Résumé:
Anxiety is considered as a very important issue that most foreign language
learners suffer from during the oral expression subject. The current study is conducted in
order to investigate the issue of anxiety and its effect on learners’ oral performance. The
main purpose of this study is to explore the negative effects that hinder students’
speaking performance. Then to look for effective activities and techniques that teachers
can use in order to reduce anxiety and develop students' foreign language speaking skill.
The research depends on three main data gathering tools: questionnaires, classroom
observation that was conducted with three groups of First year students during the
academic year 2016-2017, and experimental study. Questionnaires were administered to
twenty five students of first year LMD of English and nine teachers of oral expression at
Ahmed Zabana University Center of Relizane. The classroom observation was carried
out with the same first year group of first year at English Department. The results
obtained from the questionnaires, the classroom observation and experimental study
confirm the hypothesis set for this research that most foreign language students tend to be
anxious while they asked to speak. Thus, games, discussion and role play were effective
activities that can help learners decrease anxiety and enhance their speaking
performance.
