Assessing second language speaking: Task type and language anxiety

Abstract

This study investigates the interaction between task type and foreign language anxiety (FLA) on speaking performance of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). 70 pre-intermediate EFL learners (aged 17-21) enrolled in an English preparatory program at a state university in Türkiye completed the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and two speaking tasks: a monologic picture-cued description task comprising three prompts and a dialogic role-play task comprising three scenarios. The participants’ oral performances were rated by three trained raters using task-specific analytic rubrics. A within-subjects design was employed, and the results of non-parametric tests of Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, Spearman’s correlation, and Mann–Whitney U tests were reported. A moderate negative correlation was found between FLA and the monologic task performance while no significant relationship was observed between FLA and the performance on the dialogic task. Participants performed significantly better on the dialogic task although anxiety levels did not moderate this effect. These results suggest that task type may exert a stronger influence on speaking performance than language anxiety in structured assessment contexts. The findings offer practical implications for the design and sequencing of oral tasks in language testing and highlight the value of task format.