Abstract:

One of the main challenges in achieving EFL oral proficiency is rooted in speaking anxiety, particularly in the Turkish context. Therefore, testing various methods to find a way to decrease speaking anxiety levels is of great importance. To serve this purpose, this mixed-methods quasi-experimental study was conducted to investigate the TPRS method's impact on young adult EFL students’ speaking anxiety and self-assessed speaking skills. The quantitative data were gathered from 74 freshmen and sophomores in English-speaking courses in the faculty of tourism through a speaking anxiety questionnaire (Öztürk Gürbüz, 2014) and the self-assessment rubric (Başak, 2019). In addition to the quantitative data, students were asked open-ended questions to shed more light on the issue from their perspective. The qualitative data were obtained from 19 volunteer students through semi-structured written interview questions. The statistical analyses of the quantitative data showed that the participants’ self-perceptions regarding their English-speaking performance slightly improved; however, their speaking anxiety significantly decreased. The qualitative results also revealed positive outcomes of TPRS in EFL speaking courses. The study is expected to encourage EFL teachers to benefit from TPRS in their courses to promote speaking skills by decreasing speaking anxiety levels among students.

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