The Impact of Co-teaching on Learners’ Speaking Anxiety: The Case of Young EFL Learners in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Hsu, Yen-Tin, 徐嬿婷
• Other Authors: Wu, Mei-Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/mw8hup

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 105 === Since the beginning of 21 century, more and more schools in Taiwan have implemented co-teaching classroom, having both native English-speaking teachers (ETAs) and non-native English-speaking teachers cooperate together. More research have delved into how to make this cooperation better but few investigated students’ language anxiety, which is an important variable that could impede students’ learning outcome and teaching effectiveness. This study intends to explore the impact of English teacher assistants on their learners’ foreign language anxiety in the co-teaching classroom in Taiwan. Two research questions were addressed at the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ language learning anxiety and the relationship between students’ learning anxiety and their speaking performance. To answer the research question, 68 ETAs, 140 LETs and 4970 learners in Taiwan completed the adapted FLCAS (Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale) questionnaires. Two schools in the northern area of Taiwan was selected as the observation sites and selected students took oral pre and posttest to investigate the relationship between language anxiety and speaking performance. Data were collected through a mixed method, using mainly quantitative approach with qualitative approach complementing it. Based on the data of the adapted questionnaire, oral performance, classroom observation, interviews and field notes, results revealed that ETAs’ impact was shown in two aspects. Creating more opportunities to communicate in English and ETAs’ encouraging feedback led to the reduction of learners’ speaking anxiety. Also, ETAs had positive influence on students’ speaking performance, improving both their fluency and accuracy. However, there were still some areas that needed more attention such as general anxiety, which did not have lots of reduction in this study. By examining learners’ and teachers’ perceptions toward language anxiety in the co-teaching classroom, this study hopes to raise the awareness of the importance of language anxiety in co-teaching classroom and further facilitate co-teaching program in Taiwan.