Speaking Anxiety in the Interlanguage of Kurdish University Students of English: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the level of speaking anxiety in the interlanguage of Kurdish EFL students at the University of Human Development (UHD), to find out which component of the participants’ interlanguage (phonology, grammar and meaning) contributes more to speaking anxiety, to assess the effect of gender and level of study on the participants’ speaking anxiety, and to examine the correlation between the three components of the participants’ interlanguage as far as speaking anxiety is concerned. The study utilized a quantitative method represented by a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire consisting of 18 items responded to by 106 Kurdish university EFL students from three semesters at UHD. The statistical analyses of the collected data revealed that the participants had a low to moderate level of speaking anxiety, meaning was the most contributing component of the participants’ interlanguage to speaking anxiety, gender and level of study exhibited no significant impact on speaking anxiety and there was a strong positive correlation between the three components of the participants’ interlanguage (phonology, grammar, meaning) as far as speaking anxiety is concerned.