영어 학습자의 말하기 불안, 의사소통 전략, 의사소통 과업 선호도

Abstract

This study examined if and to what extent Korean middle school students’ speakinganxiety was associated with their communication strategies and speaking taskpreferences. In a survey conducted with 224 middle school students, the students withhigh levels of anxiety displayed lower levels of task preferences while using morecommunication strategies than their counterparts. As to the relationship among thethree variables, the study found positive correlations between two kinds of speakinganxiety (communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation) and two types ofstrategy (reduction strategy, achievement strategy). In contrast, negative correlationswere noted between the two kinds of speaking anxiety and preferences for three typesof tasks (presentation, practice, production task). Interestingly, the reduction strategywas negatively correlated with task preferences, whereas the achievement strategy waspositively correlated with task preferences. In addition, the findings from the multipleregression analysis indicate that communication strategy predicted learner preferencesfor all the three task types. The findings suggest that teachers should provide speakingtasks learners prefer, and help them use achievement strategies while performing tasks.