Topic.

-The Possible Impacts of The Teacher on The Students Speaking Anxiety in a Fore
ign Language
Statement of Problem
The reason for choosing this topic have been suggested by my personal experience
as I found speaking in English classes demanding and somehow uncomfortable.and
I suggest that this can be happen as a result of my self-confidence in speaking.
Consequently, I became interested in finding out whether other students of Engli
sh as a second language, experienced the same feelings and fears when speaking i
n class and also finding possible soloution for this problem.
the main considerable questions are 'Why do some students experience a tremendou
s amount of anxiety when communicating in English? In what ways does this anxiet
y hinder the ability of students to speak and participate autonomously in the cl
assroom? How can teachers best address these issues of anxiety and confidence to
assist language learners in moving beyond such limitations?
The present study aims to shed light on any possible anxiety felt by students at
the moment of speaking during the L2 class.Many researchers have supported the
idea that communicating in the foreign language class may be a traumatic experie
nce causing feelings of fear.they claim that speaking in the target language see
ms the most threatening aspect of foreign language learning and that the lack of
oral skills constitutes serious problems to language learners. Although student
s show most interest in learning to communicate orally in the foreign language (
Phillips, 1991), their anxieties may play debilitating roles. Labov (1969 in Tsu
i, 1996: 156) affirms that speaking in class is experienced by students as high-r
isk and low-gain.Avoidance behaviours may put the student in the condition of exclu
ding himself from conversations and interactions with people of different cultur
es and languages
In an attempt to establish to what extent
ty feared by the students of this survey,
which contribute to arouse this feeling.
rovided to teachers and students in order

speaking English in class is an activi

I will describe the specific variables
Furthermore, recommendations will be p
to prevent or alleviate these worries.

Two questionnaires were used based on Youngs and Apple questionnaire over L2 spea
king anxiety.12 English students of MFT institution from one upper class level h
ave taken part in this survey .they are all speak persian as their first languag
e.the questionnairies are available in the Appendix A at the end.This provided a
n opportunity of measuring students anxiety during certain in-class practices as
well as analysing their opinions about teachers behaviours and characteristics wh
ich might contribute to creating a comfortable environment in the foreign langua
ge class
Steinberg & Horwitz (1986) affirm that persons who usually perceive themselves a
s sociable and reasonably intelligent may experience difficulties when they have
to communicate even basic concepts in the foreign language. Therefore, evidence
does indicate that anxiety plays an important psychological role as language st
udents are concerned.
Review of literature
Sources of foreign language speaking anxiety.
There are several sources of speaking anxiety in the foreign language class; som
e may be associated with the students personality, the specific context where L2
is learned, the teacher, or the instructional practice. Anxiety may also arise f
rom certain speaking activities

students personality. the lack of self confidence is some times from the persona
lities of students themselves.based on the given answeres to the questionnaire i
t is indicate that some students are unable to speak in l2 because they are tota
lly nervous or shy and also some of them may have bad experinces in the past suc
h as being rejected or frightened by teachers or their classmates.Our past educa
tional experience, which takes place in the previous years of our life, sets the
principles for our future education
Teacher role
Teacher-students relations
the student perceives the instructor as a person whose role is not punitive but
helpful as the learning process is concerned. Horwitz et al. (1986), Brandl (198
7 in Onwuengbuzie et al., 1999) and Young (1990) report that anxiety is provoked
when the teacher corrects students errors in a non-supportive way.The focus grou
p data seem to indicate that students expect teachers to be friendly and approac
hable, which may help lower student anxiety. Burden (2004) similarly advocates t
hat the teacher act more as an advisor or even a friend (p. 8).
A set of classroom rules and norms was negotiated with the students. Making fun
of a wrong answer was not accepted,
and a norm of mistake tolerance was ratified. Errors were considered a natural par
t of learning a foreign language,and students were encouraged to ask for help wi
thout running the risk of embarrassment (Dornyei, 2001).
In addition,teaching practices communicated expectations of success for all stud
ents. For example, as far as grouping practices
were concerned, groups were formed from mixed ability students, students were gi
ven equally academically
challenging tasks, and the same questioning strategies were used for all student
s (Alderman, 2004), so that they realized
that there was no differential treatment with respect to their language performa
nce and out-of-school support.
A close, but limited relationship between the student and teacher can be helpful
for those students who are shy, and find speaking in front of the classroom dif
ficult or children who have low self-esteem. The tension these students hold in
a classroom will have the confidence they had always wanted, but never achieved
due to not having a good relationship with the teacher.
Providing indirect, rather than direct correction
We avoided direct, on the spot correction in speaking activities, since it can u
ndermine students confidence, and
because it discourages learners who are anxious about sounding silly to experiment
with new language (Lightbown
and Spada, 1999). I also tried to foster the belief to anxious students that the
y should aim at continuing a speaking
activity, despite making errors. For example, we provided scaffolding so that th
e students had an opportunity to
continue speaking despite making a mistake. Scaffolding included cognitive model
ing, in which I explained the steps
necessary for task completion. Alternatively, prompts and questions were provide
d in order to foster the development of
repair strategies in case of a breakdown in communication.
Correcting Students in a Constructive Way. remember to correct the student in a
private location. Although it
is not always possible to remove a student from the classroom, do your
best to prevent visual access by other students as you discipline.
Public correction can foster feelings of anger, embarrassment, and

