Teachers’ Perspectives on Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety
A Qualitative Study of Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in a Swedish Upper Secondary School Context
Lärares perspektiv kring talängslan i främmande språk
En kvalitativ studie om talängslan i främmande språk i en svensk gymnasiet kontext
Daniel Eriksson
Faculty of Arts and Social Silences
Department of Language, Litterature, and Intercultural studies Degree Project, English
15 credits
Supervisor: Johan Wijkmark Examiner: MarieTåqvist Spring 2020
Title: Teachers’ Perspectives on Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Titel på svenska: Lärares perspektiv kring talängslan i främmande språk
Author: Daniel Eriksson
Pages: 32
Abstract
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.
Keywords: FLSA, Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety, Oral Production, Reducing Speaking Anxiety, Teachers’ strategies.
Sammanfattning på svenska
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.
Nyckelord: FLSA, Lärarnas strategier, Muntlig Produktion, Talängslan i främmande språk,
Reducera Talängslan.
Contents
1. Introduction and aims ... 1
2. Background ... 2
2.1 Anxiety and foreign language learning ... 2
2.1.1 Emotional factors in foreign language learning ... 3
2.1.2 Characteristics of anxious foreign language learners ... 4
2.2 Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) ... 5
2.2.1 The impact of FLSA on students’ performance ... 6
2.3 FLSA-reducing strategies ... 7
2.3.1 The teacher’s role ... 9
2.3.2 The role of speaking activities ... 10
3. Methods ... 11
3.1 Material ... 11
3.1.1 Participants ... 12
3.2 Data collection ... 13
3.2.1 Construction and implementation of the interviews ... 13
3.2.2 The analysis of the interviews ... 13
3.3 Reliability, validity and limitations ... 14
3.4 Ethical considerations ... 15
4. Analysis and results ... 16
4.1 Factors teachers believe contribute to FLSA ... 16
4.2 Characteristics teachers believe students show who suffer from FLSA ... 19
4.3 Strategies teachers use in order to reduce FLSA ... 20
4.3.1 The teacher’s role ... 21
4.3.2 The role of speaking activities ... 22
5. Discussion ... 24
6. Conclusion ... 25
References ... 28
Appendix 1 ... 30
Appendix 2 ... 31
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1. Introduction and aims
Every teacher has probably witnessed anxious students in different subjects, or in specific sequences of teaching. Anxiety is an instinctive feeling of panic, fear, stress and self-doubt correlated with an activation of the autonomic nervous system that appears in response to perceptions of insecurity (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). As a result, anxiety prevents students from performing successfully in different school subjects or sequences of teaching.
According to Gregersen (2003, p. 25) and Horwitz et al. (1986, p. 126), it is very common that students find foreign language learning, mainly in classroom situations, particularly anxiety-provoking, especially as regards speaking. This specific subfield of anxiety is generally referred to as Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA) and arises when a learner is about to speak in a foreign or second language.
The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket, 2011, p. 1), stresses that each of the three English courses (English 5, 6 and 7) at upper secondary school should cover oral
production and interaction of various kinds. In other words, students must use English in different speaking situations in class, in order to pass these three courses at the upper
secondary level, and it is the teacher’s responsibility to design learning opportunities to make sure that all students’ oral proficiency constantly develops. However, according to Tsiplakides (2009, p. 40) teachers of foreign or second languages are seldom aware of FLSA, and they are also often unfamiliar with strategies that work methodically for students who struggle with FLSA. Consequently, when a student’s oral production is poor, or when he/she is unwilling to participate in speaking activities, the student is often described by teachers as lacking either the motivation or the ability to succeed, although another possible explanation could well be FLSA (Gregersen, 2003, p. 30). Therefore, it is essential to make teachers aware of the existing problems that anxiety contributes to in an educational context, and strategies that reduce FLSA, in order to help students develop their oral production. By interviewing five teachers of English at different Swedish upper secondary schools, the present study aims to find out about teachers’ awareness, experiences and specific strategies used when dealing with FLSA in an educational context. The research questions are as follows:
RQ1: What factors do teachers believe contribute to FLSA?
