Effect of Task Experience on Iranian EFL Learners‟ Level of Anxiety and Performance on Task-based Tests
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| Title | Effect of Task Experience on Iranian EFL Learners‟ Level of Anxiety and Performance on Task-based Tests |
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| Abstract | Anxiety, which changes into stress and nervous tension while taking a test, is usually considered as a destructive factor for test-takers. Many EFL/ESL teachers and testing scholars have tried to reduce this debilitative anxiety (Tóth, 2007). Recently, there has been an increased motivation toward development of performance-based tests in most language teaching programs, focusing on test-takers’ actual proficiency rather than their abstract knowledge of L2 rules. This new trend has led to a new challenge: test-takers’ unfamiliarity with performance-based tasks and as a result, increased test-taking anxiety. The present study is an attempt to examine the effect of learners’ experience of language tasks on the level of their anxiety in performance-based or task-based tests. In addition, this research tried to find the relationship between learners’ anxiety and the quality of their performances in such tests. To conduct this study, 300 Iranian EFL students studying at the Islamic Azad University, Iran, were randomly selected. The participants were asked to sit for a pretest, as a homogenizing instrument. 100 participants, meeting the requirements of the test, were randomly divided into 2 experimental and 2 control groups. The participants also completed Horwitz Second Language Anxiety Questionnaire (HSLAQ, 1991). Tasks coaching and practice were given to the participants in experimental group as treatment. Subsequently, participants´ performances in both groups were compared on the results of a performance-based test. Furthermore, in order to measure the learners’ increased or decreased level of anxiety, the participants were asked to take HSLAQ after treatment. The results revealed that task experience can significantly reduce participants’ anxiety level in task/performance-based tests. |
| Publisher | ACADEMY PUBLISHER |
| Date | 2012-01-01 |
| Source | Theory and Practice in Language Studies Vol 2, No 1 (2012) |
| Rights | Copyright © ACADEMY PUBLISHER - All Rights Reserved.To request permission, please check out URL: http://www.academypublisher.com/copyrightpermission.html. |