How can i help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities in my english lessons at Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes School?

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(1)School of Education English Pedagogy “How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities in my English lessons at Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes school?”. Catalina Alejandra Flores Canales. Seminar Lecturer: Pablo Silva. Practicum Tutor: Camilo Ramos Santiago, Chile 2016.

(2) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Table of Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... 5 Introduction................................................................................................................. 6 Context ........................................................................................................................ 7 School context ........................................................................................................ 7 Classroom context .................................................................................................. 7 Research question ..................................................................................................... 10 Rationale ................................................................................................................... 11 Literature review ....................................................................................................... 14 Adolescence .......................................................................................................... 14 Stress in adolescents ............................................................................................. 15 Speaking performance .......................................................................................... 17 Methodology ............................................................................................................. 19 Pre and post surveys. ............................................................................................ 20 Ethnographic registers .......................................................................................... 21 Video recordings ................................................................................................... 21 Data collection procedure ......................................................................................... 22 Interventions ............................................................................................................. 23 Intervention nº1..................................................................................................... 24. 2.

(3) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Intervention nº2..................................................................................................... 25 Intervention nº3..................................................................................................... 25 Data analysis ............................................................................................................. 27 Pre surveys ............................................................................................................ 27 First pre survey ................................................................................................. 27 Second pre survey ............................................................................................. 31 Post surveys and observation notes ...................................................................... 32 Intervention nº1................................................................................................. 32 Intervention nº2................................................................................................. 34 Intervention nº3................................................................................................. 35 Reflections ................................................................................................................ 38 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 41 References ................................................................................................................. 45 Appendixes ............................................................................................................... 47. 3.

(4) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Abstract This action research seeks to reduce ninth graders’ stress when speaking activities take place in English lessons. This investigation took place in a subsidized school named Inmaculada Concepción Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, located in Peñaflor commune. The group of students in which this research was carried out is around the ages of 14 and 15 years old, and the number of students examined was around 44. The strategies used for the interventions were focused on students’ preferences when developing speaking skills in English lessons. Key words: Adolescence, stress in adolescence, English speaking performance and comfort zone. Resumen Esta investigación-acción busca reducir el nivel de estrés en estudiantes de noveno grado cuando actividades habladas toman lugar en clases de inglés. Esta investigación fue realizada en un colegio particular subvencionado llamado Inmaculada Concepción Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, ubicado en la comuna de Peñaflor. El grupo de estudiantes en el cual esta investigación acción fue llevada a cabo bordea los 14 y 15 años de edad, y alrededor de 44 alumnos fueron examinados. Las estrategias utilizadas para las intervenciones estaban centradas en las preferencias de los estudiantes cuando se trata de desarrollar la habilidad hablada en clases de inglés. Palabras clave: Adolescencia, estrés en la adolescencia, función de hablar en inglés y zona de confort.. 4.

(5) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank to Inmaculada Concepción School for letting me being part of their school community once again, but this time as an English teacher trainee. Likewise, I would like to thank my host teacher Susana Contreras, who supported me during this learning experience, and also gave me the opportunity to make this investigation in one of her courses. I really appreciated her trust and encouragement to develop this work. Through all my academic learning process I have met different educators that have given me diverse insights about what teaching a foreign language is, and what actually teaching involves. I would like to thank each one of them, since they have guided me to reflect upon my own teaching practice and improve those aspects that needed to be improved in order to successfully play my role as an English educator. Especially, I would like to thank my seminar teacher, Pablo Silva, and my tutor Camilo Ramos who have monitored this project. Last but not least, I would like to thank my relatives and friends who have supported me to make this project possible, but especially to my loving partner who has witnessed all efforts put in this work to finally end up this process. Thanks for your unconditional support and love.. 5.

(6) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Introduction Nowadays, teaching English as a foreign language (henceforth EFL) is crucial in order to prepare students for a globalized world that is constantly requiring people to speak more than one language. Accordingly, English has been gradually prioritized at schools, which have begun to teach students since they are in kindergartner and primary school. Consequently, English is being taught since students are young learners until they finish high school, amounting to several years of schooling. Nevertheless, there is one particular aspect about teaching EFL that sometimes is not taken into consideration when teaching the subject. This particularity about teaching a foreign language involves that a language syllabus model today needs to include systematic coverage of the many different components of communicative competence, including language skills, content, grammar, vocabulary, and functions (Richards, 2006). Unfortunately, some educators sometimes forget that the main purpose of language is to communicate, which essentially involves interaction and sharing ideas with others in the target language. For that reason, students should be exposed to different scenarios in which they can practice the foreign language, since they are little kids. On the contrary, if students see themselves facing the language from speaking without even practice before, they will see speaking as a threat rather than as an instance to learn. Consequently, such instances might evoke physical and emotional symptoms that could negatively interfere with the successful development of a speaking task. This action research explores how stress can be reduced when speaking activities are conducted. A series of interventions will be carried out in a group of 9th grade students to analyze interaction patterns and students’ attitudes when speaking. 6.

