ASSESSING VERBAL ENGLISH ANXIETY IN LEARNERS AT HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL FROM THE STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE: A QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Salahuddin, Afsheen; Quraishi, Uzma; Kazi, Asma Shahid

:: International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies

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ISSN 2228-9860
eISSN 1906-9642
CODEN: ITJEA8

FEATURE PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE

Vol.10(17) (2019)

ASSESSING VERBAL ENGLISH ANXIETY IN LEARNERS AT HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL FROM THE STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE: A QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Afsheen Salahuddin(Department of Education, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, PAKISTAN, and University of Central Punjab, PAKISTAN),
Uzma Quraishi ( Department of Education, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, PAKISTAN), and
Asma Shahid Kazi (Department of Professional Studies, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, PAKISTAN).

➤ FullText

DOI: 10.14456/ITJEMAST.2019.237

Keywords: English class; Interaction in English; Learner's conversational skill; Communicative activities; English unease.
Abstract

Like other countries, Pakistan is struggling for an ideal model for English language teaching in their educational institute. The English language is developing as a persuasive mode of interaction. In Pakistan English language is the second language; therefore, verbal English unease is common among the learners. This research has been conducted in the city of Lahore, Pakistan and it is mixed method research. Learners' views regarding the usage of the communicating behaviors for the advancement of their verbal English skills were collected through the closed-ended questionnaire i.e. foreign language class unease scale developed by Elaine Horwitz (1987). It was a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test research. A whole group of forty learners was divided equally into one monitor group and two experimental groups. The research aimed to see the effect of the communicative activities on the learners' verbal English confidence level from the learners' perspective. This study investigated many factors leading to unease among learners whilst they conversed in a foreign language. The results showed that communicative activities enhance confidence and reduce unease while speaking a foreign language. The research also pinpoints that the institutes that do not encourage their learners to interact in the English language often have learners who do not have good conversational skills in English. The findings of the research have shown that the learners' confidence level in verbal English was enhanced when they were taught communicative activities in every English language class. Thus it is proposed that communicative activities should be incorporated into the English language classes. The research also recommends that English language teachers should also be trained well in their verbal English skills.

Paper ID: 10A17K

Cite this article:

Salahuddin, A., Quraishi, U., Kazi, A. S. (2019). ASSESSING VERBAL ENGLISH ANXIETY IN LEARNERS AT HIGHER EDUCATION LEVEL FROM THE STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE: A QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH. International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, & Applied Sciences & Technologies, 10(17), 10A17K, 1-10. http://doi.org/10.14456/ITJEMAST.2019.237

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