Anxiety and oral performance in a foreign language test situation

Abstract This research investigates a situation specific anxiety: oral examination anxiety in a foreign language learning situation. It examines how a particular type of language anxiety - anxiety in oral communication - impacts on the learner’s oral performance. The subjects are first year Japanese language students at tertiary level in Australia. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to measure the students’: a) anxiety in foreign language classes, b) their anxiety toward oral examinations, and c) the anxiety they actually felt in an oral examination. The objectives of the study were to investigate relations between anxiety and scores in oral examinations. The results indicated that state anxiety can be a strong predictor of learners’ performance in an examination. However, the subjects’ trait anxiety had also both direct and indirect influence over their oral performance. A cause-effect relation among trait anxiety, oral performance, and state anxiety (MacIntyre and Gardner 1989) was also observed in this study.

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Using Precision Teaching Method to Improve Foreign Language and Cognitive Skills in University Students

International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence ◽

10.4018/jdldc.2011100104 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 50-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Francesca Cuzzocrea ◽

Anna Maria Murdaca ◽

Patrizia Oliva

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Oral Communication ◽

Precision Teaching ◽

English Grammar ◽

Grammatical Accuracy

Learning a foreign language takes time and effort. In the last few years, too much emphasis has been placed on oral communication skills and English teachers make their students speak English without paying enough attention to grammatical accuracy. As a result, while students’ ability in terms of fluency has improved, they often cannot communicate appropriately in English due to a lack of grammatical knowledge. The aim of the study was to explore the potential of Precision Teaching software developed for the improvement of English grammar rules. Two groups were compared, one having used the software and the other following a traditional textbook-based approach. The students who used the software showed significantly higher learning scores than students who did not. In addition, after using the software students show increased scores in some cognitive abilities that are related to foreign language learning.

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Shaping the quality of second language learning: Students’ perspective

SHS Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/shsconf/20184801071 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 ◽

pp. 01071

Author(s):

Irina M. Solodkova ◽

Elena V. Grigorieva ◽

Liliya R. Ismagilova

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Language Education ◽

Oral Communication ◽

Well Being ◽

Foreign Language Education ◽

Two Phase ◽

Learning And Teaching

The paper dwells on the problem of identifying the most crucial factors affecting the quality of foreign language learning from the students’ perspective. Quality foreign language education is a disputable issue in 21 century due to the increased global workforce competition. Human capital has a great impact on education as an important factor in shaping a new quality of country’s economy and well-being of society. Foreign language skill is an integral component of highly qualified professionals as the global economic processes make them participate in cross-border business communication. In these conditions the aim of higher education establishments is to provide quality of language learning and teaching that allows future specialists not to distort the meaning in written and oral communication within their professional framework. The two-phase survey conducted among 67 students of the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance of the Kazan Federal University provided with quantitative data. The respondents ranked differently the factors determining the quality of language learning and teaching responses after two years of completing their foreign language education and were generally satisfied with the quality of service rendered. The obtained results give optimistic forecasts regarding the improvement of foreign language education and help reconsider the way of teaching a foreign language basing on the chosen factors.

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Using Precision Teaching Method to Improve Foreign Language and Cognitive Skills in University Students

Fostering 21st Century Digital Literacy and Technical Competency ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-2943-1.ch014 ◽

2013 ◽

pp. 201-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Francesca Cuzzocrea ◽

Anna Maria Murdaca ◽

Patrizia Oliva

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Cognitive Skills ◽

Teaching Method ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Oral Communication ◽

Precision Teaching ◽

English Grammar ◽

Grammatical Accuracy ◽

Grammar Rules

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ON ORAL ATTAINMENT IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Scripta Neophilologica Posnaniensia ◽

10.14746/snp.2019.19.10 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

pp. 117-133

Author(s):

Magdalena Pospieszyńska-Wojtkowiak

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Classroom Interaction ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Foreign Language Learning ◽

Oral Communication ◽

Whole Process ◽

Main Determinants ◽

Teaching Programs ◽

Oral Skills

The article is devoted to oral attainment in a foreign language. It revises the term speaking, and explains its difficult role, yet fundamental both in teaching and in learning. Although oral communication is not easy to success in, it is, inevitably, one of the main determinants of students’ achievements in a classroom situation. The article presents what happens during a typical classroom interaction situation, emphasizing the cooperation between the speaker and the listener, quoting Grice’s (1975) four maxims governing the cooperation in communication, namely, the maxim of quantity, quality, relation and manner. Then, various features, factors and functions related to speaking are enumerated, underlining the difficult role of speaking in the whole process of foreign language learning. According to Common European Framework (Council of Europe 2001), all the features of spoken language, also mediating and interaction, are important in designing speaking tasks/tests, setting the assessment criteria, establishing and organizing principles and curricula for the teaching programs. The last section of the article is devoted to assessing oral skills, hence different approaches and scales are presented as examples, together with a brief explanation of the constructs of reliability and validity is speaking assessment. Special reliability and validity procedures have to be employed by test designers in order to obtain objectivity of the scores.

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