RQ2: What characteristics do teachers believe students show who suffer from FLSA?
RQ3: What strategies do teachers use in order to reduce FLSA?
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2. Background
This section presents important insights about the impact anxiety and foreign language learning have on learners’ emotions, psyche and behavior (2.1). The situation-specific anxiety, FLSA, and its impact on students’ performance will be presented and explained in 2.2. In 2.3, a qualitative field study on FLSA-reducing strategies by Tsiplakides (2009) will be presented and investigated, as well as the role of the teacher and speaking activities in reducing FLSA.
2.1 Anxiety and foreign language learning
Anxiety is defined as an external internal provocation, which can be described as an
instinctive feeling that awakens defensive behavioral reactions that appear to avoid or reduce harm, hence to ensure survival of the living thing (Tovote, Fadok & Lüthi, 2015, p. 317) As a result, anxiety can be recognized in many animal species and reflects their importance as adaptations to a potentially harmful environment. In humans, however, it is central to distinguish two types of anxiety, namely, anxiety with clear justification towards the object (e.g. the fear of a deadly animal), and anxiety where the object of fear is clear for the individual, but the object of anxiety is unjustified, since it is not really a dangerous
environment that can physically harm the individual (e.g. stage fright) (Budak, 2000, p. 9).
Consequently, anxiety presents major burdens to the affected individual in specific anxiety provoking situations, demonstrated through symptoms such as sweating, tension, increased pulse, tunnel vision, dizziness, trembling, fight or flight response, and so on (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019; Tovote, Fadok & Lüthi, 2015, p. 317). Nevertheless, it is essential to
emphasize that every individual experiences anxiety at some points in life, for example, when visiting the doctor or at a job interview, and a small amount of anxiety can even be helpful for the individual to focus when facing something that feels important (Horwitz, Horwitz &
Cope, 1986, p. 125).
In educational research, anxiety is generally defined as being either trait or state. Trait anxiety is a somewhat balanced personality trait, and a student who is trait anxious is most likely to experience anxiety in various situations. State anxiety, in contrast, is a temporary feeling of anxiety which is experienced at particular moments (Woodrow, 2006, p. 309). Foreign
Language Anxiety (FLA), however, is a third type of anxiety called situation-specific anxiety,
which means that it concerns being affected by a specific situation or experience over a period
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of time, in this case, a foreign language. This type of anxiety appears when the student speaks, writes, reads or engages in activities in a foreign or second language ( MacIntyre, 1999, pp.
29–30). In an educational context, FLA is defined by researchers in the field (e.g. Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986, p. 128; MacIntyre, 1999, p. 30) as a distinct complex of self- perceptions, emotions, assumptions, and behaviors specifically associated with the targeted foreign or second language context, including speaking, listening and learning. According to Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 125), many students find foreign or second language learning specifically more anxiety provoking compared to other school subjects since the students are required to communicate using a language which is not their mother tongue.
2.1.1 Emotional factors in foreign language learning
According to Alrabai (2014, p. 2), anxiety and foreign-language learning is not exclusively related to a psychological framework, as it also involves other emotional aspects associated with foreign- or second-language learning, for example, mixtures of socio-psychological factors such as self-esteem, motivation, attitude, aptitude, intellect and so on (Alrabai, 2014, p. 2). However, the social aspects of these factors do not exclusively derive from a student’s inner psyche since they are also socially constructed through encounters with other active students in the same school context (Imai, 2010, p. 283).
Another emotional aspect that is related to FLA is self-confidence, which is a type of
confidence associated with a firm belief or conviction in an individual to master most things with no worries about the outcome (Tridinanti, 2018, p. 37). This belief or conviction is related to emotions, such as motivation, vulnerability, ambition, and ambitious influences of an individual’s self-perception. Hence, an individual with high self-confidence is more likely to achieve positive and successful outcomes, and vice versa (Ansari and Oskrochi, 2004, pp.
