Abstract
To find out the components and levels of cognitive anxiety among Omani learners, 110 participants were selected in three proficiency levels: elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate. To collect the data, a questionnaire adapted from Thomas et al. (2017) Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS-2) was used and some statistical analysis was run to measure other variables including gender and English proficiency levels on the amount of cognitive anxiety that students experience during speaking examinations. The results of the study revealed that lack of confidence and sleep, fear of failure, and immediate feedback were the primary sources of anxiety at either average or high levels during the speaking examination sessions. In addition, the study could not find any effect of gender on anxiety. The elementary English proficiency level students suffer more during the speaking examination. The results suggest that teachers provide a comfortable examination environment by fostering some jokes and laughter. Punctuality of examiners, and giving one or two minutes extra to exceptional cases assist in stress reduction during speaking examinations. In addition, the findings suggest that institutions and curriculum developers prepare semi-authentic speaking examination situations to reduce the cognitive elements of test anxiety by designing game-based speaking tasks.
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