General Introduction:

1-Background of the study:

In today’s world, people became more connected to each other,

thanks to the development of social media and transportation. As a

consequence, it became a must for people to learn foreign languages,

especially English, since it is the most utilised one, for communicative

purposes. As a result, both EFL teachers and students pay more

attention to speaking as the most critical communicative skill.

Nevertheless, students of English as a second language suffer from

expressing themselves orally when they are chosen to speak.

Researchers introduced many new approaches and techniques to

enhance the role of learners in the educational process, such as Dialogic

Teaching, which is the concern of this study.

2-Purpose of the study:

This study seeks to examine the effectiveness of Dialogic

Teaching on reducing EFL classes speaking anxiety. Besides, this paper

tends to grasp teachers' attention to the significance of solving speaking

problems through the intensive use of dialogues.

3-statement of the problem:

In stereotype EFL classrooms, teachers tend to use traditional

teaching methods and focus on grammar rules, while students’

1
comprehension is assessed on papers during exams or tests. This way of

teaching does not improve students speaking skills. It rather contributes

to creating speaking problems, which lead eventually to what is known

as speaking anxiety. Dialogic teaching focuses foremost on improving

speaking skills by encouraging dialogues during the learning process

between the teacher and his students and between students

themselves. This research aims to test the impact of the Dialogic

Approach on reducing EFL Learners’ speaking anxiety. Moreover, a core

aspiration of this study is to give this approach its real value in

education and keep working on developing new ones that focus mainly

on speaking skills to improve students’ confidence, participation, and

understanding.

4-Research questions:

According to what we have mentioned, this study will try to answer

the following main question:

 Can the use of Dialogic Teaching reduce speaking anxiety in EFL

classrooms?

These sub-questions are relevant in this research for better

answering the main one:

 What are the principles of Dialogic Teaching that are involved in

reducing speaking anxiety among EFL learners?

 To what extent are students engaged in a Dialogic Teaching

classroom?

2
5-Research Hypothesis:

In order to find out whether Dialogic Teaching reduces speaking

anxiety, the following three hypotheses are to be tested:

 Dialogic Teaching reduces speaking anxiety in EFL classrooms.

 Teachers let students work in groups, share ideas without fear of

wrong answers, ask questions about relevant topics to their daily

life, and set specific goals to be achieved at the end of the

dialogue.

 Students participate more in a Dialogic Teaching classroom.

6-Methodology of the study :

This study is an attempt to explore the effectiveness of using the

Dialogic Approach to reduce speaking anxiety among EFL learners. So, a

randomly chosen group of second-year English students at ENSL is the

sample of this study (GROUP, NUM OF STUD).

Taking into account the nature of this research and in order to

have more authentic results, a mixed-method study is conducted by the

use of a pre-test, a post-test, and observation methods.

A pre-test takes place in a regular speaking session, while the

post-test is done after the use of Dialogic Teaching in order to find the

changes that may occur. Moreover, an observation will follow the

experiment from the beginnings till the end in order to compare

students’ outcomes before and after the implementation of Dialogic

3
Teaching as an approach of reducing speaking anxiety. In addition,

statistical software, SPSS, is used to illuminate the findings.

7-The structure of the study :

This dissertation is divided into a general introduction, two

chapters, and a general conclusion. The general introduction states the

research design by providing the essential elements, which are the

introduction, the problem statement, the aims of the study, the

significance of the study, the research questions, the hypothesis, and

the research methodology.

The first chapter, the review of literature, tackles the two

variables: the dialogic approach and speaking anxiety in EFL classes. In

the beginning, the theoretical background of the dialogic approach gives

a general idea about this variable. Then, it goes through the definition,

principles, techniques, historical and theoretical background of the

dialogic teaching besides the teachers’ and students’ roles while using

it. After that, a review of the literature concerning the second variable,

the speaking anxiety in EFL classes, covers all aspects of that variable

starting by the definition of speaking and its importance in EFL classes

to explaining anxiety, in general, then, anxiety in EFL classes with its

types and components. Moreover, it defines the foreign language

speaking anxiety, its signs, reasons, consequences, and techniques

which help to overcome it. Furthermore, it gives ways to implement the

dialogic approach in the curriculum, targeting reducing the speaking

4
anxiety in particular. Last but not least, the conclusion sums up all the

work that has been done in this chapter.

