Speech is silver and silence is golden? : An investigating study regarding a group of Swedish eighth-grade students´ perceived foreign language speaking anxiety.

Abstract: This investigating and comparative study aimed to demonstrate the perceived foreign language speaking anxiety among a specific group of eight-grade compulsory school students, attending an International English school in the south of Sweden. The study also aimed to explore the potential relationship between the students´ perceived foreign language speaking anxiety and the students´ gender. The specific group of students completed a survey, in which the questions were constructed with significant part-whole correlations with the total scale, aiming to assess one's individual perception of language anxiety. The first part of the result indicated low to medium-low levels of foreign language speaking anxiety among the group. However, the result also suggested that some classroom situations generated higher levels of anxiety than others, like unprepared speaking activities and situations. The second part of the result indicated that there is a distinct difference between the female students and male students regarding their perceived foreign language speaking anxiety. The results revealed that the female students indicated a medium-low to medium level of foreign language speaking anxiety, while the male students indicated a low to medium-low level. The result also indicates that the male students and female students experience different levels of foreign language speaking anxiety, depending on the specific classroom-situation. The results from this study are of great importance for further research, as well as for actions and developing methods to decrease levels of foreign language speaking anxiety among students learning a second or foreign language.