(7) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Context School context Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Loudes School is a subsidized school located in Peñaflor commune. This is a catholic educational establishment managed by nuns belonging to the Franciscan Congregation from 1948 to date. In this school there are levels from kindergarten to 12th grade. From kindergarten until 8th grade there are two classes per level identified as class A and class B, but high school has only one class per level. The 9th grade is formed by a group of students selected from 8th grade A and B. That is to say, not all students are allowed to stay at the school to course 9th grade. First, there is a selection process made under a series of requirements asked by the school in order to preserve the school enrollment for high school. There is also a percentage of the requirements that includes a test that assesses specific content taught from 1st to 8th grade. Those students who do not fulfill both school requirements cannot stay at the school in order to course high school. Classroom context As it was exposed in the school context, 9th grade is not composed by the same group of students that passed 8th grade. There is a mixture between eight graders A, B and new students coming from other schools. For that reason, new relationships are built among the group of students, and new ways of rapport start to arise among students and high school teachers. My 9th grade group is composed by 45 students. Classes are regularly taught in a particular room organized with tables and chairs distributed in order to get students. 7.

(8) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. working in groups, which turns the classroom into a suitable environment to promote communicative instances to practice the language. Nevertheless, classes are generally grammar oriented, what means that activities or assessments are mainly focused on the development of students’ writing skills rather than speaking. For that reason, it has been difficult to implement communicative activities in order to foster students’ speaking skills. It has been also difficult for students to perform tasks that require their communicational or speaking skills since these ones are not commonly practiced in everyday lessons. Consequently, it is hard for students to participate in English lessons when it comes to activities that involve speaking. Indeed, I have observed that when they have to face an activity that requires the use of their English speaking skills, students reject to share their answers with their classmates or they tend to go back to their mother tongue in order to communicate. After several observations I have noticed that in the case of completing a speaking task, students’ nervousness or stress immediately arises. In fact, when students have performed speaking presentations in front of the class, those students who are the spectators have been taught to turn their chairs to the wall without looking at the classmates that are presenting. This is a technique implemented by my host teacher in order to reduce students’ stress when speaking presentations take place. However, I have noticed that even in these terms, students lose the main focus of the speaking task and stress interferes with the development of the speaking task anyhow. The evidence from this issue is not only demonstrated through concrete reactions that body language exposes itself, (students’ lower pitch of voice and irregular breathing when they speak) but also it was manifested by students answers through a survey (see appendix II) that delved into their feelings when performing speaking tasks. As evidence suggests, most. 8.

(9) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. students felt that they were not learning as much as they could during speaking tasks. This, since their nervousness interferes with the optimal development of such activities. Indeed, when asked, most students described speaking as an unpleasant experience to be avoided at all costs. As a whole, my 9th grade students is a group of teenagers that are going through a process of self acknowledgment, recognition about their new classmates, their new high school teachers, and particularly to new ways of learning demanding their speaking skills. It is crucial for students to be aware about these four factors, since on the one hand these might foster students’ confidence when speaking activities take place, or in the contrary, these factors might negatively interfere on students’ learning experience. Being aware of such contextual elements might also be beneficial for me as a teacher in order to foster this particular skill on my students.. 9.

(10) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Research question In the light of my school context description, it is observed that my students’ issue concerns dealing with their high level of stress when facing English speaking tasks. Thus, I have come to the following research question: “How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities in my English lessons at Inmaculada Concepción de Nuestra Señora de Lourdes school?”. 10.

(11) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Rationale The aim of this action research is to improve aspects of students’ learning and possibly contribute to a better understanding of teaching English as a foreign language. In other words, through this action research, both students and English educators might benefit their learning and teaching experience respectively. As stated in the 9th grade study program, learning encompasses the integration of knowledge, ability and attitude. These three aspects are also important in order to successfully develop each of the four skills (writing, speaking, listening and reading) that involve learning English as a foreign language. That is to say, while developing each skill students need to: comprehend concepts that will allow them to understand the messages in a communicative situation (knowledge); learn how to apply this specific knowledge and use all the information learnt in a proper way (ability); and also, to adapt a particular attitude and disposition in order to effectively develop a particular skill. Once these three aspects are completely covered in each skill, learning will be achieved. In this particular case, students’ domain of knowledge, ability and attitude is successful when writing, reading and listening take place. Nevertheless, when it comes to speaking, students’ attitude does not promote a successful development of this particular skill. This is mainly because they were not used to developing speaking tasks from preschool. As a result, students do not feel comfortable speaking in the target language. Having said that, it is expected that after a series of interventions students acquire a positive attitude when facing speaking tasks. In that way, students might more successfully. 11.

(12) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. accomplish speaking activities without emotional interferences that harm an optimal performance. Moreover, this action research benefits my teaching practice as new tools and strategies are implemented to build on students’ confidence and foster effective communication in the target language. Likewise, this research could benefit other English educators that might be facing a similar situation. It is expected that some insights outlined in this report prove useful to other English teachers in similar school contexts. Consequently, such educators may try to implement some of the teaching methods described in this action research. Hoping in the end that this becomes valuable input for teachers with the purpose of improving our teaching practice and solving classrooms issues that inhibit students’ learning process.. 12.

(13) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Gantt Chart. 13.