The second chapter, the practical part, is divided into two main

parts. The first one deals with the description of the methodology by

presenting the settings of the study, data gathering tools, and data

analysis ones. Besides, in this part, the researchers focus on the study

sample paying attention to the concepts of validity and reliability. The

second main part of this chapter presents the analysis and

interpretation of the collected data without forgetting to use statistical

analysis by the SPSS software for more explanation. Through this

analysis, the research hypotheses are validated or rejected.

The general conclusion approves or disapproves of the hypothesis

that is set in this research above. It also summarises the research

process and links the findings to the current educational system by

giving the pedagogical implication of this study and recommendations

for the next researches.

8- The significance of the study:

By shedding light on the development of means of communication

such as social media and putting into consideration that English leads

the new world’s different fields. The English language takes part in most

educational systems internationally, especially for speaking goals. This

is why researchers aimed to develop new teaching approaches ( such as

the dialogic approach), paying attention to speaking skill problems. The

5
dialogic approach may help teachers motivate their students by using

more relevant topics and creating a new learning atmosphere. For

students, this approach may develop their speaking skills and reduce

their speaking anxiety by having more courage to participate and

express themselves inside and outside the classroom.

6
Content:
Introduction

1. What is Dialogue?

2. Defining Dialogic Teaching

3. The Foundation of Dialogic Teaching

4. The Beginnings of Oral Education

4.1. Socrates and Buber

4.2. Vygotsky Influence

4.3. Bakhtin Work

4.4. Freire Pedagogy

4.5. Robin Alexander: the Force of Dialogue in Teaching

5. The Principles of Dialogic Teaching

6. Dialogic Teaching Repertoires

6.1. Organizing interaction

6.2. Talk for Everyday Life

6.3. Learning Talk

6.4. Teaching Talk

6.5. Questioning

7
 6.6. Extending

7. The Role of the Teacher in Dialogic Teaching

8. The Role of the Learner in Dialogic Teaching

9. Dialogic Atmosphere

10. Obstacles Applying Dialogic Teaching

11. Definition of Speaking

12. The Significance of Speaking

13. What Is Anxiety

14. Types of Anxiety

15. Anxiety in EFL Classes

16. Components of Foreign Language Anxiety

17. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety

18. Signs of FLSA

19. Reasons for FLSA

19.1. Personal reasons

19.2. Procedural reasons

19.3. Differences in Values

20. Consequences of FLSA on the Learning Process

21. Overcoming FLSA

22. Implementation of Dialogic Teaching to Reduce FLSA

Conclusion

8
Review of Literature:
Introduction:

In this chapter, the two variables, dialogic teaching and speaking

anxiety are put under the spotlights. The first section is dedicated to the

dialogic teaching variable where, firstly, brief definitions are given about

the essential terms 'dialogue', and ‘dialogic teaching’. After that, a

concise overview of the emergence and historical backgrounds of the

dialogic teaching, according to different researchers, are stated. Next,

the main principles and repertoires of the dialogic approach are

explained and followed by the roles of the teacher and students in a

dialogic class. Lastly, the atmosphere of a dialogic class and the

obstacles facing implying the dialogic teaching are explained. The

second section is concerned with the speaking anxiety variable. It starts

9
by defining speaking and mentioning its significance in EFL classrooms.

It also introduces the meaning of anxiety, anxiety in EFL classrooms,

and Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety. Additionally, the signs, causes,

consequences, and ways to overcome the FLSA are clarified. In the end,

the hypothesis of using dialogic teaching to reduce FLSA in English

classrooms is discussed.

1. What is dialogue:

According to Bohm (2013), the origin of the term ‘dialogue’ comes

from the Greek word dialogos. Logos means ‘the meaning of the word’

while dia equals through. It is a process of sharing thinking among,

through, and between a group of people until they achieve a new

understanding that develops creativity which holds people and societies

together. The purpose of this procedure is not to analyze a topic or win

an argument. Instead, it is to collect the group points of view by

listening to each one of them when he participates in order to discover

the truth concerning different topics.

A dialogue is a way of using the power of being different to find out

something new. It merely shows the real face of intelligence that lives at

the very centre of people when thinking together, regardless of the fact

of taking personal positions as final (Isaacs, 1999, as cited in Wegerif,

2019).

