探究英語非母語的學生在雙人搭檔口語考試活動裡的焦慮現象

EFL Students' Anxieties towards Paired-Oral Testing

雙人搭檔的學習活動常被廣泛應用在英語非母語的英語教學中。大部分研究認同此活動是有效的語言教學法。然而當此活動被應用在口語考試，是否會對學生的學習造成問題，卻鮮少被討論。焦慮對學生的口語能力而言是種負面表徵，因為學習者的應試能力會阻礙其口語考試的表現。為了瞭解焦慮如何影響學生的雙人搭檔活動進行，本研究透過長期觀察來探究在以此型態為主的口語考試裡,學生出現焦慮的原因及焦慮類別。本研究以Horwitz、Horwitz、及Cope的語言學習焦慮模式為理論架構，分析六名就讀於臺灣某大學英文系的大一學生，其在大一英文課裡，面對雙人搭檔口語考試所產生的焦慮行為。基於本研究的質性本質，資料分析也是採取質性分析。在為期一學期的資料蒐集下，本研究共進行了二十六次的課堂觀察及二十四次的半結構式訪談。本研究旨在（1）發掘個案在此種活動裡所產生的焦慮類別及其影響因素（2）提供有意將雙人搭檔考試列入評量的教師們教學啟示。結果顯示個案們不只出現「考試焦慮」更會在考試前出現「準備考試焦慮」。本研究因此建議教師在學習評量的設計上要更注意雙人搭檔的口試評量對學生所帶來的影響，因為此種活動足以改變學生的語言焦慮程度。

The use of pair work has been commonly implemented in the EFL classroom. Most prior studies concluded that pair work was an effective strategy in EFL teaching. However, there is deficit in researching the problems that students may encounter within an oral paired test setting. Anxiety is often a negative attribute to EFL learners' speaking abilities as their test taking abilities may deter them from doing their best performance on their oral tests. To better understand how anxiety is situated as an affected factor in EFL learners' pair-work activities, this longitudinal study explores the causes and the types of anxiety which may occur during paired oral testing. Six English-majored EFL college freshmen's anxieties towards paired-oral testing in an EFL Freshman English classroom at a Taiwanese University are observed. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope's language anxiety model is employed for the analysis of data. Due to the qualitative nature of this study, the data are also analyzed qualitatively. In this one-semester-long observational study, 26 classroom observations and 24 semi-structured interviews on these six participants were conducted. It (1) discovers the kinds of anxieties that can be found on the participants in pair-work English oral tests and their affective factors; (2) suggests pedagogical implications for language teachers who plan to include paired oral tests in the assessment. The findings show that the six participants, in a paired oral test setting, not only have traces of test anxiety but especially test preparation anxiety when working as pairs before the test. The study suggests that language teachers need to be aware of test design because the design of a paired oral test may greatly increase or decrease the anxiety levels of the EFL students.