ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEAKING ANXIETY OF EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AND THEIR STRATEGY USE: EVIDENCE FROM A MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT

Abstract

Speaking is regarded as one of the most anxiety-inducing factors of a foreign or second language acquisition. A growing number of empirical studies have been carried out to capture the challenges that non-English major students encounter while speaking English. However, there remains a scarcity of research on students’ speaking difficulties receiving a teaching qualification for the English language. There is also a dearth of research on the language learning strategies (LLSs) employed by future English teachers to handle the constraints of their speaking anxiety. Thus, this qualitative study sought to investigate a group of EFL pre-service teachers' English language speaking anxiety and the specific LLSs they employed to handle this issue. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the following research questions needed to be addressed: 1) What challenges did a group of EFL pre-service teachers face in speaking English? 2) Why were they encountering these difficulties? 3) What strategies did they employ to tackle these challenges? It was theoretically guided by A. N. Leontiev’s (1981) version of activity theory and R. L. Oxford’s (1990) classification of LLSs. Due to COVID 19 pandemic, the data were collected online from eight undergraduate Kazakhstani students, using two qualitative research methods: narrative writing and semi-structured online interviews. Clarke and Braun’s (2013) systematic guidelines for conducting thematic analysis were adopted to analyze and interpret the data. The study findings revealed that the participants’ speaking challenges were mainly attributed to linguistic, psychological, and environmental factors, including “insufficient inventory of English vocabulary,” “lack of self-confidence” and “fear of receiving negative evaluation from important others.” Related to this, the participants reported that grammar-translation methods used by language instructors, infrequent speaking tasks, and incapacity to use only English during practice had a detrimental effect on their English language speaking improvement. Therefore, this qualitative study suggests that the teacher education curricula need to be constructed to match the needs of students and incorporate a diversity of academic assignments that help them enhance their L2 speaking proficiency rather than just learning the target language by completing grammar tasks. From the findings of this study, pedagogical implications and areas of further research such as considering the multiple voices (e.g., university instructors, private tutors, parents, and students) on the phenomenon of language speaking anxiety have been suggested. Key words: English as a foreign language (EFL), pre-service Kazakhstani teachers, English language speaking anxiety, sociocultural language learning perspectives; a qualitative inquiry