XIII Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2021

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, the government of Kazakhstan implemented the plan of distant learning since 16th March. The forced measures of the pandemic have impacted on learning processes dramatically. Today, teaching online has become a challenging task, since it arises the problems that learners and educators have never faced in real classrooms.

We should emphasize that the effectiveness of both online and face-to-face lessons is largely determined by the ability of students to express their thoughts in English and to speak. The complexity of training stems from learners' fear of speaking English in the online classroom. Therefore, the most important factor that we must consider in this research is students’ speaking anxiety or glossophobia.

In terms of foreign language teaching, glossophobia is the main barrier hindering the students to participate in speaking tasks actively [1, P 114]. It is a common case, when students know the words or phrases related to the topic of the lesson or know the answer to the question but keep silent because of their shyness and fear of making mistakes. According to the research of Suleimenova Z., speaking anxiety of Kazakhstani foreign language learners plays a significant role in the classroom.

Kazakhstani school-students with a high level of speaking anxiety tend to speak and participate less in the language classroom [2, P 1863]. Thus, it is crucial to define in this research the essence of the learners' uneasiness of online public speaking and to develop motivational strategies that facilitate learning process.

For deeper investigating the problem we have conducted initially online surveys due to SurveyMonkey about distant learning among L.N. Gumilyov ENU students of fourth course group FL42.

The survey has been done during the Fall semester for 26 students.

Based on the obtained results, it can be observed that only 16, 67% of students are confident in their speaking skills and 44, 44 % have problems with speaking anxiety in online classroom, while teacher's help and support are required for 38.89% of learners.

I am afraid to speak I can speak on familiar topics I am confident

with teacher’s support in my speaking skills

Diagram 1 – How do you feel speaking in online class?

Therefore, since the level of students’ confidence impact on their involvement in classroom activities, it is crucial to define the essence of the learners' uneasiness of speaking in this research,

To begin with, we have to reveal the cause of learners' anxiety. Analyzing the survey results, the following reasons were defined:

I am afraid of I can’t use grammar I mispronounce I have poor

making mistakes rules in speech the words vocabulary

Diagram 2– Why do you feel afraid to speak during the lesson?

Since glossophobia is defined as a combination of the feeling of hesitation, shyness and fear, the reasons of students’ speaking anxiety are rotted in psychological factors that hinder them from speaking English in the classes [3, P 143].

The results of the survey have shown that psychological roots of students’ glossophobia is the feeling of discomfort and embarrassment usually caused by the fear of failure and making mistakes during speaking English. The lack of learners' confidence stems from poor vocabulary, inability to use basic expressions and grammar rules during oral activities. In addition, the overwhelming majority of learners’ are not confident in their pronunciation. 

As a result, glossophobia and anxiety lead to the formation of mental block against the development of students' speaking proficiency. Therefore, the fundamental task of teachers is to guide students in developing their confidence in spoken language skills by using modern motivational strategies to help learners to overcome anxiety during speaking tasks.

Distant learning is intertwined with students' and the level of their interest in the learning process. According to Dornyei Z., students’ motivation is the most challenging task of modern teacher since it plays an extremely important role in determining the successfulness of the lesson.

Motivational strategies refer to teaching techniques that encourage the students' behavior related to the goals of the lessons [4, P 27]. For the successful implementation of motivational strategies in the learning process, it is necessary to take into account the following elements of motivation considering by Dornyei Z.:

1. The reason why students prefer certain types of classroom activities;

2. The duration of time during which students preserve to perform a particular task;

3. The amount of effort required for students to complete a task [5, P 27].

The results of the speaking instructions rely not only on the teachers' pedagogical skills and language proficiency but also on the ability to use different motivational strategies to involve students in speaking activities, increasing the level of their willingness to communicate.

Students' willingness to communicate and the level of their motivation define the frequency of speaking target language in classrooms. Willingness to communicate is a crucial element of speech communication that affects the learners' predisposition to speak in the language classrooms.

Students with a high level of willingness to communicate demonstrate enthusiasm and motivation to speak English in the classroom and increase the opportunities to practice language skills, while the absence of students' desire inhibits successful communication. Taking into account the issue of learners' glossophobia, the teacher should use stimulating approaches to reduce students' foreign language speaking anxiety and to promote their willingness to communicate [6, P 210].

The participants of our survey were asked to choose the aspects of learning that stimulate them to speak in the classroom:

Friendly Interesting Games The usage of Motivational

atmosphere questions digital tools affirmations

Diagram 3– What motivates you to participate in speaking activities?

Based on the results of our survey and considerations of theoretical findings, we conclude that teachers should conduct online lesson considering three main features of learning:

Creating a positive environment in online class;

Usage of interactive games and quick question activities in teaching speaking;

Teachers’ support and affirmations.

In conclusion, it can be observed that all of these factors are closely related to the teachers’ personality and teacher-students relationships. It is crucial to remember that learning and teaching are not only about the process of receiving instructions and gaining knowledge but it is also about social relationships. In the line with these findings, students’ motivation can be presented as a dynamic model of external influences with the teachers at the center of motivators factors.

Therefore, the teacher's task is to create the conditions of the lessons that promote the development of students' speaking skills with the sense of support. In order to motivate learners, teachers should consider every student as a person with different needs and educational experience. Considering the individual features of students, teachers gain a helpful instrument of motivation that will reduce the level of students’ glossophobia.

References

Tuspekova A. English Oral Communication in Public Secondary Schools in Kazakhstan: Understanding its Practice and Challenges. The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies (2018) vol. 24(2) pp. 112–126

 Suleimenova Z. Speaking anxiety in a foreign language classroom in Kazakhstan. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 (2013) pp. 1860–1868

Intan A., Ariffudin I., Mulawarman M.Psychological Experience Dynamics of Students with Glossophobia through Narrative Counseling as seen from Gender: A Qualitative Study. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (2018) vol. 113 (2) pp. 141–145

Dorney Z. Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press (2001) (PDF)

Dornyei Z., Ryan S. The psychology of the language learner revisited (2015) (PDF)

Hashimoto Y. Motivation and willingness to communicate as predictors of reported L2. The Palgrave handbook of motivation for language learning (2020) vol. 5 (13) pp. 203–223

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