649–650). In studies where researchers have investigated the correlation between emotions and anxiety in foreign or second language learning (e.g. Aragão, 2011; Nicolson & Adams, 2010), the results demonstrate that emotions like shyness, pride, embarrassment, self-esteem and self-confidence are affected by assumptions that are linked to a student’s self-perception.
For instance, the anxiety provoking feeling of speaking in class can be the result of an
assumption that a classmate will poke fun or giggle at the student’s performance (Aragão,
2011, pp. 304–309). Therefore, the relationship between anxiety and emotions plays an
essential role in how students view themselves and act in the environment of a foreign or
second language learning classroom (Aragão, 2011, pp. 304–305).
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2.1.2 Characteristics of anxious foreign language learners
In addition to the previously mentioned symptoms of anxiety, such as sweating, tension, increased pulse, tunnel vision, dizziness, trembling and fight or flight response, there are other characteristics that anxious foreign or second language learners exhibit in a classroom
context. Accordingly, in order to distinguish the different characteristics, three components of anxiety have been pinpointed by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 127), namely: 1) communication apprehension, 2) fear of negative evaluation, and 3) test anxiety.
Communication apprehension is demonstrated when a student has anxiety about speaking to or in front of others, as well as listening to, or learning from spoken information, as a result of their limited knowledge of the targeted language. The underlying factor of anxiety is often shyness and that they do not consider language errors as a natural part of learning, but rather a threat to their appearance. Consequently, students who experience anxiety from this FLA component are often silent in a foreign or second language class since they, generally, experience less control of the speaking situation in a language they do not completely master (Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 127). Fear of negative evaluations is demonstrated when a student has anxiety about evaluative situations, and the assumption that others would evaluate him/her negatively. This may occur in any social evaluative situation such as posting a picture on social media or speaking in foreign language class. As a result, students who experience anxiety from fear of negative evaluations are often withdrawn when evaluative situations are about to occur (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986, p. 128). Test anxiety is
demonstrated when students have anxiety about failure, and test-anxious students usually put unrealistic demands on themselves and feel that anything less than an excellent test
achievement is a failure. Moreover, students who experience test anxiety often regard
speaking in the targeted foreign language as a test situation, rather than an opportunity for oral production skills to improve. Hence, students who experience test anxiety are often anxious about speaking situations in class and when there are tests (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986, pp. 127–128).
Furthermore, Dixon (2011, p. 15) has identified a number of anxiety symptoms that involve an individual’s body, mind, and behavior. Examples of these symptoms based on Dixon’s (2011, p. 15) identifications are shown in Table 1.
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Table 1. Examples of anxiety symptoms that involve an individual’s body, mind, and behavior.
Physical
characteristics (body)
Emotional
characteristics (mind)
Behavioral characteristics
Quick breathing Fear Excuses in order to avoid
uncomfortable situations Increased heart rate Conviction of being
physically ill, going mad, having a heart attack or stroke
Withdrawals from anxiety provoking situations
Dizziness/Light-headed Delusions that people are watching
Avoids the anxiety provoking situation
“Butterflies” in stomach Worry about losing control and look like a fool
Uses alcohol or drugs to decrease anxiety about something stressful
Nausea Fight or flight response
Dry mouth and hard to swallow
Sweating Restlessness
Since anxiety is demonstrated by undesirable repetitive thoughts and compulsive behaviors that seem unworkable to block, these symptoms of anxiety to a specific situation of teaching becomes an additional burden to the student, and a vicious circle that is hard to break (Dixon, 2011, p. 15).