Pieczka (2011) and Wierzbicka (2006) consider dialogue as a

general orientation that values sharing and mutual understanding

10
between participants. Depending on Wierzbiecka (2006), “‘dialogue’

requires an effort to make ourselves understood, as well as try to

understand, and here, the ‘right’ attitudes, motivations, as so on, will

not suffice” ( p. 700). As a summary of Wierzbiecka’s work (2006),

Pieczka (2011) confirms that dialogue is an outstanding process that

occurs in separate episodes between groups. It requires exchanging

ideas and different views respectfully to produce a common ground that

leads to a possible change of thinking on some points.

Bakhtin, the philosopher who is a source for recent approaches to

dialogic teaching, introduced dialogue by considering that ‘If an answer

does not give rise to a new question from itself, it falls out of the

dialogue’ (Bakhtin 1986, 168). For him, a dialogue is not just about text

or talk but also includes personality and tone of voice. For example,

music and improvised dance can be dialogic. This philosopher defines

dialogue depending on the idea that the inter-power of different

participants can guide to mutual new understanding.

The Standard Definition of ‘Dialogic’:

The word ‘dialogic’, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is an

adjective applied to describe anything’ relating to, or in the form of

dialogue’. This is the common definition that applies to dialogic

education. Generally, where there is group work or a high level of open-

ended teacher-student interaction, this might be defined as ‘dialogic

education’ without specifying any more technical meaning for dialogic

than that the teaching and learning take on a form of a dialogue.

11
2. Defining Dialogic Teaching:

Alexander (2010) defines dialogic teaching as a process of “achieving

common understanding through structured, cumulative questioning and

discussion that guide and prompt, reduce choices, minimise risk and

error, and expedite the ‘handover’ of concepts and principles” (p. 30).

He doesn’t consider dialogic teaching as a single set method of teaching

but “an approach and a professional outlook rather than a specific

method. It requires us to rethink not just about the techniques we use

but also the classroom relationships we foster, the balance of power

between teacher and taught, and the way we conceive of knowledge”(p.

1). According to him, this dialogue “seeks to make attention and

engagement mandatory and to chain exchanges into a meaningful

sequence” (p. 104). He adds that dialogic teaching needs from the

teacher not just to implement teaching strategies but also to encourage

students to participate more for effective learning. Moreover, he sheds

light on the importance of developing classroom culture since

"pedagogy and culture are inextricably linked" (p. 109).

Dialogic teaching considers learning as an interactive, cooperative, and

meaning-making process when knowledge is shared between all

participants by using dialogue. This process “nurtures the student’s

engagement, confidence, independence, and responsibility” (Alexander,

2006, p.35).

Dialogic teaching is an approach that supports a variety of different

techniques and structured oral activities to maximize student’s

12
intellectual and creative potential. It focuses on meaningful

communication. So, it is related to the communicative approach to

language teaching that has become an international standard in

language pedagogy.

3. The Foundation of Dialogic Teaching

3.1. The beginnings of oral education

The roots of dialogic teaching trace back to oral educational

traditions in old schools. Dialogic education has a special association

with India, especially in Buddhist intellectual traditions (Sen, 2005, as

cited in Wegerif, 2019). It is also famous in Islamic education that small

groups create circles in the mosque called "Halaqat al-'Ilm" or circles of

knowledge where questioning and debate were encouraged involving

every conceivable topic (Makdisi, 1990, as cited in Wegerif, 2019, p.

210). Although Europe and the USA introduce many recent approaches

to dialogic education, this does not necessarily mean that it is a

specifically ‘Western’ approach that comes from the European

enlightenment. However, a dialogue has an educational value that is

deeper and more famous than the impact of the western educational

systems.

3.2. Socrates and Buber

The idea of using dialogue in teaching might start with some ideas of

Socrates. This oral thinker asserts that real intelligence can be found

just in face to face dialogues but cannot be found in a textbook. He

13
pointed to the distinction between a living purport within a dialogue and

the dead form of sense when words are treated as meaningful without

referring to their use in any dialogue like in writing sometimes. Indeed,

this distinction drawn by Socrates is the base of a contemporary dialogic

reform movement in education.