(14) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Literature review With regard to my research question and context, related topics to my action research are: Adolescence, stress in adolescents and speaking performance. Adolescence According to Paul et al, (2004), ‘When children enter to adolescence, they are suddenly exposed to a variety of new experiences and challenges’ (p.145) On the one hand, during adolescence individuals have the cognitive capacity to consciously discover who they are and what makes them unique (Americal Psychological Association, 2002). On the other hand, the intense desire to belong to a particular group can influence young adolescents to go along with activities in which they would otherwise not engage (Santrock, 2001). In the case of my 9th grade students, they are early adolescents that are intensively aware of how they compare to their peers. Indeed, at that stage adolescences are constantly thinking if they are less able than others, and lacking confidence in their abilities leading to a variety of behaviors that can negatively affect their academic performance (Urdan & Klein, 1998). In order to explain my students’ behavior, recent neurobiological research indicates that adolescents, around puberty in particular, may be overly sensitive to stress as compared with children and adults (Russel, 2010). This particular sensitiveness might be leaded by the fact that students often have to start over when they enter middle school, developing new school-based social networks (American Psychological Association, 2002). For instance, the context in which my 9th graders are inserted, since students are coming from two different classes, and now they are building new relationships in just one group.. 14.

(15) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Besides, the particular context in which this action research is developed does not provide many opportunities for students to interact with each. This contradicts what many teachers at the American Psychological Association suggest in order to meet well students’ needs (2002). Consequently, the emotional development mentioned by Santrock in 2001 does not establish a realistic and coherent sense of identity. On the contrary, it turns difficult for students to relate with one another and to cope with their own emotions and stress. Stress in adolescents Simuforosa (2013), states that stress has a psychological, emotional, behavioral and physical impact on the adolescent, (p.379) such as it has been observed in my 9th graders. Nevertheless, a certain amount of stress is normal and healthy. People often function better when they see stress as a challenge and are not confronted with overwhelming levels of stress. Too little stress can result in us doing nothing, feeling bored and lacking energy; too much stress will eventually burn us out and lead to exhaustion. Therefore, if we think about stress on a scale of 1 to 10, we should aim for stress levels of about 6 to keep us motivated and healthy (McNamara, 2001). McNamara (2001), also remarks the importance of knowing about our own emotional reaction when facing stress. Through the recognition of signs and symptoms, we might be able to cope better with the problem. In that sense, students can learn about themselves by thinking about times when they were stressed in the past. In other words, they can learn to recognize their own signs in advance, so that they can act before stress becomes a problem (p.9). The most important thing to remember is that it is not what. 15.

(16) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. actually happens but how you perceive it and handle it that will decide whether or not you will become stressed. (p.8) In general, stress is experienced by everyone in life. However, stress becomes problematic when there is too much or too little, it is how one identifies and manages it that makes a difference in a person’s physical and mental development. (Paul & Radcliffe, 2004). Following this idea, a problematic situation is described by Blaustein and Kinniburg (2010), as a traumatic situation that is a former of resilience (p.22). In that sense, when stress takes place in adolescence, coping and resilience play a crucial role in order to avoid traumatic situations such as the previously mentioned. On the one hand, coping is conceptualized as purposeful responses that are directed toward resolving the stressful relationship between the self and the environment (problem focusing coping) or toward palliating negative emotions that arise as a result of stress (emotion focused coping) (Compas et al, 2001). On the other hand, resilience is reflected in outcomes for which competence and coping have been effectively put into action in response to stress and adversity (Compas et al, 2001). In other words, coping involves individual’s behavior and thoughts when facing stress without referring to their efficacy, whereas resilience involves the affective and adaptive manner in which an individual copes the stress’ responses (Compas et al, 2001). In addition, Oettingen and Gollwitzer (2015) put emphasis on self regulation tools in order to effectively cope with adolescent stress. They describe desirability and feasibility as a self regulation tool for adolescents that should be encouraged through their developmental stage. These tools refer to benefit adolescents providing them tasks with. 16.

(17) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. energy and direction to strengthen the incentive value of responsibility (desirability), as well as their expectations of success (feasibility). But most important, it is crucial to teach adolescents how to face resistance and conflict (e.g.: obstacles and temptations) (p.36). In that way, adolescents might avoid traumatic situations led by stressful ones by also learning how to self regulate. Owing to that, McNamara (2001) expresses that it is crucial for adolescents to express how they feel. Otherwise, other people will not be able to know what they prefer. It may mean that when they are having trouble coping with a problem, it is hard to get help. It may mean that when they feel sad, they cannot talk about ways of feeling better. And it can lead to misunderstandings in our relationships (p.66). Speaking performance According to Young (1991), speaking in the target language can be defined as the most stressful situation for nearly all of the foreign language learners and they are usually reported to experience stress and tension (p.429). Indeed, stress can be caused by an unmeasured amount of anxiety which provokes thoughts of fear that negatively interfere with the positive development of a task. (McNamara, 2001). For that reason, when language performance takes place students have to recognize their irrational beliefs or fears. In that way, they will be able to interpret anxiety-provoking situations in more realistic ways and eventually opt to approach rather than avoid an anxiety-evoking situation. (Genç et al, 2016) Horwitz (2000) contends that as students' beliefs about language learning can be based on limited knowledge and/or experience, the teacher's most effective course may be. 17.