2.2 Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety (FLSA)
Apart from general foreign language anxiety, many students are highly anxious considering participation in speaking activities (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 40). A noticeable number of studies in the field of FLA (e.g. Gregersen, 2003; Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1990; Young, 1991) have found that the subfield of FLSA is the most anxiety provoking aspect in a foreign or second language learning context. According to Harmer (2007, p. 45) and Tsiplakides (2009, p. 39), this is not illogical, since the competence to speak a foreign or second language
involves not only the features of knowledge (e.g. lexical, grammatical and pronunciation), but likewise abilities for processing information (e.g. interacting with others and language
processing) in a language which they have less time to practice and that is not their native
language. In a study by Kayaoğlu and Sağlamel (2013), the researchers found four causes that
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could possibly lead to FLSA. The four causes are a) lack of understanding of the targeted language; b) linguistic difficulty in terms of lack of vocabulary, grammatical comprehension and poor pronunciation; c) cognitive challenges in terms of the feeling of fear due to being unable to communicate, the fear of making errors, the fear of being humiliated in front of others, and low self-esteem; and d) the teacher’s role and comparisons with other students’
abilities. The results from Kayaoğlu and Sağlamel ’ s (2013) study revealed that the FLSA of the students questioned was more due to cognitive challenges and the teacher’s role, and less due to linguistic difficulties and lack of understanding of the targeted language. However, since anxiety is a very multidimensional phenomenon, there are numerous possible factors or sources that contribute to FLSA (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope 1986).
2.2.1 The impact of FLSA on students’ performance
Regardless of whatever causes the feeling of FLSA, it has been proven that FLSA has a negative and destructive effect on oral production, communication and learning the targeted foreign or second language in general (Woodrow, 2006, p. 309). According to Rafada and Madini (2017, p. 309) and Woodrow (2006, p. 310), students affected by FLSA are specifically anxious in situations where they have to speak in front of their teacher and
classmates, as well as, in situations when it is possible to fail to answer a question. The FLSA from these two specific situations can be traced back to either a competence-based concept where the students are anxious about their lack of language skills, or an identity-based concept where the students are more concerned with maintaining their relationship with particular individuals or groups rather than language skills (Alrabai, 2014, p. 3).
Consequently, this contributes to students being less and less active in language learning, and when it comes to speaking activities, they are often unwilling to participate and practice in classroom discussions (Rafada & Madini, 2017, p. 309). In addition to the characteristics of anxious students mentioned in 2.1.2, the typical manifestations of FLSA often include emotional characteristics, such as anger, indecision, and a sense of diminished personality ; behavioral characteristics, such as skipping class and arriving late; and physical
characteristics, such as tension and difficulties speaking the target language (Rafada &
Madini, 2017, p. 309).
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2.3 FLSA-reducing strategies
In Tsiplakides’ (2009) study, the aim was to provide foreign and second language teachers with strategies for reducing FLSA stemming from students’ fear of negative evaluations from their classmates and perception of low ability. By using a qualitative research method,
Tsiplakides studied fifteen Greek students and their teacher from lower upper secondary school in the subject of English, in order to present a classroom-based case study of FLSA- reducing strategies. After establishing the causes for FLSA, Tsiplakides (2009) implemented the following seven interventions, which were employed in order to help the students
overcome FLSA:
(1) Project work
(2) Establishing a learning community and a supportive classroom atmosphere (3) Teacher-students relations
(4) Providing indirect, rather than direct correction (5) Accepting the need for self-worth protection (6) Teacher immediacy
(7) Provision of praise
The effectiveness of these different interventions will be discussed in this section, in order to present possible supportive FLSA-reducing strategies.
(1) Project work, was used in the study due to the benefits of students becoming more personally involved, that it is simpler for them to focus on communication rather than
accuracy, and that they do not feel that they are constantly assessed (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 41).
In conclusion, Tsiplakides (2009, p. 43) states that he would recommend teachers to
implement project work in their teaching of a foreign or second language, since it can provide anxious students with sufficient opportunities to speak the targeted language. Furthermore, he argues that, in order to reduce anxiety, the first step is to participate in anxiety provoking situations, and students are often more eager to participate in speaking activities if the groups are smaller (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 43).