Buber used Socrates’ distinction as the basis of his philosophy. He

defined it as the difference between the attitude of objectification and

the attitude of dialogue. The objective view is ‘monologic’ because it

confirms a single correct perspective for everything. On the other hand,

the internal view takes other perspectives seriously because in dialogue,

at least there are at least two perspectives. The gap between them

opens the possibility of new perspectives and new insights. Buber

(1958), as cited in Wegerif (2019), celebrates the dialogic attitude by

describing its various uses in different topics without forgetting his

explanations of the significance of having what he called the space of

‘in-between’ or the ‘space of meeting’. This is the reference of

nowadays theme of dialogic education: ‘dialogic space’.

3.3. Vygotsky influence

Vygotsky (1978), as cited in Lyle (2008), emphasises that all learning

locates in a social, cultural, and historical context. He focuses on the

relationship between children and their families, peers, and teachers

and the relationship between language and thought (Vygotsky, 1962, as

cited in Lyle, 2008). His ideas have massive influence in social sciences

14
research, and educational researching works particularly. Vygotsky

asserts on the idea that culture, and not biology, that controls human

lifestyle and the human mind (Bruner, 1990, as cited in Lyle, 2008). As a

result of his influence, many pieces of research are still going basing on

the view that talk is a key to learn and children’s interaction with others

guides their thinking.

3.4. Bakhtin work

Bakhtin’s characterization of the essential dialogic distinction in

terms of the difference between an authoritative word and a persuasive

word has obvious implications for education. The authoritative word

which is associated with the teacher can be accepted or rejected by the

students like a poster saying ‘No Smoking!’. On the other hand, the

internally persuasive word “that is half-ours and half-someone else’s. Its

creativity and productiveness consist precisely in the fact that such a

word awakens new and independent words, that it organises masses of

our words from within, and does not remain in an isolated and static

condition” (Bakhtin, 1981, 343). For instance, a friend telling you the

story of his mother died of lung cancer because of smoking. This story is

absolute may change your view to smoking more than a poster in the

wall saying ‘no smoking!’. In education, children learn and understand

by persuasive dialogue because he can see from different perspectives

while in the authoritative transmission of facts, no deeper

understanding can be achieved.

15
 3.5. Freire pedagogy

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, explicitly argued for the need for

dialogic teaching in the context of what he called the ‘pedagogy of the

oppressed’ (Freire, 2000, as cited in Wegerif, 2019). He introduced what

he called a ‘baking model’ in which words and information of the

oppressors are inserted into the heads of oppressed. This can be

powerful by the use of a dialogic education basing on Freire’s three key

elements of dialogue, starting first by the importance of students’ lived

experience. Secondly, a real difference in the world can be made by

giving voice to all participants, and finally, there is a need for respect

and collaboration between participants.

‘Because dialogue is an encounter among women and men who

name the world, it must not be a situation where some name on behalf

of others. It is an act of creation; it must not serve as a crafty

instrument for the domination of one person by another.’ (Freire 2000,

as cited in Wegerif, 2019, p. 69)

Freire focused on a special kind of dialogic education that did not

oblige meanings on people because he was committed to a particular

socialist vision of liberation.

3.6. Robin Alexander: the force of dialogue in teaching

The famous recent researcher of dialogic education is Robin

Alexander, who is a British educationist. Alexander (2017a) provides a

lot of justifications and illuminations for the significance of using

classroom talk depending on the idea that dialogue is true teaching and

16
learning. Nowadays, still, specialists in education work hard to improve

learning approaches and techniques by paying attention more to

speaking skills.

4. The principles of Dialogic Teaching

Whatever types of teaching and learning talk are on offer, and

however, the interaction is guided, teaching is more likely to be dialogic,

according to Alexander (2017a) if it is:

4.1. Collective:

Participants learn tasks together rather than learning independently.

An example of creating a collective dialogue is enjoying a democratic

community of investigation by providing a dialogic space to ask,

challenge, share opinions, and allow possible self-correction.

4.2. Reciprocal:

Teachers and students listen to each other, share and challenge

ideas, and consider alternative viewpoints.

4.3. Supportive:

Participation is valued and respected by all participants in an

environment where everyone feels free to share his ideas without any

fear of wrong answers. This can help achieve a common understanding.

4.4. Cumulative:

Teachers and students build on answers and other oral contributions

to chain them into coherent lines of thinking and understanding.

17
 4.5. Purposeful:

Teachers plan and guide classroom talk with specific educational

goals focusing on choosing an appropriate topic.

A classroom without these principles is not dialogic, according to

Alexander (2017a). A real dialogic classroom is very much underpinned

by effective questioning and feedback techniques like replying to

questions by asking other questions.