(18) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. to confront erroneous beliefs with new information. In some cases, students may never have had their views about language learning challenged (p. 292). In addition, instructors may want to hold these brief discussions about the process of language learning periodically throughout the language learning experience. (Genç et al, 2016) For that reason, it might be useful for instructors to consciously examine their own language teaching beliefs to help dispel those beliefs that negatively impact learners. (Genç et al, 2016) As described above, in this particular context speaking uses to be assessed through presentations in which students are asked to speak in front of their classmates. Accordingly, Sheier states that strong public speaking involves mastering two specific separate skills: performance and content. Performance skills involve presenting yourself to an audience in an agreeable way, while content skills involve presenting information to your audience in a clear way. Content is developed as learners “write” the speech: performance is demonstrated as they deliver the speech (2002). When students face any type of situation that requires speaking performance, it has to be embraced rather than avoided. In that way, the more speaking is experienced, the better they will be at dealing with public speaking anxiety. (Sheier, 2002). Finally, as Brown (1994) states, one of the major obstacles learners have to overcome in learning to speak is the anxiety generated over the risks of blurting things out that are wrong, stupid or incomprehensible. Because of the language ego that informs people that “you are what you speak”, learners are reluctant to be judged by hearers (p.269). Therefore, it is important to teach students under a kind, warm and embracing climate that invites them to speak (Brown, 1994). 18.

(19) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Methodology According to Burns, there are two reliable ways in order to collect data which are qualitative and quantitative data (2010). These two were implemented in order to analyze pupils’ improvements or declines while conducting this action research. Although the total number of participants varied depending on their attendance, interventions were planned for a total number of 44 students. Interventions were implemented in the post stage of each class, and it lasted during 30 minutes approximately. Following research ethical regulations parents signed an informed consent (see appendix I) for those pupils who took part in this research. Students’ responses were stored on a computer data based and were later analyzed as mentioned in this report. Selecting the best method is a crucial aspect to ensure the acquisition of relevant and valid information (Tomal, 2013). For that reason, through this action research instruments were carefully selected according to students’ context and the nature of the problem discovered. Concordant with this research focus, the data collection instruments were designed to address not only students’ performance, but also to encourage the self acknowledgment about their physical and emotional responses after their performance. For that reason, surveys, ethnographic registers and video recordings were designed taking such aims into consideration.. 19.

(20) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Pre and post surveys. There were two pre-surveys carried out while conducting the action research. The first one was made of four alternative questions in order to explore into the nature of the problem found. For that reason, students were individually asked to report on how they physically and emotionally felt when speaking activities took place (see appendix II). The second pre-survey was made of one alternative question in order to delve into students’ comfort zone when it comes to speaking (see appendix III). Therefore, I asked them individually about their working preferences related to speaking activities. In that way, a suitable action plan could be planned in order to tackle the problem, without causing students feeling exposed while working speaking. Post surveys were carried out after three interventions conducted, and they were made of two alternative questions to report students’ feelings at the end of each speaking task (see appendix IV). Question number one, was applied to all students in order to gather information about how they felt while speaking with their pairs during the activity. However, question number two was assigned specifically to those students who were chosen at the end of the activity to share answers out loud. This distinction was made to differentiate students’ emotional responses when they work with their pairs and when they are participating in front of others, since this last instance is essential to assess the speaking task. In order to obtain authentic responses, and also to avoid students’ exposition towards their pairs, all surveys were answered in Spanish and anonymously.. 20.

(21) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Ethnographic registers Ethnographic records in form of observation notes were made after each intervention in order to register my teaching practice, personal impressions about students’ behavior and their interactions through the interventions (see appendix V). Video recordings Video recordings were used as means to enrich and complement the data gathered through observation notes. To further secure data validity, a video camera was set up in the classroom several days before the actual intervention was recorded.. 21.

(22) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Data collection procedure To start with, students were asked to complete the first pre- survey in order to delve into the nature of the problem when speaking takes place. The survey’s questions placed students in a critical situation in which spoken English might interfere with the development of a task. For that reason, these questions were related to the only instance in which students’ speaking performance is assessed in this particular context. Namely, the moment when pupils share ideas out loud with their classmates (see appendix II). The second pre- survey was delivered at the end of a regular class, and it was made in order to gather students’ preferences when working in a speaking task (see appendix III). Once the information was gathered, interventions were planned in order to tackle the problem encountered. For that purpose, a total of three interventions were planned in the post stage of three different English lessons. Additionally, after each intervention students were asked to complete the post survey (see appendix VII) in order to acknowledge their emotional responses after their speaking performance. One of these surveys was not asked at the end of the intervention due to time issues concerning my planning. Therefore, students answered immediately the next day at the beginning of the class. Besides the surveys, direct observations and video recordings were useful in order to reflect on my students’ performance through the task and my teaching practice as well. In that way, modifications as mentioned above were made along the process, in order to prepare suitable interventions that might tackle the problem.. 22.