(2) Establishing a learning community and a supportive classroom atmosphere because
studies (e.g. Gregersen, 2003) have shown that creating a learning community that provides
the environment for optimal motivation and a collaborative atmosphere can help to reduce
anxiety about errors (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 41). The results from Tsiplakides’ (2009, p. 41)
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case study show that anxious students can overcome their perceptions of low language skills and anxiety of negative evaluations if the teacher creates a “friendly classroom” where errors are considered as a natural part of language learning.
(3) Teacher-students relations were conducted by a set of classroom rules and norms. The teacher and the students agreed that making fun of errors was not accepted, and a norm of error tolerance was ensured. Furthermore, the teacher provided the students with equally challenging tasks, in order for the students to realize that mixed ability is natural, and that there was no differential treatment with respect to their language ability (Tsiplakides, 2009, p.
41). In the conclusion, Tsiplakides (2009, p. 43) states that, in order to overcome FLSA, it is important for teachers to know their students, in order to understand the underlying causes of their unwillingness to speak. In other words, teachers must take time to “research” each student, in order to be able to implement possible FLSA-reducing strategies.
(4) Providing indirect, rather than direct correction is about the effectiveness of indirect correcting considering FLSA. According to Gregersen (2003, p. 31), teachers should not overcorrect errors directly, since it can draw the students’ attention from communication, and instead toward focus on accuracy and form. As a consequence, it can be helpful for anxious students to overcome FLSA and fear of negative evaluations if the teacher provides more indirect corrections through, for example, positive reinforcement or feedback (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 43).
(5) Accepting the need for self -worth protection refers to behaviors that could possibly be interpreted as threats to students’ social image, such as sharing test results in front of the whole class (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 42). In the study, students’ test results were kept private, and instead portfolios were used to evaluate their development, which according to
Tsiplakides (2009, p. 42) contributed to reducing FLSA among the students.
(6) Teacher immediacy is about how teachers use verbal and non-verbal immediacy. Verbal
immediacy concerns the use of humor and students’ first names in teaching, whereas non-
verbal immediacy considers the use of positive body language and eye contact (Tsiplakides,
2009, p. 42). In the study, all these verbal and non-verbal immediacy behaviors were used by
the teacher, in order to affect FLSA and the motivation to learn positively (Tsiplakides, 2009,
p. 42).
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(7) Provision of praise involves the teachers’ verbal or non-verbal praise of students who succeed or dare to speak in speaking activities. However, praising students in front of their classmates for smaller accomplishments can rather have a negative effect, since they can interpret it as an indication that the teacher has little confidence in their abilities. As a result, non-verbal praise (e.g. a positive body language or face expression) can often be more effective for reducing FLSA (Tsiplakides, 2009, p. 42).
2.3.1 The teacher’s role
As can be noticed in the previous section, the teacher plays an important and fundamental role when it comes to reducing FLSA. However, according to Tsiplakides (2009, p. 40), teachers of foreign or second languages are seldom aware of this existing problem, and they are often unfamiliar with FLSA-reducing strategies that work methodically for students who struggle with FLSA. As a consequence, when students’ oral production is poor, or when they are unwilling to participate in speaking activities, they are often described by the teacher as lacking either the motivation, or the ability to succeed (Gregersen, 2003, p. 30). Therefore, the first step in order to reduce and overcome student FLSA is to make teachers aware of the existing problems that anxiety contributes to in a classroom context (Rafada & Madini, 2017, p. 311). The second step in overcoming FLSA is for the teacher to learn how to recognize and detect the various anxiety manifestations of the students (Rafada & Madini, 2017, p. 310). As soon as these two steps become visible and recognizable, the teacher can understand the feelings of their students and start implementing FLSA-reducing strategies for a better learning environment (Rafada & Madini, 2017, p. 310).