5. Dialogic Teaching Repertoires

Dialogic teaching combines six repertoires that are used flexibly

depending on the purpose of the session (Alexander, 2017b).

5.1. Organizing Interaction:

In dialogic classrooms, teachers need to use five main ways of

organising interaction to maximise the prospects for dialogue:

Whole-class teaching, group work (teacher-led), group work (pupil-led),

one-to-one (teacher and pupil), one-to-one (pupil pairs).

A competent teacher needs to be able to manage all five kinds of

interaction and select from them the most appropriate to his purposes

because no special form of interaction on itself will suffice for the

different purposes, content, and contexts of a modern curriculum.

5.2. Talk for Everyday Life:

Socio-linguists define it as any type of talk which empowers and

supports everyday human interactions. This talk that schools give to

18
help learners to improve, explore then use each of these: transactional

talk, expository talk, interrogatory talk, exploratory talk, expressive talk,

and evaluative talk.

5.3. Learning Talk:

In dialogic classrooms, children don’t just reply with brief factual

answers to ʻtestʼ or ʻrecallʼ questions, or just give the answer which they

think the teacher wants to hear. Instead, they learn to: narrate, explain,

analyze, speculate, imagine, explore, evaluate, discuss, argue, justify,

and ask questions.

For achieving this learning, students should think about what they

hear, give others time to think, and respect alternative opinions.

5.4. Teaching Talk:

In dialogic classrooms, teachers may use familiar kinds of teaching

talk such as rote, recitation, instruction, exposition, discussion, or

dialogue.

Some teachers of dialogic teaching don’t limit themselves on these,

but they also use:

 Discussion: the exchange of ideas to share information and solve

problems.

 Dialogue: achieving common understanding through structured,

cumulative questioning

and discussion which guide and prompt, reduce choices, minimise risk

and error, and

19
expedite the ‘handover’ of concepts and principles.

Each one of these bedrock has its place in the teaching of a modern

curriculum.

5.5. Questioning:

Questioning, as one of the very famous and important forms of

interaction and instruction (Alexander 2008), can be used to improve

students’ communication, develop authentic conversation, and make

learning more student-centred.

The teacher brings authentic tests to observe his students’

participation and responses without forgetting to give his feedback,

which should be to encourage and reinforce rather than to inform in

order to avoid losing the cognitive potential of exchanges (Alexander,

2005, as cited in Rubic, 2017).

Questions in a dialogic teaching classroom are productive and have

multiple answers as opposed to factual tests’ questions. So, teachers

are constructing their questions more carefully, depending on the

dialogue aim. According to Alexander (2008) questions starting with

‘What?’, ‘Who?’ and ‘How many?’ are an opening to those starting with

‘Why?’ and ‘How?’. Teachers then are balancing test questions with

those that realize thinking and encourage analysis and speculation.

5.6. Extending:

This last repertoire, developed by Michaels and O’Connor (2012),

was not in the dialogic teaching framework for the first time, but with

20
the authors’ permission, it becomes a part of the present project. In this

repertoire, teachers help students to:

• Share, expand and clarify thinking by giving them time to think,

say more, and revoice

• Listen to one another and deepen reasoning by asking for

evidence and challenge.

• Think with others by agreeing/disagreeing and why, add on, and

explain what others mean.

6. The role of the teacher in Dialogic Teaching

‘The teacher, as a subject expert, has three key roles to play in

enabling learning: lending the capacity to participate in meaning,

designing well-planned excursions into unfamiliar discursive terrain and

coaching students in speaking the academic discourse’ (Northedge,

2003, as cited in Boyd, 2019, p. 169). In a dialogic classroom where

teachers and learners think together, teachers work on providing a more

democratic manner rather than playing the role of the sage on the

stage. So, to structure and maintain the dialogic, meaning-making

process within the classroom teacher's responsibility is to:

 negotiate classroom rules, set context, and bring background

information

 organize activities and choose appropriate materials depending on the

purpose

 present the content and ensure engagement by all students

21
 facilitate and sustain dialogue by asking questions and giving

feedback

 help students to share and justify their perspectives, give ideas, listen

and add support with respect but avoid becoming overly tolerant

 maintain honesty and structure to prevent non-constructive

communication.

 show students the purpose of the discussion by explaining educational

goals.

 create an environment of democracy where diversity is appreciated,

and students’ voices are equally valued.

