exploring learners' foreign language anxiety during oral tests:the case of third year licence students at the english language department of mohammed seddik ben yahia university -jijel

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating learners’ Foreign Language Anxiety in oral tests. The research in hand, then, aims to explore the level of anxiety among foreign language learners. This study is based on the hypothesis that high levels of anxiety lead to learners’ poor performance when being orally tested. Therefore, in order to test this hypothesis and to answer the research questions, three data gathering tools were implemented: a questionnaire of Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1986), a stimulated recall interview, and a semi-structured interview. The questionnaire was administered to sixty three third year LMD students of English language at Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia University of Jijel. The stimulated recall interview was conducted with forty students from the population, and the semi structured-interview was done with six teachers of oral expression module at the English Language Department of Jijel University. The analysis of data revealed that most students were more anxious in oral tests due to communication apprehension, the fear of negative evaluation, negative self-perceptions, and the fear of failing tests. Finally, the study ends with proposing some coping strategies along with further future recommendations for both students and teachers to reduce learners’ anxiety to improve their performance in oral test