(23) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Interventions In order to work with students’ preferences when working speaking, students reported on how they felt comfortable when interacting with others (see appendix II). It was resolved that most of the pupils felt comfortable while working in groups or as a whole class rather than in pairs. Additionally, it is proved that group work encourages the exchange of ideas, creativity, motivation and satisfaction that can extend individual roles when learning (University, 2013). For that reason, students were involved into activities that required group work to also develop those speaking skills that are not commonly practiced in everyday lessons. Accordingly, since speaking involves production of the language, it was determined to apply the interventions in the post stage of the English classes. Additionally, after each group work interaction, and as a closure of the class, it was decided to choose some students to share answers after working in groups. Among these students, I chose those who I had observed stress the most when sharing answers in English. By selecting them, it could be precisely verified the improvements or declines on stress while sharing answers in English. Respectively, these particular students were asked to answer the second question of the second survey applied at the end of each intervention (see appendix VII). To start with the description of the interventions it is important to mention two relevant aspects about this class. First, students from 9th grade at this stage are practicing how to use regular and irregular verbs while learning about the life of famous people that have done something good for the world. Second, students are used to work in a particular classroom which is called: “the salon” In here, students can organize themselves into. 23.

(24) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. groups and work with them during the whole class. Nevertheless, there was just one intervention that was held in this classroom, due to school permissions. Intervention nº1 Date: October 21st Place: Classroom N° of students: 40 This intervention consisted on creating sentences in order to practice regular verbs and time expressions (See appendix IV). First, students had to get into groups of four students (no more or less, since the number of students was even). Considering that early adolescence represents a crucial period in which adolescents start selecting friends according to their similarities and interests (Urdan & Klein, 1998), students were asked to work without their friends. In that way, students might create new links in order to get to know the new group in which they are immersed. Each group received one set of verb cards, and another set of time expression cards. Verb cards were distributed among the group, and time expression cards were on the table. Per turns, students had to chose one time expression card from the table, and create an affirmative past sentence by using one of the verbs given. If the student spoke the correct sentence by using past simple, he or she lost one card. On the contrary, if the sentence spoke was not correct, the student had to keep his/her card, and the next student continued answering. The winner was the one who lost all the verb cards given.. 24.

(25) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. To further practice speaking, at the end of the task students were chosen to answer some questions out loud regarding what they had done during the day, or the day after. Finally, students were asked to complete a survey anonymously (see appendix IV). Intervention nº2 Date: November 4th Place: Classroom N° of students: 41 This intervention consisted on a game named: “find someone who”. Students received a paper with different actions that they probably had done in the past (see appendix VI). They had ten minutes to walk around the classroom and look for people that had done those actions in the past, and write their names in the paper given. At the end of the intervention, some students were asked to share their findings answering some questions (see appendix VII). Finally, students were asked to answer the post survey anonymously. Intervention nº3 Date: November 10th Place: The Salon N° of students: 38 Resembling the first intervention, pupils got into groups and were asked to create past simple sentences. However, this time students could create not only affirmative sentences, but also negative and interrogative sentences by using regular or irregular verbs. 25.

(26) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. At the end of the intervention, some students were chosen to answer questions about actions that they had done during the day, or the day after.. 26.

(27) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Data analysis Pre surveys First pre survey To begin with, students were asked to complete the first pre survey (see appendix II) in order to confirm my interpretations about the reasons behind their stress when performing speaking in English lessons. This survey contained four alternative questions that were framed under Sarah McNamara’s book regarding stress management program for a secondary school. As it follows, it is presented each of the four questions from the first pre survey. Questions will be exposed and students’ answers will be subsequently analyzed.. 1. What do you physically feel when you have to give an answer outloud in English lessons? 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Stomachache. Headache. I start to sweat It is difficult I feel nothing to breath. Figure 1. 27.

(28) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. How do you emotionally feel when you have to give an answer outloud in English lessons? 20. 15 10 5 0 I feel nothing. I feel that it is a some sort of nightmare that never ends. I feel good and I show my classmates what I have larnt. Figure 2. The two first questions were particularly directed to students’ physical (fig.1) and emotional (fig.2) responses when they are asked to speak to their classmates out loud. It is observed in fig. nº1 that all students felt a particular physical symptom when they had to speak in front of others. In comparison to emotional feelings, there are 19 students out of 34 that label speaking instances as a nightmare that never ends. In contrast, there are only 11 students who admitted that it felt good, and they wanted to show other classmates what they had learnt. These answers manifested that there was an important number of students who did not feel comfortable sharing answers in English. Most important, it was observed that a high number of learners combined a particular negative physical symptom with a negative emotional feeling in one particular scenario, which is speaking in front of their classmates out loud.. 28.

(29) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. The following two questions were asked in order to identify students’ feelings when speaking, and how much stress they get during such instance.. 3. For me, sharing answers out loud in English lessons is... 30. 25 20 15 10 5 0 A good experience. A bad experience. Not that good, neither that bad. Figure 3. 4. How much stress do you feel when you have to speak in English out loud? 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Too little. Optimum. Too much. Burnout. Figure 4 29.