7. The role of the learner in Dialogic Teaching

The students’ role in a dialogic classroom is to:

• Use answers that are less likely to be repeated to build upon them

• Exchange more with teachers and with each other

• Ask more questions

• Show growing confidence in oral pedagogy

• Offer longer responses to teacher questions

• Speak clearly and audibly without any kind of stress

• Use more pupil-pupil talk to participate more in the learning

process

22
• Contribute more diversely

8. Dialogic atmosphere

Wlodkowski (1999, p. 28), as cited in Rubic (2017), mentions that

“learners are in a better position for learning when they are on their

learning edge, the edge of their comfort zones”. Moreover, he stresses

the importance of empathy, which he defines as having a realistic

understanding of what learner’s goals, perspectives, and expectations

are. Furthermore, “educators need to maintain a careful balance

between challenge and comfort in their interactions with learners”

(Gravett and Petersen, 2009, as cited in Rubic, 2017, p. 107).

As a result, the dialogic atmosphere is decentralized, participative

and supportive of learning. Students are encouraged to use knowledge,

experience, culture, opinions, thoughts, and ideas for enjoying a better

dialogue without any fear or embarrassment of being mistaken.

Moreover, students have a prominent voice in learning activities and

expressing themselves to achieve more powerful learning.

9. Obstacles Applying Dialogic Teaching:

Myhill and Fisher (2005) find that children had little opportunity to

question or explore ideas in classrooms and the teacher’s voice is

dominant. Often there is little constructive meaning-making and a

limited chance for students’ participation.

23
 Lambirth (2006: 2009) points out that there is a danger of cultural

imperialism. For example, middle-class rules for talking might be

imposed upon working-class children.

The presence of a National Curriculum in many countries means the

obligation of covering all the lessons in a limited time. So, teachers may

use less dialogic approaches to reach their purposes.

10. Definition of Speaking:

Speaking, according to Thornbury (2005), is the genuine

formulation of articulated utterance after having the thought

conceptualized in mind. The speaker intellectualises the idea he wants

to express, followed by combining words into descriptive sentences,

which eventually are articulated in the form of vocals (Thornbury, 2005).

Chaney (1998) defines the speaking skill as the activity which utilises

verbal and non-verbal signs in order to construct and distribute ideas.

Donye and Thurrell (1994) state that the speaking skill is developed

when students get involved in communicative activities like debate,

filling gaps, and role play.

11. The Significance of Speaking:

Widdowson (1990) argues that the process of learning a foreign

language is incomplete when favouring the structure over the speaking

skill, which is the case in nowadays EFL classrooms. Kitano (2001)

mentions that learners of a foreign language tend to evaluate their

24
speaking ability with teachers, fellow students, and native speakers as a

way to measure their learning progress.

Learning a foreign language requires mastering the four skills

(writing, reading, listening, and speaking), among which speaking is the

most essential because anyone who masters a language is commonly

indicated as a speaker of that particular language (Ur,1996).

Burns and Goh (2012) state that foreign language learners who

expose themselves to speaking benefit more through three operations

(input, feedback, and output). While learners communicate with fluent

speakers, they build new and rich input. Those speakers would give

feedback about the learners’ noticeable mistakes. Consequently,

learners adjust their understanding of the language, which results in

ameliorated output, i.e. improved speaking skills.

12. What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is explained as “ an emotional response to a threat to

some value that the individual holds essential to his existence as a

personality” (May, 1977, cited in Bekleyan, 2004, p. 50). Merriam-

Webster's Dictionary (2019) defines anxiety as” apprehensive

uneasiness or nervousness usually over an impending or anticipated ill:

a state of being anxious”. Spielberger (1983, p.15) states that anxiety,

psychologically speaking, is “the subjective feeling of tension,

apprehension, nervousness and worry associated with an arousal of the

25
autonomic nervous system”. Zeidner (2014), also, states that anxiety is

a personal interpretation of a situation as threaten or danger.

These statements give a general idea about the definition of anxiety,

which could differ according to the field, which is tackling it.

13. Types of Language Anxiety:

MacIntyre (1999), as cited in Tahernezhad et al. (2014), mentions

that it is important to have an idea about the literature concerning

anxiety in relation to second language context. Researchers have

identified three types of language anxiety which are: trait anxiety, state

anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety.