According to Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986, p. 131) teachers have two alternatives when
dealing with anxious students. The two alternatives are that they either can help students learn
to cope with the anxiety provoking situation, or they can make the learning situation less
stressful. In regards to helping students coping with the anxiety provoking situation, Alrabai
(2014, p. 11) suggests that teachers could help students to interpret an anxiety provoking
situation by talking to the students about the manifestations of anxiety in general. It is also
essential for the teacher to talk about mistakes as a natural part of learning and not address
students’ anxiety with remarks like “speech in a second language should be grammatically
ideal and sound like a native speaker”, or “students should understand every word of what
they hear or read in the targeted language” (Alrabai, 2014, p. 11). Furthermore, another
strategy in order to help students to cope with FLSA in provoking situations is to give them
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time and have patience. If the students are provided with more time for speaking practice and self-talk before they speak in front of others, or in assessment situations, the anxiety level might well be reduced (Alrabai, 2014, p. 11). When it comes to making the learning situation less stressful, Alrabai (2014, pp. 11–12) suggests that teachers should demonstrate genuine teaching behaviors like engagement toward students’ improvements, as well as passion and enthusiasm for teaching the targeted language. This behavior along with reinforcement, acknowledging students’ efforts and accomplishments, and showing faith in students’
capability, can increase students’ self-confidence, which in turn, helps to reduce anxiety (Alrabai, 2014, pp. 11–12). Besides, another supportive approach that could be used by teachers, in order to make the learning situation less stressful, is getting to know each student and their goals in the targeted language better (Alrabai, 2014, p. 11). By establishing a more personal relationship with each student and knowing their personal goals, the teacher can beneficially link curriculum goals with the students’ personal goals, for the purpose of overcoming possible difficulties like FLSA (Alrabai, 2014, p. 11).
2.3.2 The role of speaking activities
Probably the most important aspect of overcoming situation-specific anxiety in general is to expose oneself to the anxiety provoking situation gradually with positive outcomes until the feelings of discomfort is gone (Dixon 2011, p. 23). Hence, in order to overcome FLSA, the students must be exposed to speaking. Rafada and Madini (2017, p. 311) claim that speaking actively in a foreign or second language is the best way to learn, since it contains a large input and output, as well as an opportunity for the learner to directly express ideas and opinions to another person. In regards to these two positive outcomes of oral production in teaching, it is essential for teachers to design speaking activities that allow all students to participate and develop their oral proficiency.
As pointed out in Section 2.2.1, students are specifically anxious in speaking activities where
they have to speak in front of others or answer questions that they might fail to answer
correctly in front of the whole class (Rafada & Madini, 2017, p. 309). Furthermore, another
specific speaking situation that contributes to students’ anxiety is tests. Tests often put
students “on the spot” and the consequences of possible failure become apparent, which may
result in a pessimistic view of their own speaking skills (Alrabai, 2015, p. 11). However, there
are selections of speaking activities that have been found to reduce anxiety, and increase
student motivation and progress (Ansari, 2015, p. 43). First and foremost, however, it is
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essential to consider that the speaking activities should be focused on students’ interests and be appropriate for their level of competence. Since students have individual differences, providing them with various speaking activities is recommended to encourage each student to speak (Ansari, 2015, p. 43).
In terms of actual effective speaking activities, Ansari (2015, p. 43) claims that activities conducted in cooperation with classmates may decrease the anxiety level and increase motivation to an assignment, since cooperating rather than competing with classmates will make anxious students feel less exposed. Hence, group discussions, for example, can give the anxious students more time to practice and participate in speaking the targeted language without feeling that what they are saying is wrong in the same way as when they speak in front of the whole class and the teacher (Ansari, 2015, p. 43). Furthermore, another speaking activity that seems to reduce FLSA is role plays. In such speaking activities, students
commonly take on a new persona with pseudo names, which reduces anxiety of negative evaluations and perceptions of low speaking skills, since it allows them to protect their self- image by acting another character (Ansari, 2015, p. 43). Lastly, Ansari (2015, p. 43) claims that games like picture describing and guessing through who and why questions (e.g. who is and what is) based on pair or group work can be anxiety reducing, since it is less face- threatening for the students.
