The use of role- plays to reduce ESL students speaking anxiety : a case study of grade six Bhutanese classroom

Abstract

Speaking anxiety is a major concern for the debilitating effect on English-speaking competency in English as a second language (ESL) classroom. The lack of speaking competency due to speaking anxiety is an increasing challenge in the Bhutanese education system although English is the primary medium of education. The study aimed to investigate the level of speaking anxiety in ESL grade six Bhutanese students after employing role-plays. Furthermore, it explores the opinions of students on the effectiveness of role-plays to reduce speaking anxiety. The researcher administered the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) to find out the level of anxiety in the current ESL grade six classroom. Four lesson plans integrating role-plays were employed for the treatment sessions. In addition, the study used classroom observation forms and focus group discussion questions to evaluate 30 informants on the effectiveness of role-plays in reducing speaking anxiety. To interpret the collected data, the study used a comparative statistical analysis of the pre-survey and post-survey, and grounded theory. The researcher employed mixed methods research methodology. The analyzed report on the comparative statistical analysis of the pre-survey and post-survey showed the significance level (p) 0.001 (less than significant level p<0.05) indicating statistically significant in reducing speaking anxiety. This study further discussed a number of implications for students, language teachers, and curriculum developers on role-plays implementation