13.1. Trait Anxiety:

It is the condition where the person feels nervous and anxious due to

reasons that are less worrying and dangerous in the environment

(MacIntyre, 1999, as cited in Tahernezhad et al., 2014). Goldberg (1993)

states that anyone with trait anxiety experiences nervousness and

emotional instability. On the other hand, those who have a low level of

trait anxiety tend to be emotionally settled, more relaxed, and less

anxious.

13.2. State Anxiety:

Speilberger (1983) also names it as ephemeral anxiety. He states

that it is triggered as a reaction to a specific stimulus like important

tests. Furthermore, having state anxiety causes the person to overthink

about what other people think about him (Carver & Scheier, 1986).

26
 13.3. Situation-Specific Anxiety:

This type of anxiety generates due to a particular situation or

incident like public speaking and participating in class (Ellis, 1994).

14. Anxiety in EFL Classes:

Anxiety does exist among FL students, who, at some point,

encounter difficulties during the learning process, although it differs

from one student to another (Horwitz, 2001). MacIntyre and Gardner

explain anxiety interference in the language process: “Language

learning is a cognitive activity that relies on encoding, storage, and

retrieval processes, and anxiety can interfere with each of these by

creating a divided attention scenario for anxious students. Anxious

students are focused on 18 both the task at hand and their reactions to

it…” (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1995, p. 96)

Na (2007) classifies anxiety as the number one factor to influence

the learning process in EFL classrooms. MacIntyre (1998), as cited in

Tahernezhad et al (2014), describes it as the emotional disturbance

resulted from the wrong expectations which students have while

learning the foreign language. Horwitz et al. (1986) reported in their

study about the occurrence of anxiety in FL classes that one-third of the

students have foreign language anxiety. The foreign language anxiety

appears in different types inside the classroom, among which speaking

anxiety is the most prominent as Horwitz et al. (1986) state.

27
 Na (2007) found in his study on 115 high schools in China that a

lot of EFL students reported having language learning anxieties, which

made them give up on learning more.

15. Components of Foreign Language Anxiety:

Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986) state that foreign language

anxiety is associated with three components of anxieties which relate to

academic and social situations: communication apprehension, test

anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation.

Communication Apprehension:

Horwitz et al. define it as “a type of shyness characterised by fear

or anxiety about communicating with people”.

Test Anxiety:

This anxiety happens when students fear to have bad marks in

tests. According to Hancock (2001), test anxiety is experienced during

tests and evaluation circumstances where the student feels disturbed

and shows physiological and behavioural signs of test anxiety.

Fear of Negative Evaluation:

Watson and Friend (1969) describe it as worry about others’

evaluations, and the expectation that peers and teachers could have

about the person himself. Students with this anxiety might avoid any

involvement with class activities, which could improve their language

skills ( Aida, 1994, as cited in Wilson, 2006).

28
16. Foreign Language Speaking Anxiety:

A typical EFL class works on the four skills, including writing, reading,

listening, and speaking, which is, to Palacios (1999), the number one

skill to cause anxiety. Students, when they are speaking outside the

classroom in their native language, do not feel assessed or pressured to

produce coherent language. However, when they are inside the class,

they experience tension because they are observed by either the

teacher or their classmates expected to use a language that is

linguistically and grammatically ambiguous. This situation, eventually,

causes what is known as the foreign language speaking anxiety

(Horwitz, 2001).

In a study conducted by Huang (2004), the results showed that the

majority of the participants, who were Taiwanese students in EFL

classes, have speaking anxieties. Additionally, in a study conducted by

Ay (2010), as cited in Ehtesham (2016), students revealed that they feel

alarmed and threatened when they have to speak without preparing or

having enough time to think about what to say.

17. Signs of FLSA:

Language anxiety is a part of the EFL classroom. That is why it is a

must to understand this phenomenon and have explanations about its

signs, sources, and consequences since it interferes in the learning

process (MacIntyre, 1995).

29
 FLSA surfaces in two types of signs among EFL students (as cited by

Marzec-Stawiarska, 2015); the first one includes psycholinguistic signs

including stuttering, mispronouncing words, and losing ideas (Haskin et

al. 2003). The other type appears as physiological responses manifested

by shaking, high body temperature, headaches (Von Worde, 2003), fast

heart beating, and dehydrated lips (Andrade & Williams 2009). Also,

Horwitz (1986) mentions that students who have anxiety forget both of

grammar rules and words that had been learned previously.

