fostering students' self-confidence to enhance oral production abilities

Nancy Liliana Santos BuenoReyna Rocío Rojas Esparza

• Which could be a good way to foster students’ self-

confidence when they are speaking in the foreign

language?

• What are the reasons why some pre-teen students are

not confident when speaking in English?

“Basically, self-esteem is a psychological and social

phenomenon in which an individual evaluates his/her

competence and own self according to some values,

which may result in different emotional states, and

which becomes developmentally stable but is still

open to variation depending on personal

circumstances”.

Rubio (2007)

“in the context of language learning low self-esteem is a

non-clinical phenomenon, it can have serious

consequences. Students may avoid taking the necessary

risks to acquire communicative competence in the target

language; they may feel deeply insecure and even drop

out of the class.”.

Rubio (2007)

Self-confidence is about judgments regarding one’s own

value and abilities. (Heyde, 1979).

Self-confidence is mainly derived from two different

factors such as personal experiences and social messages

received from others, and it can highly influence in the

achievement of foreign language learning. (Brown, 1994)

Scovel (1978) defines it as “a psychological concept linked

with feelings of disquiet, frustration, self-doubt, and worry

among others.”

Jones (2004) describes this phenomenon as a fear that

rises in the learner when he or she is asked to speak in the

target language in public.

Johnson (2001) referred to CL as a teaching strategy

where small groups of students from different levels use

various learning activities to enhance their

understanding of a subject.

Artz & Newman (1990) described it as a team work in

order to solve problems, complete a task and achieve a

common aim.

Nunan (1992) states that “a team environment where

learners celebrate each other’s successes and provide

assistance to each other is likely to promote more

positive peer relationships, social support, and, partly

for that reason, higher self-esteem and academic

achievement”.

One technique from the Cooperative Learning approach

and one speaking activity were used.

Jigsaw strategy Role – play strategy

ACTIVITY TASK ORAL PERFORMANCE

JigsawStudents were divided into

groups of four people and

based on four pictures they

had to create a story

Students worked cooperatively

and they felt confident when

speaking and telling the episode

of the story to the other groups.

Role- playThey were asked to look

for their favorite celebrity

information, take their

places and answer an

interview

They were encouraged to speak

as they represented their

favorite celebrity

• Two English Institutes in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

• Sixteen high-school students aged between 9 and 13

years old with a basic level of English. Most of students

had been studying English for at least one year.

• Students took this English course four hours every

Saturday.

• Two questionnaires (before and after the

implementations) adapted from Aida (1994) and

Horwitz et al. (1986)

• A research journal.

• A five- point Likert scale was used to score the

responses.

• According to the rating system of the first

questionnaire, the minimum score was 7 points and

the maximum score was 35 points.

• In the second questionnaire, the minimum score was

11 points and the maximum score was 56 points.

Student

Percentage of self-

confidence before the

implementation

Percentage of self-

confidence after the

implementation

Gain in self-confidence

A 86% 85% -1 %

B 86% 80% -6 %

C 63% 78% 15%

D 71% 78% 7%

E 68% 77% 9%

F 71% 78% 7%

G 77% 85% 8%

H 80% 98% 18%

I 86% 89% 3%

J 74% 82% 8%

K 77% 80% 3%

L 86% 82% -4%

M 66% 71% 5%

0% 50% 100% 150%

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

Percentage of self-confidence after theimplementation

Percentage of self-confidence before theimplementation

• By analyzing the responses from the questionnaires, it

was noticeable that 10 out of 13 students increased

their level of self-confidence concerning the oral

production.

• two students really improved during the process of this

research, one of them got an improvement of 18%

• There were two students who only had an increment of

3% which is not that high of a quantity but at least it

helped them get better.

• Three students did not have any gain in self-

confidence.

• Four students did not increased that much their

level of self-confidence, however they took

advantage of the activities.

• Students were shy at the beginning of the activities and some

of them did not want to work in groups

• Through the use of cooperative learning, positive peer

relationship was promoted as well as academic achievement

and higher self-esteem.

• The activities encouraged students to respect each other and

to value their partners contribution.

• Students’ anxiety decreased when they were

speaking in front of their classmates.

• They got involved in the activities because these

ones were of their interest.

• Teachers’ attitude was really important for the

students to feel comfortable and motivated when

speaking in English.

• Teachers must provide students with enough

input in order to make it easier for the students

to express what they want.

• It is important for teachers to create a safe

environment in order to make students feel

comfortable when using the target language.

• Teachers can use cooperative learning strategies

to promote a safe environment in their

classrooms.

• Through the use of CL students become aware of the

importance of cooperation in team work and may gain

confidence when speaking in public.

• Students’ motivation can be enhanced by the use of

CL strategies that are attractive and meaningful.

• cooperative learning helps students develop self-

confidence and promotes a safe environment where

levels of language anxiety may decrease.

ReferencesAl-Hebaish, S. (2012). The Correlation between General Self-Confidence

and Academic Achievement in the Oral Presentation Course. Theory

and Practice in Language Studies, 2(1), 60-65.

Lang, P. (2006). Motivation and Experience in Foreign Language Leaning.

International Academic Publishers.

León, W. & Vega, E.(2010). Encouraging Teenagers to Improve Speaking

Skills through Games in a Colombian Public School. Profile, 12(1), 11-31.

Nunan, D. (1992). Collaborative Language Learning and Teaching.

Cambridge University Press.

Park, H. & Lee, A. R. (2004). L2 Learners’ Anxiety, Self-Confidence and

Oral Performance. Kunsan National University, Concordia University.

Prieto, C. (2007). Improving Eleventh Graders’ Oral Production in

English Class through Cooperative Learning Strategies. Profile 8. 75- 90.

Rubio, F. (2007). Self-Esteem and Foreign Language Learning. Cambridge

Scholar Publishing.

ParticipantsScore per question Final

ScoreN° 1 N° 2 N° 3 N° 5 N° 6 N° 7 N° 8

A 5 4 5 1 5 5 5 30

B 5 4 5 1 5 5 5 30

C 4 4 2 5 2 5 22

D 5 4 2 2 3 4 5 25

E 5 1 3 5 2 3 5 24

F 5 4 3 1 4 3 5 25

G 4 4 4 2 4 4 5 27

H 5 4 4 2 3 5 5 28

I 5 4 4 3 4 5 5 30

J 5 5 5 1 1 4 5 26

K 4 4 4 2 4 4 5 27

L 5 4 5 2 5 4 5 30

M 4 4 1 2 5 3 4 23

Table 1

ParticipantsScore per question Final

ScoreN° 1 N° 2 N° 3 N° 4 N° 5 N° 6 N° 7 N° 8 N° 9 N° 10 N° 11 N° 12

1 5 4 5 5 5 4 2 5 1 2 5 5 48

2 4 4 1 5 5 5 2 5 1 4 4 5 45

3 4 2 5 4 5 5 2 5 1 2 5 4 44

4 5 4 4 5 3 4 3 5 1 1 5 4 44

5 5 4 2 5 5 4 1 5 1 1 5 5 43

6 5 4 3 5 5 2 3 5 1 1 5 5 44

7 5 4 4 5 5 4 2 5 1 3 5 5 48

8 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 1 5 5 5 55

9 5 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 1 4 4 4 50

10 5 4 1 4 3 5 3 5 1 5 5 5 46

11 5 4 1 5 4 5 4 5 1 1 5 5 45

12 5 4 1 5 5 4 5 5 1 1 5 5 46

13 4 4 3 4 3 4 3 4 1 1 4 5 40

Table 2