Cooperative Learning Techniques to Reduce Anxiety in Speaking Case Study: Third Year LMD Students in the Department of English, Mouloud Mammeri University of Tizi Ouzou

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to investigate whether foreign language anxiety (FLA) exists among advanced learners and tests the effectiveness of cooperative learning technique to reduce that anxiety in speaking. It uses Horwitz et al. (1986) Foreign Language anxiety Classroom, then, the structure of Pair and Group activities used by Nagahashi (2007) Techniques for Reducing Foreign Language Anxiety. To collect data, fifty questionnaires were administered to third year LMD students, and a semi-structured interview was conducted with five teachers in the Department of English, Mouloud MAMMERI University, Tizi Ouzou. In order to analyze and interpret the collected data we opted for the Mixed Methods Research which makes use of the combination between the quantitative and the qualitative methods. The quantitative method helps to obtain statistical data and the qualitative method to bring more information about the investigation. The findings show that Anxiety associated with communication apprehension exists among the students because they feel in tense when they are asked to speak in class and cooperation between them is an anxiety relieving technique. As a conclusion to the overall findings, foreign language anxiety is an important affective factor within language learning process and finding new strategies to lower it, is more than urgent