The effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ English speaking anxiety: A qualitative study

Aileene May R Flores; Geronimo S Obaob

The effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ English speaking anxiety: A qualitative study

Authors
Aileene May R Flores, Geronimo S Obaob

Abstract
This is a qualitative research study that descriptively discovered the effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ English speaking anxiety, which was being addressed by determining (1) the teachers’ attitudes towards students in terms of their English speaking performance and English speaking anxiety, (2) and students’ feelings about their teachers’ attitudes during their English speaking performance. An interview questionnaire comprised of open-ended questions was utilized to interview the 15 student and 6 teacher participants of this study, who are currently connected from the two prestigious universities in Cebu, Philippines. The results of the interview yielded the following effects of teachers’ attitudes on students’ English speaking anxiety in a summary: (a) students get agitated during their English speaking performance when they perceive their teachers as strict, unapproachable, perfectionist, and such, (b) teachers’ student-friendly approach and interactive instructional strategies help alleviate students’ English speaking anxiety, and (c) teachers as stern and firm monitors of students’ language use make students more conscious of themselves that drives them to be extensively scared of committing mistakes and not meeting their teachers’ expectations. Out from the gathered verbal data and results, this study concluded that teachers are indeed major determinants of students’ English speaking anxiety. The exhibited behavioral and instructional attitudes of teachers take a large sector in the rise of students’ fear and apprehension in using the target language orally, which ripples on their English speaking performance. Therefore, a list of effective teaching strategies in alleviating students’ English speaking anxiety was developed by the researcher as an output of the study.

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