Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación

Vol. 4, No 8, julio - diciembre 2026, 76-92

ISSN: 3073-1461

https://revistasfiecyt.com/index.php/riced

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal

activities

Reducción de la ansiedad al hablar gracias a la implementación de

actividades de diario de audio

Cinthya Vanesa Ushiña Chamba

Maritza Jacqueline Villacis Lizano

Autor de correspondencia:

vane15sita@hotmail.com

Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica.

Ecuador.

vane15sita@hotmail.com

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6074-3996

Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica.

Ecuador.

maritzavillacis@uti.edu.ec

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5935-707X

Datos del artículo:

Recibido: marzo 07, 2026

Aceptado: abril 04, 2026

Publicación: julio 08, 2026

Keywords:

communication apprehension, audio

journals, secondary education, self-

efficacy, foreign language teaching.

Palabras clave:

miedo a comunicarse, diarios de audio,

educación secundaria, autoeficacia,

enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53877/807h1196

Este artículo está bajo la licencia

Abstract

For many adolescent EFL learners, the thought of speaking English

aloud triggers a constellation of physical and emotional responses that

have little to do with what they actually know and everything to do

with how exposed they feel. This qualitative case study explored how

an eight-week audio journal intervention shaped the speaking anxiety

of nineteen B1-level eighth-grade students at Unidad Educativa Atenas

in Ambato, Ecuador. Drawing on Krashen's Affective Filter

Hypothesis, Bandura's self-efficacy theory, and Horwitz et al.'s

framework of foreign language anxiety, the researcher analyzed 152

audio journal recordings and post-intervention interviews through

reflexive thematic analysis. Four interrelated sources of speaking

anxiety emerged from the data: fear of peer evaluation, linguistic self-

doubt, evaluative classroom pressure, and a persistent lack of authentic

oral production opportunities. The audio journal addressed all four by

removing the social audience and corrective grading, building gradual

mastery experiences, and inviting genuine metacognitive self-

reflection. Over the eight weeks, students reported fewer physical and

mental anxiety symptoms, a growing willingness to speak, and a

clearer sense of their own progress. These findings suggest that audio

journals, when used as a regular, non-evaluative, content-focused

weekly practice, offer a theoretically grounded and practically

accessible path toward stronger speaking self-efficacy in secondary

EFL classrooms in Ecuador.

Resumen

Para muchos adolescentes que aprenden inglés como lengua

extranjera, la idea de hablar en voz alta desencadena una serie de

respuestas físicas y emocionales que tienen poco que ver con lo que

realmente saben y mucho con lo expuestos que se sienten. Este estudio

de caso cualitativo exploró cómo una intervención de diario de audio

de ocho semanas influyó en la ansiedad al hablar de diecinueve

estudiantes de octavo año con nivel B1 en la Unidad Educativa Atenas

de Ambato, Ecuador. Apoyado en la hipótesis del filtro afectivo de

Krashen, la teoría de la autoeficacia de Bandura y el marco de la

ansiedad ante el idioma extranjero de Horwitz et al., el estudio analizó

152 grabaciones de diario de audio y entrevistas posteriores a la

intervención mediante un análisis temático reflexivo. Del análisis

emergieron cuatro fuentes interrelacionadas de ansiedad al hablar:

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

miedo a la evaluación de los pares, inseguridad lingüística, presión

evaluativa en el aula y una persistente falta de oportunidades de

producción oral auténtica. El diario de audio atendió a las cuatro al

eliminar la audiencia social y la calificación correctiva, al construir

experiencias graduales de dominio e invitar a una autorreflexión

metacognitiva genuina. A lo largo de las ocho semanas, los estudiantes

reportaron menos síntomas físicos y mentales de ansiedad, una mayor

disposición a hablar y una mayor conciencia de su propio progreso.

Estos hallazgos sugieren que los diarios de audio, cuando se emplean

como práctica semanal regular, no evaluativa y centrada en los

contenidos, ofrecen un camino teóricamente fundamentado y

prácticamente accesible hacia una mayor autoeficacia oral en las aulas

de inglés de secundaria en Ecuador.

Forma sugerida de citar (APA):

Ushiña Chamba, C. V. y Villacis Lizano, M. J. (2026). Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementa tion

of audio journal activities. RICEd: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación. 4(8), 76-92.

https://doi.org/10.53877/807h1196

INTRODUCTION

Speaking is the most unique and challenging of the four macro-skills in foreign language

learning and is usually recognized as one of the most mentally and emotionally taxing

activities that learners face during language acquisition. According to Horwitz and Cope's

(1986) theory, foreign language anxiety (FLA) is a complex and multifaceted construct that

includes test anxiety, communication anxiety, and fear of receiving a poor grade, which

negatively impacts learners' ability to acquire and use a foreign language. It is associated with

emotional, cognitive, and performance-related challenges in language learning. These

symptoms can all appear with significant intensity in EFL classroom settings. As a result,

students may receive lower grades and experience poor academic performance, as they may

avoid situations involving oral assessment (Juríková, 2025).

