An experimental study on the role of creative drama in alleviating language anxiety in speaking classes with reference to teachers' and learners' perceptions of language anxiety

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify the language anxiety level of students, explore students? and teachers? perceptions of language anxiety in speaking classes and seek an alternative way to reduce language anxiety in speaking classes at the School of Foreign Languages at Karadeniz Technical University. First of all, to have an overall picture of the school in terms of language anxiety, the Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety Scale (an adapted version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) was administered to 565 students who were randomly selected from different levels, namely beginner, pre-intermediate and intermediate. Next, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 students and 20 speaking teachers to get their perceptions of language anxiety in speaking courses. The students for the interviews were randomly selected and a purposive sampling procedure was employed in the selection of the teachers. After all these, a one-group pre-test/post-test study was carried out with 22 randomly selected students who attended a 6-week creative drama program run by the researcher who received creative drama and leadership training for 123 hours. The FLSAS was administered to the participants before and after the 6-week study, and the findings were compared to see the impact of the treatment. The findings from the questionnaires were analyzed through the SPSS and the interviews were analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The results reveal that there is not a significant difference when speaking classroom performance grades and anxiety levels are correlated. Another finding from the questionnaires is that females were found to be more anxious than males according to the FLSAS. Although the females were found to be more anxious than the males, their speaking performance grades were found to be significantly better than the males. Moreover, a statistically significant decrease was found in the language anxiety levels of students who participated in the creative drama program. The study also elaborates on the possible sources, effects and manifestations of anxiety with reference to the findings from the questionnaires and interviews carried out with students and teachers.