3. Methods
This section will begin by explaining the chosen method and material (3.1). Then follows a description of the data collection in terms of how the interviews were constructed and
implemented, as well as how the analysis of the interviews was conducted (3.2). Finally, part 3.3 deals with reliability, validity and limitations of the study, and part 3.4 with ethical considerations.
3.1 Material
Since the aim of the study was to find out about teachers’ experiences, strategies and personal thoughts regarding FLSA, interview was considered to be the best method to use in order to try to answer the research questions. Initially, a post was made on the wall of a private
Facebook group for Swedish teachers of English, which included a description of the study, a
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request if anyone would like to participate, and information that all interviews would be carried out on the video and audio platform Zoom. Five teachers, in total, agreed to participate by commenting the Facebook post. Hence, an e-mail was sent out to the five teachers,
containing information about voluntary participation, anonymous identity, and that they were free to withdraw their participation at any time before the publication of the study. Moreover, they were also given information that no one else would have access to the material, and that all material would be deleted as soon as it had been used in the study. The e-mail used for the second contact with the teachers can be found in Appendix 1.
All interviews were then conducted on Zoom with both audio and video, but before opening the interviews, the ethical information pointed out above, together with the aim of the study and the interviews were made clear for the participants one more time. Further, since it is beneficial for the transcriptions to be more accurate and detailed, the participants were asked for their approval to be recorded by a smartphone during the interviews, which they all agreed to.
3.1.1 Participants
The five participants are teachers at five different upper secondary schools in different parts of Sweden. Two teachers from two smaller cities in southern Sweden, one from a larger city in eastern Sweden, one from a small village in western Sweden, and one from a medium-sized city in central Sweden. They had all different length of experience of teaching English as a second language, and they all had experienced student anxiety and student FLSA, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2. The participating teachers’ experiences in teaching English, student anxiety, and student FLSA.
Working experience
Experience of student anxiety?
Experience of student FLSA?
Teacher 1 13 years Yes Yes
Teacher 2 7 years Yes Yes
Teacher 3 2 years Yes Yes
Teacher 4 22 years Yes Yes
Teacher 5 39 years Yes Yes
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3.2 Data collection
In order to collect data from the interviews, a semi-structured approach was used (see Appendix 2), in order to allow discussion on the various interview questions. How the interviews were conducted is described in part 3.2.1, and how the collected data from the interviews was handled and analyzed is described in part 3.2.2.
3.2.1 Construction and implementation of the interviews
Qualitative interviews as a research method will, according to Johansson and Svedner (2010, pp. 33–34), allow the researcher to get as much in-depth insight as possible by constructing questions and follow-up questions that are in line with the targeted research questions of a study. In light of this, thirteen semi-structured interview questions were constructed and used in order to find out as much as possible about the teachers’ awareness, experiences and
specific strategies used when dealing with FLSA, as well as to keep the discussions going in a structured and natural way. Consequently, most of the questions and follow-up questions concentrated on generating exclusive information about the teachers’ awareness, experiences and strategies used in regards to FLSA, and only a few about their background as teachers. In addition, the last question gave them room for reflections and/or ideas concerning FLSA, in case they felt that anything important had been missed during the interview. All questions and follow-up questions used for the interviews can be found in Appendix 2.
Each interview took roughly 30 minutes, and all teachers were interviewed individually on Zoom so that they would feel comfortable sharing their own experiences and ideas about FLSA without anyone interfering with them. The medium for conversation was Swedish since it was the mother tongue of all participants, to ensure that they would have the linguistic freedom to express themselves in as detailed and in-depth a manner as possible when discussing the various questions in the interview. Later, all quotes from each interview were translated into English.
3.2.2 The analysis of the interviews
The interviews were transcribed, and the various quotes from the participants that correlated with any of the research questions were categorized related to each research question.
However, the third research question, namely, what strategies do teachers use in order to
reduce FLSA were divided into three parts in order to advantageously categorize the different
results into appropriate subdivisions. This categorization will be used as the structure in the
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analysis and results section. The five diverse categories to question that were used for analyzing the results are presented in Table 3.
Table 3. The five categories related to each research question.