Students with high FLA scores often refrain from participating in class activities,

limiting their ability to practice and progress in the language. Anxiety causes motivation

levels to go down, which can lead students to lose interest in learning and participating in

English classes. One of the adverse effects of speech-related anxiety includes its effect on

students' academic performance, especially for foreign language learners, as speech-related

symptoms can interfere with the clearer articulation of a student's thoughts and ideas,

resulting in misunderstandings and frustration (Alsalooli & Al-Tale', 2022). The amount and

depth of empirical research on the effect of anxiety on oral production is substantial. A recent

meta-analysis by Teimouri, Goetze, and Plonsky (2019) that reviewed over 90 studies found

that anxiety is detrimental to linguistic performance, with oral expression being the most

adversely affected skill. According to Dewaele (2013), this anxiety erodes fluency and

communicative confidence across diverse educational contexts. This reaction is not merely a

solitary state; it is brought about by a multitude of factors in the classroom. Young (1991), for

example, pointed out links among interpersonal dynamics with the instructor, the learner's

beliefs, and assessment dynamics, creating an environment that can be emotionally

overwhelming. What’s most worrying is that initial discomfort may become a silent trap. As

MacIntyre (2017) describes, anxious students tend to avoid participation, which, in turn, limits

their opportunities to practice, stunts their progress, and ultimately reinforces their original

fear, locking them into a difficult-to-break cycle of behaviors.

Cinthya Ushiña / Maritza Villacis

RICEd: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación, Vol. 4, No 8, julio - diciembre 2026, 76-92 78

FLA is a significant issue in South America, including in Ecuador, and hampers both students

and teachers. English is studied as a foreign language in Ecuador, and the national syllabus

is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The

Ministry of Education states that students should achieve progressive levels of

communicative competence in the English language within the context of the basic education

program, however there is evidence to support the notion of a huge chasm between what

students can understand and say (Ministerio de Educacion del Ecuador, 2016). More research

shows that affective factors — especially fear of speaking — greatly affect a student’s

participation in oral output, even when their linguistic competence would allow them to do

so (British Council & Ministerio de Educación del Ecuador, 2015).

Nineteen eighth-grade B1 students at the Atenas Educational Unit, a private school in

Ambato, Tungurahua, who have been educated only in English since early schooling, provide

as an example of this disparity: they do well on written assignments, reading evaluations, and

grammatical examinations, but they have oral nervousness. Cooperative learning, which

allocates evaluation pressure (Long & Porter, 1985); drama and role-play, which offer a

protective fictional identity (Kao & O'Brien, 2001); task-based instruction, which emphasizes

meaning over correctness (Ellis, 2003); and low-stakes speaking practice, which reframes error

as progress, are some pedagogical strategies to address this. All of these strategies work

together to release the learner's voice.

Of the low-pressure practices reviewed in the literature, journal- or diary-based

activities have received special attention because they provide students with a private space—

free from competition and assessment—for language practice and personal expression.

Specifically, the use of written journal entries as reflections in communicative language

teaching has been well researched and repeatedly found effective in fostering learner

autonomy, metacognitive awareness, and emotional engagement with the target language

(Nunan, 1989; Ur, 1996; Winer, 1992). Journals are among the most studied tools for language

acquisition because people who maintain a journal in a foreign language tend to show

increased fluency and comfort in writing, suggesting that the same can be achieved orally.

Investigators focused on diary-type tasks as individual language practice (not for

evaluation). It is well established that written diaries provide students with autonomy,

metacognitive awareness, and positive emotional engagement (Nunan, 1989; Ur, 1996; Winer,

1992). Research indicates that using audio-based dialog journals may enhance spoken English

skills for foreign language learners. They serve cognitive, linguistic, pedagogical,

psychological, and social functions, providing opportunities to practice language in a rich

setting free of the traditional classroom. Patients can hear their own voices in sound

recordings, prompting deeper introspection into their emotions or thoughts. Verbal

communication may feel more natural and less formal than writing, facilitating easier patient

openness (Jain & Kala, 2014).