bitterness; it can also become a sideshow for the other students.

* Correct in a private location
* Treat students as you want your own children treated
* Stay calm
* Avoid frustration
Accepting the need for self worth protection
Behaviour that could be considered a threat to these students social image and a
potential source of anxiety was
avoided. For example, information about students test scores was kept private and
was not announced to the whole
classroom, while portfolios were used to evaluate their progress. These measures
aimed at reducing preoccupation with
fear of negative evaluation, which can lead to withdrawal from activities that co
uld increase their language skills
(Gregersen and Horwitz, 2002: 563).
Teacher immediacy
Both verbal (use of humor, use of students first names) and nonverbal (eye contac
t, positive gestures) types of
immediacy behavior were employed, since they can reduce anxiety and impact posit
ively on motivation to learn
(Christophel, 1990; Frymier, 1993) t s critical to remember that when you treat
students with respect, they tend to appreciate and like you. When they appreciat
e and like you, they are more willing to want to please youwhich causes them to b
e more likely to behave appropriately..An important point, I have often found cr
itical, are the number of times the teacher does not correct the students who fi
nd calling names to their classmates amusing. Children who are teased or bullied
by other children find themselves being victimized by their peers.teachers shou
ld make
interventions in the classroom environment and practices and create a sense of co
mmunity in the classroom, so that
students do not perceive it a competitive, while pair and group work can be inco
rporated (Kitano, 2001).
They will be stressed out not only by trying to achieve academically, but also b
ecause the names they have been appointed by their classmates are destructive, d
emeaning, and destroy self esteem. Therefore, it is important for teachers to ha
ve children respect each other. Usually, a type of lesson involving with self-es
teem can be an excellent activity for children who are involved in this destruct
ive nature.
Teachers should assert that students should also be treated with respect and the
ir responsibilities to ensure that students treat each other with kindness. Acco
rding to the Jones, teachers are encouraged to blend their warmth and firmness to
wards the students in their classroom, but with realistic limits (111).
Provision of praise
We soon realized that praising these students in front of their classmates for a
minor accomplishment had a negative
effect, since they considered it as an indication that the teacher had little co
nfidence in their abilities (Thompson, 1997).
As a result, non-verbal praise (e.g. a positive head movement) was most often us
ed, instead of direct verbal praise.
two points need to be clarified. First, the above interventions do not constitut
e ideal interventions to
reduce foreign language speaking anxiety. They are simply an attempt to move fro
m theory to practice, focusing on a
specific learning situation. In addition, it is not suggested that interventions
were necessarily successful.It seems that more individualized measures were nee
ded, since what is effective for an

anxious student may not be necessarily effective for another.

