Mitigating Anxiety and Enhancing Oral Performance in the Algerian EFL Classroom

Abstract

Speaking a foreign language in an academic setting is one of the most challenging tasks among Algerian EFL learners who lack fluency in the target language. The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, it tries to discover the principal reasons behind the learners’ feeling of anxiety when performing orally in class. Second, it attempts to maintain a supportive relationship between students and teachers in order to improve the learners’ oral performance and mitigate anxiety. Through the use of two questionnaires administered to teachers and second year graduate students from the department of English and studying at Belhadj Bouchaib University, data were gathered and analyzed via a mixed- method approach embracing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The findings revealed that anxiety is omnipresent among the learners who are supposed to perform orally in class, and it is only via better teachers’ sociability that the students may avoid anxiety and improve their oral performance.