As such, when we discuss audio diaries, which are periodic, self-directed recordings

in which students use the target language in a structured or open-ended manner, created

independently outside the classroom, they represent an empirical approach that has, by and

large, yet to be fully explored. When students are not under the pressure of facing an audience,

and even less so their teacher, there is less pressure to express themselves. The literature about

these audio diaries in the domain of English as a foreign language has proven the effectiveness

of oral skills and student self-confidence (Yoon, 2012); however, few studies have reported

the influence of speaking anxiety as an empirically measurable 0affective variable in the

setting of secondary education, and evidence within Latin American contexts is limited in the

literature.

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

Using a qualitative case study design, this study aims to examine whether and how audio

diaries affect students’ perceptions of anxiety when speaking English as a foreign language.

Because this qualitative and interpretive methodology is adopted, the central research

question guiding this study is: How do audio diaries influence speaking anxiety among

eighth-grade English language learners at the Atenas Educational Unit in Ambato, Ecuador?

To better elucidate the study and clarify the study criteria, the following questions need to be

asked: (i) Throughout the course of the eight-week intervention, what patterns of enhanced

oral production and affective disposition can be observed in the students' audio diary

recordings? and (ii) Before and after completing the audio diary exercises, how do students

explain and interpret what they have experienced with speaking anxiety?

In theory, this research contributes to our knowledge of a relatively unexplored theme

in Ecuadorian secondary schooling—self-reflection journals—by conducting a qualitative

investigation of anxiety experienced when speaking English as a foreign language. In practical

terms, it is intended to generate useful information for teachers struggling with oral anxiety

in the classroom. The study connects the theory of linguistic anxiety to the practical realities

of English teaching in Ecuador through student voices and recordings.

Speaking Anxiety in the EFL Classroom: Theoretical Foundations

The section begins by addressing something human: why does a student who understands

the words freeze when asked to speak? This is more than a linguistic puzzle; this is an event

grounded by the collision of cognition, emotion, and social identity. Knowing why a teenager

who knows the words can't pronounce them, why someone who reads English fluently finds

it difficult to speak, or why a student freezes in the middle of a sentence is not just difficulty

with language. Above all, they are genuinely human experiences that emerge at the point of

social, emotional, and cognitive identities. This study's theoretical framework is centered

around four related components that contribute to clarifying the connection and promoting

the use of daily audio as an affective approach in language learning: (1) the theory of anxiety

regarding foreign languages as a specific psychological construct. FLA theory;(2) Krashen's

theory of the affective filter and its implications for oral communication-the Affective Filter

Hypothesis; (3) Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and its connection to speaking confidence-

self-efficacy theory; and (4) educational literature on the use of audio diary activities in

situations such as foreign languages- audio journal literature.

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA): Conceptualization and Dimensions

Origin and Multifaceted Nature of the Construct

FLA is a psychological and emotional barrier that inhibits a learner's acquisition and use of a

foreign language. It manifests tension, apprehension, and fear, which interfere with cognitive

thinking, academic achievement, and communication. This complex understanding of FLA

advises against treating speaking anxiety as a single, consistent symptom, thereby rendering

it immediately applicable to the current study. Rather than being a generalized fear of the

language itself, it suggests that the eighth-grade participants may experience anxiety as a

layered combination of self-image, identity, and skill-specific apprehension. This distinction

influenced the design of the audio journal's reflective questions, which probe each of these

layers independently.

FLA results from a site-specific and situated experience that is qualitatively different

from that of other types of academic or social anxiety. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope (1986)

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RICEd: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación, Vol. 4, No 8, julio - diciembre 2026, 76-92 80

define speaking as a means of self-exposure, presenting a partial self to an audience. It is a

conglomerate of different identities, thoughts, and feelings that reveal the complex nature of

language learning. Many studies have elaborated on this. Cheng (2004) and Saito, Horwitz,

and Garza (1999) confirmed the idea's multifaceted quality by distinguishing various forms

of writing and reading. MacIntyre and Gardner (1994) observed that the level of anxiety is the

highest in the speaking segment. In line with Şimşek and Dörnyei (2017), anxiety is related to

the learner's self-image; that is, the "anxious self" appears when the experience of language

limitations meets with the ideal self, who is a fluent speaker. More recently, Oxford (2017),

drawing on positive psychology, has proposed that understanding this affective dimension is

the first step in a potential educational project to help students reimagine their nervous

behavior. Together, these methods allow us to view FLA as a very human reaction that

integrates cognitive, emotional, and identity-related aspects, and as requiring a pedagogy

sensitive to the emotional component of learning, rather than as a personal weakness.

