Academic Speaking Anxiety and Motivation: Prospective EFL Teachers’ Strategy Use

This study was aimed to explore techniques and strategies for teaching academic speaking, how an EFL teacher could motivate learners to speak, and how they can reduce learners’ anxiety. The participants were pre-service teachers who were graduate students of TEFL at Iran University of Science and Technology. The instruments of the study were six open-ended questions about strategies for teaching academic speaking, motivating learners, and reducing their anxiety. Regarding methods of teaching speaking, EFL pre-service teachers suggested collaborative activities in pairs, groups, or in whole class discussion, giving students formulaic speech patterns, and using authentic materials such as videos, podcasts, newspapers, and articles. Moreover, some of the strategies recommended for motivating learners included collaborative tasks, boosting studentparticipation, enhancing student talking time, and providing constructive feedback. With regard to reducing learners' anxiety, considering mistakes as a natural part of learning, creating a non-threatening atmosphere and having friendly relationship with students were some of the strategies suggested by pre-service teachers. Some implications for EFL teacher educators are also provided in this study.

Keywords:

academic speaking , speaking anxiety , motivation , pre-service teachers , strategy use