LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 19:10 October 2019
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Strategies to Overcome Speaking Anxiety among
Saudi EFL Learners

Tanzin Ara Ashraf
M.A. in English Literature
tanzen@kku.edu.sa
Department of Languages and Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This action research aims to explore the dominant causes of speaking anxiety among Saudi EFL learners, and to suggest effective strategies that can both help conquer learners’ fear of communication and boost their confidence level. Saudi students suffer from a substantial level of communication apprehension. The findings of this study will be to the benefit of Saudi EFL learners as they can enhance learners’ oral communication skills which are impacted negatively by learners’ speaking anxiety. A total of 38 non-English majors a, 5 EFL teachers from King Khalid University and 5 EFL schoolteachers participated in this study. Survey questionnaires, discussions and semi-structured interviews were the main research tools for collecting data. The results indicate that learners ‘communication apprehension stem from: insufficient exposure to English; poor vocabulary; test anxiety and concern over negative evaluation; a lack of awareness of recent trends of EFL teaching; and the absence of well equipped, modern EFL classrooms with less density. The major remedial measures include developing speaking competence by enhancing learners’ oral proficiency, employing modern EFL teaching strategies by enthusiastic teachers; establishing well equipped modern EFL classrooms with lower classroom density, and introducing English from the beginning of primary school level and moderating evaluation policy.

Keywords: Saudi EFL learners, speaking anxiety, teaching strategies, task based learning.

Introduction

When the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is heading to prove itself to be an exemplary leading nation in all aspects, the greater demand creating potential, competent graduates possessing excellent communication skills cannot be denied. It has become a pressing need to chalk out effective mechanisms which qualify the Saudi EFL learners to communicate fluently without reluctance. Unfortunately, up to the present time, English is still considered as a second language and has minimal use in everyday life .In defiance of initiating diverse measures by the Ministry of Education to advance the practice of teaching and learning English, the Saudi EFL learners still lack the moderate level of language proficiency. In the classroom, maximum students suffer from communication anxiety. Inadequacy of each required language skills prevents the learners from communicating in written and oral form (Al-Khasawneh, 2010). Thus, they are more inclined to refrain themselves from classroom discussions. They remain reluctant to participate even in basic classroom conversations and demonstrate extreme anxiousness when they are asked to communicate in foreign language. Gregersen et al. 2014 suggests, “Language learning is an emotionally and psychologically dynamic process that is influenced by a myriad of ever-changing variables and emotional “vibes” that produce moment-by-moment fluctuations in learners' adaptation.” Zheng & Cheng, 2018 identify foreign language classroom anxiety as a type of anxiety that's typically aroused by a particular sort of scenario.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE DISSERTATION IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Tanzin Ara Ashraf
M.A. in English Literature
tanzen@kku.edu.sa
Department of Languages and Translation
King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
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