Effectiveness of Psychoeducational Group Training on Turkish EFL Learners' English Speaking Anxiety

Abstract

Feelings of anxiety, apprehension, and nervousness, which are widely reported by foreign language (FL) learners, may cause learners to fail in achieving their desired goals, and they can lose motivation due to the detrimental effects of these feelings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the effectiveness of psychoeducational group training based on cognitive behavioural techniques (CBTs) to reduce the English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' English speaking anxiety and (2) to increase the learners' subjective wellbeing through subjective wellbeing-increasing activities (SWIAs). This study examined an experimental group and a control group consisting of eight English preparatory school students in each group. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were used as pre-and post-tests to identify any improvements over ten sessions. Then, the participants came together for a follow-up session after one year. The data were analysed with the Mann-Whitney U Test, the Wilcoxon signed ranks test, and the Friedman test. The findings revealed that the sessions were effective on all variables, with significant increases in the post-test scores of the experimental group regarding positive affect, negative affect, life satisfaction, and state anxiety; however, there were no statistically significant changes in the post-test scores of the control group for any variables. In sum, the findings were significantly different in terms of the post-test scores of the experimental group.