Self-Regulated Strategy Instruction for Developing Speaking Proficiency and Reducing Speaking Anxiety of Egyptian University Students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of teaching some self-regulated strategies to Egyptian university students on improving their speaking proficiency and reducing their speaking anxiety. The design of the study was a one group pre-posttest quasi experimental design. Forty 3 rd - year EFL university students were selected to form the experimental group of the study. This experimental group was tested using the pre-post speaking test and speaking anxiety scale before and after being exposed to the self-regulated strategy treatment. Paired- samples t-test revealed significant differences between the pretest and posttest of speaking proficiency as well as speaking anxiety in favor of the posttests. Additionally, a negative correlation was shown between speaking proficiency and speaking anxiety. It was concluded that teaching self-regulated strategies to university students was effective in developing their speaking proficiency and reducing their anxiety considerably.