(30) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. As it is exposed in fig. 3, there were 28 students out of 34 who believed that sharing answers to the class was a bad experience. Opposed to that number, there were 2 students who felt that this was a good experience. There were only 4 students who labeled that instance as not that good neither that bad experience. This final number conveys that this particular situation does not seem to be a problem for them. The following question was asked in order to classify students’ stress level when facing speaking instances in front of their classmates. Alternatives were presented from a minimum to a larger level of stress being too little the minimum, and burnout the maximum. Fig. 4 reports that although there was not any student who felt speaking as a burnout situation, there were 24 students who felt too much stress when speaking in front of others. 7 students felt an optimum stress level while only 5 pupils felt too little stress. According to McNamara, too much stress can caused exhaustion and eventually burn learners out. Contrary, too little stress can caused boredom, and lacking energy. Consequently, an optimum level of stress keeps learners motivated and healthy (2001). Having said that, it is observed a vast number of students who felt a great amount of stress when speaking in front of others. That means, sooner or later speaking experiences might cause learning debilitation, since students did not feel motivated enough. Furthermore, after comparing fig. 3 and fig. 4, it is noticeable that there is a relation between the number of students who felt sharing ideas as a bad experience, and the number of pupils who felt too much stress in the same scenario. Indeed, students’ appreciation 30.

(31) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. about speaking tasks might be caused by their stress’ level, which turns these experiences into unpleasant ones.. In other words, the more students feel stress in a certain situation,. the less they identify that situation as a good experience. Second pre survey The second pre survey applied examined to 40 students, and contained one alternative question only. This survey was created in order to discover students’ preferences when working in speaking tasks.. When it comes to speaking activities… 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 I feel comfortable working I feel comfortable working I feel comfortable working with a partner, so I can with a group, so I can speak with all my classmates as a speak with someone without with more people without whole group. I don’t feel feeling exposed. feeling exposed. particularly exposed in that way.. Figure 5 The following figure exposes that 6 students felt comfortable when working in pairs. Nevertheless, there were 18 students that preferred working in groups, and 16 students considered that working with the whole class was a comfortable option to work speaking. After analyzing pupil’s answers, it was noticed that although students felt more comfortable working in groups, there was not any problem when working as a whole class. 31.

(32) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Therefore, two interventions were planned as group work activities and one intervention was proposed as a whole class task. Thereby, students not only had the chance to interact with each other, but also to communicate with those classmates that they had never related with. Post surveys and observation notes According to McNamara, it is natural and also needed to feel a certain amount of nervousness or anxiety when facing stressful situations (2001). Therefore, it was not expected to reduce students’ stress by reducing nervousness in a hundred percent. Contrary, it is hoped that even thought students feel nervous, they could effectively develop the speaking task. Thus, post surveys’ questions were conducted in order to analyze if students could effectively achieve the task. Intervention nº1 1. In relation to the last activity: How did you feel sharing your answers to your group? 25 20. 15 10 5 0 I felt nervous, but I knew the answers so I answered with confidence.. I felt nervous, and I couldn't answer well.. I didn't feel nervous.. Figure 6. 32.

(33) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Conforming fig. 6, 21 students felt that nervousness did not interfere on the development of the task while working in the group. Discordantly, 16 students felt that nervousness prevented them to give an accurate answer and to communicate with the group. Finally, there were three students who did not feel nervous at all during the activity. According to the results and personal observation notes, it was noticed that students did not feel unconformable while interacting with their classmates. However, English was not completely spoken during the whole activity. Therefore, from intervention n°2 activity rules were included in order to encourage students’ to use English during the activities.. 2. In relation to sharing your answers out loud during the English class: How did you feel? (Answer only if that was the case) 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 I felt nervous, but I knew the answer so I answered with confidence.. I felt nervous, and I couldn't answer well.. I didn't feel nervous.. Figure 7 Question n°2 was answered by students who were randomly chosen in order to share answers to the whole group. The following figure shows that from a total of 10 participants, 5 students felt nervous, and also felt that they could not answer well the questions, while 4 students felt. 33.

(34) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. nervous but they answered very confident. There was only 1 person who did not feel nervous at all. After comparing the two questions, it is observed that both group of participants felt mostly nervous when sharing answers. This expresses that pupil’s emotional responses through the activity are normal. However, it is demonstrated that stress (disguised by nervousness) interferes the most when sharing answers to a great amount of people rather than to small groups. Intervention nº2 1. In relation to the last activity: How did you feel sharing your answers to your group? 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 I felt nervous, but I I felt nervous, and I knew the answers so I couldn't answer well. answered with confidence.. I didn't feel nervous.. Figure 8 This intervention involved 41 participants, and it was essential in order to analyze the first improvement or decline presented on students’ responses after facing speaking. Indeed, figure nº8 exposes that the number of students who felt nervous and could not answer well decreased in comparison to the previous intervention. Likewise, the number of. 34.

(35) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. students that had felt nervous, but answered with confidence increased in comparison to the first intervention.. 2. In relation to sharing your answers out loud during the English class: How did you feel? (Answer only if that was the case). 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 I felt nervous, but I I felt nervous, and I I didn't feel nervous. knew the answers so I couldn't answer well. answered with confidence.. Figure 9 On the other hand, those students who were chosen to share their answers (fig. 9), this time felt more confident than how they felt during the previous intervention. For instance, the number of students who did not answer well the first time greatly decreased. Aversely, the number of students who did not feel nervous at all partially increased. Intervention nº3 This was the last intervention applied, and the one that was crucial in order to demonstrate if the action plan conducted was successfully applied in order to solve the answer of the research question stated.. 35.