Call on All Students Equitably, you must monitor the equitability of response op
portunities. Often, teachers who keep track discover that they call on a small n
umber of students frequently and allow few, if any, chances for students for who
m they have low expectations to answer. When you fail to recognize particular st
udents, you can communicate a low level of confidence in their abilities. Indivi
dual students may tune out and believe that you don t expect they will be able to
answer your questions. This message is compounded when these students see others
being called on regularly.students develop feelings of self-confidence in their
abilities when their teacher goes to them for the right answer. In addition, ca
lling on all the students in your classrather than a select fewwill help keep stud
ents on task and decrease the number of behavior problems.However, it also could
lead the other students to think that the teacher doesn t have confidence in th
em and doesn t expect them to participateTry to make an effort to call on studen
ts who have typically been off task or who have been achieving at a low level, a
llowing them to respond and participate in class, and watch what happens. Over t
ime, you will notice that these students will remain on task more often and impr
ove academically! This change does not occur immediately, but it definitely does
occur and is extremely gratifying to see.
Increase Latency Periods When Questioning Students.Latency is the amount of time
that elapses between the moment you give a student a response opportunity and t
he moment you terminate the response opportunity.. We give more time to students
when we have confidence in their ability to answer a question. Conversely, we g
ive less time to students in whom we have little confidence. When you quickly gi
ve up on a student who is struggling with a response, it is clear to everyone in
the classroom that you don t expect him or her to come up with the right answer
. In addition, when you give up on a student who initially struggles with a resp
onse, the student realizes that all he or she needs to do to get off the hook is r
espond to your question with a confused expression or blank stare
Give Hints and Clues to Help Students Answer Questions.giving more hints and clu
es
to all students, especially the low-performing students. If you
provide too many hints and clues, you may actually give the student the
answer. Also, after a number of hints, it may be that the only student
who doesn t know the answer is the one being called on, which ends up
being an embarrassing experience
Tell Students They Have the Ability to Do Well. When you tell
your students you have confidence that they can handle a difficult
assignment or improve their behavior, you impart a very powerful
message.Students often will work hard and behave appropriately to prove
that your confidence in them is justified.When you tell
a student that you know he will behave appropriately at recess because
he was successful yesterday, you help build confidence in the student
and increase his chance for success.Students need to know
that their teachers respect them and have confidence in them.
Type of Activities
In the case of foreign language learners these students may reduce participation
in those activities which could force them to be more exposed to others judgment
s (Aida, 1994), like giving volunteer answers or talking about personal opinions
(Ely, 1986). Therefore the classroom is a breeding ground for fear of negative
evaluation, with instructors as critical evaluators.
Project work Short-term projects were used due to the following benefits of pro
ject work in foreign language settings cited in the literature: a) students
are more personally involved, so they usually have increased motivation (Lee, 20

02), b) they do not feel that they are

constantly assessed, and c) it is easier for them to focus on communication, rat
her than on accuracy, and are less
concerned with language errors and the consequences of imagined failure (MacIntyre
, Noels, and Clement, 1997:
269). An additional advantage of project work is that students have an active ro
le and responsibilities in the
implementation of project work, which can boost their confidence and reduce the
effect of perceptions of low ability in
the target language.
Students in the focus groups seemed to prefer speaking in small groups rather th
an speaking in front of the whole class. This sort of modification can be easily
implemented by the classroom teacher and helps to create a non-threatening lear
ning environment as advocated by Aida (1994). In terms of speaking with persian
peers in English, different opinions were expressed. One participant indicated d
iscomfort in speaking English with native speakers of persian, because it felt we
ird. Another participant felt comfortable speaking with persian people because of
perceived similar linguistic challenges. It is thus necessary to be attuned to
an individual learners perceptions and needs.
Topic Factors
The participants reported that the nature of conversational topics affected thei
r speaking confidence. Content that is familiar and easy to understand appears t
o facilitate their confidence.it is obvious that we can talk about something whi
ch we are informed of that.could you speak about something without any informati
on an d knowledge? that is impossible.so the topic should be general in order to
makes students speak about it confidently.when your information is alot you can
talk confidently
Research question (null hypothesis)
-Does the students speaking anxiety have any correlation with teachers behavior
and classrooms activities?
Strategies
Some participants reported that useful strategies for increasing their speaking
confidence include out-of-class activities, such as talking with friends, sendin
g e-mails, learning useful phrases and participating in extra learning tasks,pra
cticing sentences with ourselves before uttering them and boosting our knowledge
in order to have something to say. It should be noted that this question was no
t answered by all focus group participants, so generalisation is limited.
Conclusion
Although there is no exact conclusion in researches about human.but the results
of the questionnaire study and some readings made on this topic suggest that des
pite the fact that l2 speaking anxiety is on the one hand is related to indivudu
als personalities such as being shy nerveous or in contrary too professional tha
t reduce your speaking anxiety but the results of the focus group study suggest
that teacher behaviour and classroom activities plays a large role in how confi
dently students use the L2 in class. Teachers should realise that language learn
ing, and particularly oral production, is a potentially stressful situation for
some students, The recommendations suggesting that teachers should not be consid
er withdrawn students as lazy, lacking in motivation, or having poor
attitude (Gregersen, 2003: 30), when in fact they suffer from anxiety. Instead, t
hey should identify anxious learners
and make interventions to help them overcome foreign language anxiety (Aida, 199
4).Because foreign language speaking anxiety in the English classroom may stem f
rom fear of making mistakes and the consequent fear of negative evaluation, and
students perception of low ability in relation to their peers, we suggest that te

