Abbas Ali Zarei - Imam Khomeini International University
Hossein Rezadoust - Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, Imam Khomeini International University

Speaking in a foreign language has always been, and still is, one of the most anxiety inducing activities. This speaking anxiety may be both the result or the cause of low self-efficacy in speaking. Finding ways of improving the speaking self-efficacy and reducing speaking anxiety has long been a concern among teaching practitioners. The present study was an attempt to investigate the comparative effects of scaffolded and un-scaffolded feedback on EFL learners’ speaking anxiety and self-efficacy. The participants were ۹۰ intermediate male EFL learners at Safir Language Institute in Tehran who were selected out of a total number of ۱۲۰ participants who took a standard PET test. The participants were divided into two experimental groups and one control group. They were given questionnaires of speaking anxiety and speaking self-efficacy as pretests followed by ۱۰ sessions of treatment using scaffolded feedback, un-scaffolded feedback and no feedback. Then, they filled out the same questionnaires as posttests. The collected data were analyzed using the one-way ANCOVA procedure. It was observed that scaffolded feedback could reduce the amount of speaking anxiety, while increasing speaking self-efficacy. This was followed by un-scaffolded feedback, which was presented through recast. These findings have theoretical implications for researchers and theoreticians as well as pedagogical implications for language teachers and learners.

Scaffolded Feedback, Speaking Anxiety, Speaking Self-efficacy, Un-scaffolded Feedback