(36) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. 1. In relation to the last activity: How did you feel sharing your answers to your group? 25 20 15 10 5 0 I felt nervous, but I I felt nervous, and I I didn't feel nervous. knew the answers so I couldn't answer well. answered with confidence.. Figure 10 In comparison to the intervention n°2, the number of students who felt nervous but confident when working with their groups diminished from 26 to 10, as well as 3 students that this time felt nervous and could not answer well. Nevertheless, there was a huge increment on the number of students who did not feel nervous at all. Apparently, as long as students continue working in groups, their nervousness or stress level diminishes, even if the members of the groups are changing from one activity to another. That is to say, the more students get used to interacting and communicating with their classmates, the less nervousness interferes when performing English.. 36.

(37) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. In relation to sharing your answers out loud during the English class: How did you feel? (Answer only if that was the case) 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 I felt nervous, but I I felt nervous, and I I didn't feel nervous. knew the answers so I couldn't answer well. answered with confidence.. Figure 11 In relation to the second question, it is observed that occurred something similar to the first question. That is to say, the number of students who felt confident when sharing answers out loud decreased, as well as the number of pupils who believed that they did not answer correctly. However, a great number of students did not feel nervous when sharing answers. Contrasting this intervention with the two previous exposed, it is observed that while students were chosen to speak, and they were sharing their answers to their classmates out loud, they were losing nervousness. Indeed, as it was registered on the observation notes: “when I asked students for a volunteer to share the answers, there were two students who usually avoid sharing answers, who surprisingly raised their hand”. That is to say, if students work speaking skills within a comfortable environment, their stress level will be reduced since they will get used to interact and communicate with other people, without feeling speaking as a threat. 37.

(38) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Reflections Through the development of this action research, I included speaking activities developed in groups in order to reduce students’ stress when speaking and sharing ideas to other classmates. For that, I took into consideration students’ preferences when facing such speaking tasks. Thus, students not only had the opportunity to practice speaking within a comfortable environment, but also they gradually got used to appeal to the target language in order to communicate with their pairs. To start with, students reported about their preferences when working on speaking tasks. After gathering pupils’ answers, I identified that the majority of them agreed that working in groups was a suitable manner in order to develop speaking tasks. Therefore, I decided to apply activities that did not take them out of their comfortable zone to finally tackle the problem. While students were communicating within the groups, I noticed that they were positively immersed in the activities. In fact, observations notes described that students were actively participating in the groups, communicating not only answers but also new ideas. Nevertheless, it was difficult at first to encourage them to use English when working inside the groups, since they constantly returned to their mother tongue. In regards to activities developed in groups, students were gradually incorporating English to communicate, as well as increasing participation. At first, it was hard for them to communicate without their first language, even after rules were stipulated. However, it was registered that some students encouraged others to communicate in the target language. Additionally, students were increasingly facing nervousness when communicating in English with their pairs. In fact, students were losing nervousness when sharing ideas in. 38.

(39) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. the target language at the extent that most of them did not feel nervous at all during the last intervention. In addition to this, students had the chance to correct and learn by themselves when making mistakes inside of the groups. Thus, practicing together was a remarkable instance to prepare them to finally communicate their answers to the rest of the class. Consequently, most of the students who were chosen to share their answers reported that nervousness was not an impediment to effectively answer the final questions. In terms of sharing ideas out loud to the class, I observed that it was crucial for this particular context to promote group speaking activities before asking them to share answers out loud. That is to say, it was essential that students had the chance to experience speaking in the target language before being asked to share answers out loud. In fact, as it was reported by students, they actually felt less nervous as long as they were practicing in groups first. In other words, the more students practice speaking, the less stressed they feel, but most important, this is not an interference to the proper development of the task. To conclude, it is relevant to mention that surveys provided me relevant information that finally helped me to answer my research question. Moreover, video recordings and observation notes were essential in order to realized about students’ attitudes when performing speaking. Indeed, I registered that students were constantly interacting with each other, and gradually coming out of their comfortable zone in order to try English. I believe that once speaking tasks were regularly incorporated within my teaching practice, students started to consider these instances as meaningful experiences to practice the language. Additionally, I noticed that this action plan not only served with the purpose. 39.

(40) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. of reducing my students’ stress, but also, it was a great occasion to allowed students to know each other and positive contribute to their learning experience.. 40.

(41) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Conclusion After triangulating all data gathered, I realized that 9th graders were gradually loosing stress as they were practicing the language within a comfortable environment. That is to say, as long as students were feeling comfortable with the people they were working with, stress did not interfere with their speaking performance. Moreover, I noticed that group interaction allowed students to be the only participants of their own learning process, since they were correcting their own mistakes inside of the groups. Undoubtedly, these instances mentioned were also essential in order to prepare students to finally perform English in front of others classmates. As a matter of fact, it was hard to implement speaking activities in everyday lessons, since classes were regularly grammar oriented. Indeed, it was difficult for me to encourage students to speak in English during lessons. Nevertheless, I tried to engage them to perform English by establishing rules while developing the activities. Although these rules cooperated to increase the use of English, there were still a few students who constantly needed their mother tongue to interact with their pairs. In spite of this, I maintain that these results are a remarkable input in order to start implementing communicative activities in everyday lessons. In that way, students will be constantly facing speaking situations in order to reduce stress when performing the language. In terms of students’ achievement through this process, it is demonstrated that nervousness evoked by stress did not hinder students to perform English. These particularly occurred not only meanwhile students were working in groups, but also once they were. 41.

