The examination of the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students and the opinions of teachers on speech anxiety

Abstract

Speaking skill which is one of the four basic skills of language education is the most natural and common communication tool that individuals use in expressing themselves and fulfilling their needs. Additionally, speaking is a determinant attribute that distinguishes humans from other living beings. Speech anxiety is one of the most important conditions that negatively affect interpersonal communication and public speaking. In this study, the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students and the reasons for students' speech anxiety, the conditions in which speech anxiety is observed, and the solutions of teachers were scrutinized. In the research, mixed method was used since it allows more in-depth examination. In this method, the sequential explanatory design was used. The first stage of the study was conducted with 546 middle school students in order to determine the relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of middle school students. The second stage of the study was conducted with 20 teachers working in the same school that students are studying in order to determine the conditions that speech anxiety is observed, the reasons of these conditions, and the activities that teachers perform in order to eliminate speech anxiety with the opinions of teachers. The data collection tools of the study consist of personal information form, speech anxiety scale, speaking skill attitudes scale and interview form. In the analysis of the quantitative data, the IBM SPSS statistical program was used. The data that was obtained with the written interview form was transferred to MAXQDA 12 qualitative data analysis program and analyzed using the content analysis technique. According to the results of the study, there was a negative significant relationship between the speech anxiety and speaking skill attitudes of the students. Furthermore, teachers stated that they observe speech anxiety in students when they are speaking in front of a group, the reasons of speech anxiety are mostly the fear of being mocked and lack of self-confidence and that they create more appropriate speech subjects and Anxiety environments in order to eliminate speech anxiety.