The impact of anxiety and motivation on students’ oral performance:

Abstract

Speaking a foreign language requires its users being equipped with a given level of linguistic competence attuned with a communicative competence so as to express their thoughts correctly and effectively. However, it is commonly observed that EFL students are reluctant to talk in the target language, in a number of occasions, due to fear of making mistakes or falling short of using appropriate words and expressions viable for fitting in a given communicative situation. The present dissertation is a psychologically-driven attempt to identify the main affective-based factors that trigger second year students’ low level of oral performance in English speaking classes at Medea University. This study is an exploratory case study which has harnessed two main tools of data collections, students’ questionnaire and teachers’ interview. Both instruments were addressed to second- year LMD students and teachers of oral expression in the Department of English, Yahia Fares University. The results reveal that anxiety and motivation are two critically provoking factors behind students’ low level of oral production. The analysis of these factors led to suggest that what we believed is likely to reduce speaking inhibition among EFL students.