةالات ةس‬
‫ب ا ؤا سلن ت م ض ةل مم‬ ‫ةد‬ ‫ا ةال تخاةن ةلمتكسس لال تسةت‬ ‫ات‬ ‫‪ .‬مغ م‬
‫‪747‬‬
Bibliography
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Students . Language in India, 17, 83-100.
ii. Atas , M. (2015). The reduction of speaking anxiety in EFL learners
through drama techniques, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
176 , 961 – 969. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com. (accessed
on 2/8/2018)
iii. Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom
(3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
iv. Horwitz, E. K. (1986). Preliminary evidence for the reliability and
validity of a Foreign Language Anxiety Scale.TESOL Quarterly, 20, 3,
559–562.
v. Horwitz, E., M. Horwitz, & J. A. Cope. (1986). Foreign language
classroom anxiety. Modern Language Journal, 70,125-132.
vi. Humphries ,R. (2011) .Language Anxiety in International Students.
Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural
Communication 4, 1/2, 65‐ 77.
vii. Kondo, D.S. and Yang ,Y.L. (2004).Strategies for coping with language
anxiety: the case of students of English in Japan. ELT Journal, vol.58,
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on 8/1/2019)
viii. MacIntyre, P. D., & R. C. Gardner. (1991). Language anxiety: Its
relation to other anxieties and to processing in native and second
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ix. MacIntyre, P. D., K. A. Noels, & R. Clement. (1997). Biases in Self-
Ratings of Second language Proficiency: The Role of Language
Anxiety. Language Learning, 47, 265-287.
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Interviews with seven experienced ESL/EFL teachers. Journal of
Language and Learning, 3(1), 133-155. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264874453_Language_Anxiet
y_from_the_Teacher's_Perspective_Interviews_with_Seven_Experience
d_ESLEFL_Teachers. (accessed on (27/6/2018)
xi. Oxford, R. (1999). Anxiety and the Language Learner: New Insights. In
J. Arnold (Ed.), Affect in Language Learning (pp.58-67). Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
xii. Scarcella, R.C., & Oxford, R.L. (1992).The tapestry of language
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748
.J.(Eds.).Language Anxiety: From Theory and Research to Classroom
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xix. Modern Language Journal, 75, 426-437.
APPENDIX I: FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASS ANXIETY SCALE

(FLCAS)
Items SA A N D SD mean perce
ntage
1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I am
speaking in my foreign language class.
2. I don't worry about making mistakes in
language class.
3. I tremble when I know that I'm going to be
called on in language class.
4. It frightens me when I don't understand
what the teacher is saying in the foreign
language.
7. I keep thinking that the other students are
better at languages than I am.
9. I start to panic when I have to speak
without preparation in language class.
12. In language class, I can get so nervous I
forget things I know.
749
13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in my
language class.
15. I get upset when I don't understand what
the teacher is correcting.
16. Even if I am well prepared for language
class, I feel anxious about it.
17. I often feel like not going to my language
class.
18. I feel confident when I speak in foreign

language class.
19. I am afraid that my language teacher is
ready to correct every mistake I make.
23. I always feel that the other students speak
the foreign language better than I do.
24. I feel very self‐ conscious about speaking the
foreign language in front of other students.
27. I get nervous and confused when I am speaking in
my language class.
29. I get nervous when I don't understand every word
the language teacher says. .
30. I feel overwhelmed by the number of rules
you have to learn to speak a foreign language.
31. I am afraid that the other students will
laugh at me when I speak the foreign
language.
33. I get nervous when the language teacher
asks questions which I haven't prepared in
advance.
\
APPENDIX II :STRATEGIES USED BY COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS TO

REDUCE STUDENTS' SPEAKING ANXIETY
ITEMS Mean percent
SA A N D SD age
750
1.Project Works(short term
projects) are used .
2.Making fun of a wrong
answer is not accepted.
3.mistake tolerance is
ratified.
4.Errors are considered a
natural part of learning a
foreign language
5.students are
encouraged to ask
for help without
running the risk of
embarrassment.
6.groups are formed from

mixed ability students,
students are given equally
academically challenging
tasks, and the same
questioning strategies are
used for all students
7. Providing indirect
correction since it can
undermine students’
confidence, and because it
discourages learners who
are anxious .
8. information about
students’ test scores is kept
private and is not
announced to the whole
Classroom
9. Both verbal (use of
humor, use of students’
first names) and nonverbal
(eye contact, positive
gestures) are employed.
10. Non-verbal praise (e.g.

a positive head movement)
is most often used, instead
of direct verbal praise.
751

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NO:79 Diyala Journal/2019

Collecting from many researches (Wörde, 2003; Ohata, 2005; Woodrow,

1.Fear of public speaking and communicating orally

2.Fear of making pronunciation mistakes

3.Lack of vocabulary and limited grammatical knowledge

5.Fear of being laughed at

6.Taking an oral test

7.Native speaker effect

8.Error correction style of the teacher

9-Levels of English proficiency

10-Worrying about being understood or not

11-Shyness, and low self -confidence.

1.2. Strategies Used by Students and Instructors to Reduce Anxiety

The role of instructors in reducing students' speaking anxiety in the class

2.1.Aim of the Study

2.2.Questions of the Study

1. I never feel quite sure of myself when I 10 18 4 7 1 3.72

4. It frightens me when I don't understand 14 11 5 8 2 3.67

9. I start to panic when I have to speak 5 20 6 6 3 3.45

13. It embarrasses me to volunteer answers in 12 11 11 1 5 3.6

18. I feel confident when I speak in foreign 9 19 1 7 4 3.77

7. Providing indirect correction 8 (40%) 4(20%) 7(35%) 1(5%) 0% 3.95 79%

Average 3.94 80%

a. Statement No.1: “Project Works(short term projects) are used.”

c. Statement No. 3: “Mistake tolerance is ratified.” The result showed that

d. Statement No. 4: “Errors are considered a natural part of learning a

g. Statement No. 7: "Providing indirect correction since it can undermine

h. Statement No. 8: “Information about students’ test scores is kept private

The results of speaking anxiety level (FLCAS) of the 40 undergraduate

i. Al-Otaibi, M. (2016) . Speech Anxiety among EFL Arab College

APPENDIX I: FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASS ANXIETY SCALE

18. I feel confident when I speak in foreign

APPENDIX II :STRATEGIES USED BY COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS TO

6.groups are formed from

10. Non-verbal praise (e.g.

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