18. Reasons for FLSA:

Many researchers tackled the causes of anxiety in EFL classes, so it is

a must to mention the most prominent theories that would make this

study authentic. Gardner and MacIntyre’s study (1989) reveals that

anxiety in the class is related to the bad incidents encountered

previously during the learning process, which had been compiled to

become an obstacle for the students to learn more. In other words,

anxiety is caused due to communication apprehension, test anxiety, and

the fear of negative assessment.

Huang (2012) classifies the causes of anxiety in EFL classes as follows:

18.1. Personal Reasons:

Low self-esteem plays a role in causing anxiety among EFL

students since they seek to please their peers and teachers in a way

that goes beyond the normal. Additionally, Bailey (1983) mentions that

comparing the achievements between students leads to the

30
development of anxiety eventually (cited by Huang, 2012). Huang, also,

adds that setting overrated goals to accomplish in EFL classes makes

students unsatisfied with whatever typical results they achieve or

mistakes they commit to.

18.2. Procedural Causes:

All of the classroom settings, the type of treatment that teachers

deliver and test anxiety contribute to causing EFL anxiety.

18.3. Differences in Values:

People from different backgrounds have different ideologies, so being

exposed to a foreign language may create fear of losing identity among

some students when learning the target language.

Young (1991) classifies the sources of foreign language anxiety as

follows: personal and interpersonal anxieties, student’s ideas about the

learning process, teacher’s ideas about the learning process, instructor-

learner interactions, classroom settings, and testing.

19. Consequences of FLSA on the Learning Process:

Onweugbuzie et al. (1999) denote that the language anxiety stands

as a barrier between students and their goal to improve their fluency.

Furthermore, Na (2007) shows in his study on anxiety in EFL classes

that language anxiety is more likely to negatively affect students’

performance by making them less motivated to participate inside the

classroom so that they avoid falling into the lousy feeling of anxiety.

Moreover, MacIntyre (1998), as cited in Tahernezhad et al. (2014),

31
demonstrates that the more anxiety students have, the less they have

the chance to earn good grades in the foreign language. He also shows

that language anxiety causes students to be in fear of socialising, face

to face, generally. In the worst cases, language anxiety could lead to

psychological impairment that affects the self-esteem of students

(MacIntyre).

20. Overcoming Foreign Language Anxiety:

Many researchers looked for ways to help students have a better

learning atmosphere in foreign language classes. Tanveer (2007) notes

that teachers need to give appropriate tasks after assessing students’

differences and develop their confidence to participate in the class and

believe that making mistakes is a normal part of the learning process.

Teachers should not correct mistakes directly but instead, use feedback

to make students realise their mistakes without causing them to panic

or feel guilty. Making students aware that to err is accepted, would

increase their self-confidence and contribute to reducing

competitiveness which is believed to cause anxiety among some

students (Price, 1991). Besides, it is crucial to head toward using

humanistic approaches, such as the Total Physical Response and

Community Language Teaching, which give more attention to the way

the information is delivered rather than just shoving the lessons into the

student’s mind (Richards & Rogers, 2014).

32
21. Implementation of Dialogic Teaching to Reduce FLSA:

Dialogic teaching is based on the use of real communication

situations from daily life and the adaptation of more modern techniques

which encourage students to participate more in the learning process as

active members rather than just negative participants while taking in

consideration their expectations, abilities and the problems they may

face including the foreign language speaking anxiety. This research

paper investigates the hypothesis that by applying the dialogic

approach in the learning process, the FLSA among EFL students and

contribute to providing a more appropriate learning atmosphere for

students.

Conclusion:

To sum up, the points mentioned above, this chapter deals with

dialogic teaching and speaking anxiety in EFL classes. It went through

defining the dialogic teaching and its essentials, including historical

backgrounds, principles, repertoires, settings (atmosphere), and

obstacles to applying it in, nowadays, EFL classes. Furthermore, it dealt

with introducing the terms: speaking, anxiety, anxiety in EFL classroom,

and foreign language speaking anxiety. It also went through the

significance of speaking and signs, causes, consequences, and ways to

overcome FLSA. In the end, the hypothesis of reducing the FLSA by

using dialogic teaching is argued.

33
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