Classroom environment influences in speaking anxiety levels

Abstract

Speaking anxiety is present and persists innumerable in schools, high schools, or even universities, no matter whether public or private they are. Speaking anxiety may stem from different sources and affect each individual student differently. The research for this study was done through the use of a quantitative students' questionnaire based on the Language Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) administered to 23 students (14 male and 9 female) from the tenth grade of Basica Superior of Colegio de Bachillerato Asaad Bucaram, before and after the classroom intervention. The study started with a classroom visit to determine what kind of environment the students perform the activities. The instrument used was a classroom visit file. The findings suggest that the changes experienced by students in the classroom modified the previous results, about 4,4% of the anxiety level among students was reduced in both the Low Language Anxiety (LLA) category and High Language Anxiety (HLA) category. In genre differences before classroom intervention, girls were more anxious than boys in certain items when speaking in class. However, the results changed after the intervention. Boys showed more anxiety than girls. Further research may be needed to understand the specific factors contributing to these changes in anxiety levels and gender differences.

Keywords

• foreign speaking anxiety
• classroom environment
• classroom intervention