Özet:

A considerable body of research points to the fact that communication apprehension is either a cause or a result of poor performance in foreign language. However, despite the large number of congested classrooms throughout the developing world, no significant attempt has been made to address speaking anxiety in overcrowded classrooms. The present mixed-method study was an endeavour in the same direction. We took an overcrowded class of 68 students in a public sector school in Pakistan and experimented with a low anxiety setting in which there were minimal chances of communication apprehension. In addition to the experiment, data from the observation was also used in order to cross validate the findings of the experiment. It was found that the students took more interest in learning English in a low anxiety setting. The findings from the interview also pointed to the fact that language learning gets easier once the affective filter is lowered. The study suggests some strategies to cope with communication apprehension in overcrowded classrooms.

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