achers may want to consider the following interventions.First,the creation of a

friendly classroom atmosphere is important. The case study presented in this art
icle showed that a supportive classroom atmosphere, in which language errors are
considered as natural in the
process of language acquisition, without overcorrection which can draw students at
tention away from communication
and toward a focus on form and accuracy (Gregersen, 2003: 31), can be instrumenta
l in helping anxious students
overcome their perception of low ability and fear of negative evaluation.Second,
teachers can incorporate project work, because it can
provide anxious and non-anxious students alike with abundant opportunities to us
e language in a non-threatening
context. We argue that the first step in reducing anxiety is to actually have st
udents participate in speaking tasks.
Because students are more eager to participate in oral activities in small group
s (Young, 1990), project work can be
very helpful.Give students hints and clues to help them succeed in class. Tell s
tudents directly that you believe that they have the ability to do well. Your be
lief in them will inspire their The final conclusion is that teachers need to as
sume the role of the researcher in their own classrooms. Before
employing strategies to help students overcome foreign language speaking anxiety
, foster motivation, and increase
foreign language performance, practitioners should get to know their students, t
heir attitudes toward oral production,
and to shed light into the reasons that underlie their low performance and their
unwillingness to engage in speaking
activities. It is suggested that teacher as a researcher approach is an invaluable
tool. Such an approach, which brings
together theory and practice, can have positive effects both on the professional
development of English teachers and on
students anxiety levels, motivation and language acquisition.
Appendix A
The Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety Scale (FLCSAS)
part A: please answer the following questions with
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
Im worried that other students in class speak better than I do.*
I feel nervous speaking in front of the entire class.*
I tremble when the teacher is about to ask me a question.
I am reluctant to express my opinion in a group.
Im worried about making mistakes when I speak with the teacher.
Im worried that my partner speaks better English than I do.*
I am reluctant to ask the teacher a question.
I start to panic when I speak with a classmate in a pair.*
I dislike speaking entirely.
Im worried that the teacher will think my speaking is no good.
Im worried about making mistakes while speaking.*
I feel nervous when I cant express my opinion.*
Im afraid my partner will laugh when I speak with a classmate in a pair.*
Im worried about making mistakes when I speak with a partner.*
Answering a teachers question in class is embarrassing.

Speaking in a group of classmates makes me feel self-conscious.

I feel tense when I have to speak with a classmate in a pair.*
I start to panic when I have to speak in a group.*
Im afraid that others in a group discussion will laugh if I speak.*
I can feel my heart pounding when its my turn to speak in a group.*
PART B
1 Tell us about a time when you felt really confident speaking in English. Why d
o you think you felt that way?
2 Tell us about a time when you felt quite uncomfortable speaking in English. Wh
y do you think you felt that way?
PART C
3 Lets look at these questions:
In an English class, how do you feel in the following situations?
The teacher asks you a question in front of the entire class.
The teacher asks you to find/choose a partner.
The teacher asks you to speak with a partner.
The teacher asks you to have a small group discussion.
You have a question to ask in front of the entire class.
PART D
1 What can teachers do to make you feel more comfortable? What can students do?
What characteristics does your instructor have which tend to reduce you anxiety a
bout speaking in class?
2 Do you have any strategies that you use to boost your confidence and decrease
your anxiety?
REFERENCES
1) Boynton,Mark-Boynton,Christine.(2005).Educators Guide to Preventing and Solvi
ng Discipline Problems.USA.Assosiation for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. (book reference)
2) Matthew,Apple,T. (2013).Using Rasch Analysis to Create and Evaluate Measurem
ents Instruments for Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety Scale ( questio
nnaire established from internet articles)
3) Occhipinti,Alessia.October 30 (2009).Foreign Language Anxiety in Class Speak
ing Activities.Oslo in partial fulfilment of requirements.A thesis presented to
the Department of Literature.Area Studies and Europian Languages (article
from internet)
4) Osboe,Sarah.Fujimura,Tomoko & Hirschal,Rob.October (2007).Students Confidenc
e and Anxiety in l2 Speaking Activities.Japan.kanda university of
In
ternational Chiba.(article from internet)
5) Tsiplakides,Iakovos.Keramida,Arti.November (2009).Helping Students Overcome
Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety in the English Classroom.Theoretical
Iss
ues and Practical Recommendations.Greece.International Education Studies. vol 2.
no.4.(book reference)