(42) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. chosen to communicate their answers to the class. Namely, I was amazed by two students who raised their hand to speak, since they generally struggled when performing speaking, and reject to participate in lessons. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that this action research served to build up new links and also to strengthen relationships among the group of students. This was particularly crucial in order to help them to come out of their comfortable zone without feeling exposed. On the other hand, there were limitations that impeded me to observe a broader vision about my students’ improvement. For instance, I was constantly dealing with time issues concerning school activities. Therefore, it was difficult for me to apply a wide variety of instruments in order to deeply analyze students’ responses when performing English. In other words, the information gathered served to prove the efficacy of reducing stress bounded to a particular content that was already learnt. Nevertheless, it was not proved that this strategy to reduce stress could work if it is applied when learning a different content. In addition, it was hard to encourage students to interact by using the target language, since they were not used to communicate in English with their classmates. For that reason it was difficult for students at first to include English to speak within the groups, and also in front of others. Accordingly, it was a great task for me as an English teacher to work on strategies that helped me to be understood when monitoring the activities and giving instructions.. 42.

(43) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. I believe that an effective way to foster speaking English among groups could have been started by presenting key words to help students to relate with each other. In that manner, students would have managed specific vocabulary to communicate while developing the activities. Additionally, I believe that what I could have done differently was the recognition about stress symptoms. As McNamara suggests, it is important to know how we react when facing stress in order to cope with it (2001). Although students had the chance to identify their symptoms through the pre survey, I believe that it was not enough to recognize them, in order to work on them for future speaking activities. Considering all data gathered through this action research, the answer to my research question is that my 9th graders’ stress can be reduced as long as they constantly practice speaking within a comfortable environment. Thereby, students do not feel expose when performing speaking in front of their pairs and speaking becomes into an experience to be faced without feeling threatened. Apart from this, I strongly believe that as an English educator it is imperative to speak in the target language to my learners. Hence, they will be constantly exposed to the language, and speaking instances would not been unknown. Finally, it should be mentioned that although results tackled the problem, they were applicable to this particular context and attached to the particular content taught. In other words, this teaching strategy might or might not work in other circumstances, since there are still issues concerning learning and teaching that were not covered through this action research. For instance, promoting. 43.

(44) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. speaking activities and teaching students to deal with stress are further topics to be explored in future research.. 44.

(45) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. References American Psychological Association (2002). Adolescent emotional development. Developing adolescents. A reference for professionals (pp.15). Washington.2002 Brown, D. (1994). Teaching Speaking. Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2nd ed., pp. 269). U.S: Longman. Blaustein, M. and Kinniburgh, K. (2010). Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents. Child Development, the Human Danger Response, and Adaptation. (pp.22). New York, U.S.A: Guilford. Compas, B. E., Jennifer K. Connor Smith, Saltzman, H., & Alexandra Harding Thomsen and Martha E. Wadsworth (2001). Coping With Stress During Childhood and Adolescence: Problems, Progress and Potential in Theory and Research. University of Vermont, 127, 88, 89. Gabriele Oettingen and Petter M. Gollwitzer (2015). Self Regulation in Adolescence . New York, U.S.A: Cambridge University Press. Genç, G., & Emine Kuluşaklı and Savaş Aydın (2016). The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Productive Language Skills . The Reading Matrix, 16, 102.. McNamara, S. (2001). Stress Management Programme for Secondary School Students. Introduction to Stress and Coping. (pp.8,9,13,66). New York: Routledge Falmer. Richards, J. C. (2006). Cummunicative Language Teaching Today. New York: Cambridge University Press.. 45.

(46) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Russel, D. (2013). The Teenage Brain. The Stress Response and The Adolescent Brain. Departament of Psychology and Neuroscience and Behavior Program,22, 33. Paul, E. and Verity, R. (2004). Stressor Frequency and Perceived Intensity as Predictors of Internalizing Symptoms: Gender and Age Differences in Adolescence. New Zeland Journal of Psychology, 33, 145. Santrock, J. W. (2001). Adolescence (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Sheirer, J. (2002). Shut Up and Speak! Essential Guideliness for Public speaking in school, work and life. New York, U.S.A: Lincoln Shangai. Simuforosa, M. (2013). Stress and Adolescent Development. Greener Journal of Educational Research, 3(8), 379. University, T. O. (2013). Working in Groups and Teams. Walton Hall: The Open University. Urdan, T. and Klein,S. Early Adolescence: A review of The Literature. The U.S. Departament of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 9. Young, D. (1991). Creating a Low Anxiety Environment: What Does Language Anxiety Suggest?. University of Tenessee, 75, 429, 431.. 46.

(47) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendixes Apendix I: Parents’ consent. 47.

(48) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. 48.

(49) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix II: Pre survey nº1. 49.




(53) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Apendix III: Pre survey nº2. 53.



(56) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix IV: Post surveys. 56.




(60) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix V: Journal and observation notes. 60.




(64) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix VI: Intervention n°1. 64.


(66) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix VII: Intervention nº2 (Find someone who). 66.

(67) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix VIII: Intervention nº3 (Card game). 67.

(68) How can I help my 9th grade students to reduce stress when performing speaking activities?. Appendix IX: Video recording captures. 68.



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