Factors That Trigger Anxiety When Speaking in the EFL Classroom

The main factors that cause speaking anxiety in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners

include Social Pressure, which means worrying about peer and teacher evaluations can

increase speaking anxiety; Fear of Mistakes: fear of making grammatical or pronunciation

errors can inhibit active participation in class; Lack of Practice due to the scarcity of

opportunities to practice the language in a safe environment can contribute to insecurity when

speaking. Low self-esteem and a negative perception of their language skills can affect

students' confidence; Cultural Context, specifically the cultural differences and social norms,

can create discomfort when interacting in a foreign language; High Expectations, which

means pressure to achieve high standards of proficiency, can cause stress and anxiety

(Juríková, 2025); Phonetic Challenges where Students may become anxious and frustrated due

to the complex nature of the target language's sounds, particularly those that are lacking from

their home tongue (Baran-Łucarz & Lee, 2021). These factors interact and can vary among

students, affecting their willingness and ability to communicate in the foreign language.

According to Young (1991) and Zheng & Cheng (2018), the entire relational framework

that defines the learning environment—including the way the instructor reacts to errors, the

rules regulating participation, the importance assigned to oral assessments, and the implicit

structures that determine whose voice is heard and which is ignored—is what causes anxiety

in the classroom. Performance during tests can be affected as a result of anxiety's interference

with cognitive functions like encoding, storing, and retrieving information. FLA includes

general and skills anxiety, such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Learners may

suffer from debilitating anxiety: forgetfulness, isolation, self-avoidance, and, perhaps,

physical problems of anxiety, such as palpitations, trembling, or sweating, which frequently

distract learners from their schoolwork and exams (Borisova et al., 2024). Anxiety about

learning a foreign language may pose a significant barrier, affecting students' classroom

experience and their willingness to continue learning it.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis (Krashen, 1982)

The psychological mechanism of the filter and its relationship to acquisition

The main design principle of the audio journal is theoretically justified by Krashen's model: if

a high affective filter hinders linguistic input from reaching more complex processing, then

an activity that reduces anxiety by eliminating the audience, the grade, and the time pressure

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

should, in theory, lower that filter and create more favorable conditions for spoken language

development. The first research question of the project, which concerns patterns of change

throughout eight weeks of recordings, is eventually intended to test this idea empirically.

The Affective Filter Hypothesis (AFH), proposed by Stephen Krashen, posits that

emotional factors such as anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence significantly influence

second language acquisition (SLA). A high affective filter, caused by negative emotions like

anxiety or low self-esteem, can block language input from being effectively processed, while

a low affective filter facilitates language learning. Krashen (1982) proposed the Affective Filter

Hypothesis as a component of the Monitor Model of second language acquisition. He

suggested that motivation, anxiety, and self-confidence can serve as psychological filters that

limit learners’ access to the subconscious acquisition device, and confidence serves as a filter

that either helps or inhibits learning a foreign language (Bao & Yusop, 2025). However, the

filter is not just an external hindrance. When activated (for example, due to apprehension,

frustration, or reflexive emotional avoidance), the information is still perceived at the level of

intake but remains inaccessible to the deep levels of processing required for permanent

acquisition. According to Krashen, reducing classroom tension is a structural necessity for

learning to occur rather than a mere benefit. The results of a high affective filter are especially

evident in oral production.

This makes the learning environment essential: a classroom that offers emotional

support, recognizes mistakes as a necessary part of the process, and fosters confidence not

only enhances student well-being but also becomes a requirement for language acquisition to

take place successfully. It is important to note that Krashen's affective filter hypothesis has

been subject to valid criticism. According to Mitchell and Myles (2004), important questions

remain unanswered, such as how to identify the precise filter that would be prevented. What

distinguishes an activated filter from a disabled one? These are significant observations: the

hypothesis is more of a method than a mechanism. However, it retains a practical value for

teachers. There is evidence of an inappropriately activated filter rather than competency

limitations. However, the exact mechanism is unclear; the pedagogical implication is clear:

creating emotionally secure environments and offering regular opportunities for students to

practice confidently.

Self-efficacy and Confidence in Speaking (Bandura, 1997)

Sources of Self-Efficacy

Bandura's notion of self-efficacy, defined as a student's confidence in their ability to perform

the specific actions required to achieve an objective, provides a useful framework for

understanding confidence in speaking English as a foreign language. Self-efficacy is domain-

specific and task-dependent, in contrast to global self-concept or trait-based self-esteem. For

example, a student may have high self-efficacy in written literacy but low self-efficacy in oral

production, not because she lacks linguistic competence but because she has not yet acquired

sufficient active mastery experiences in the speaking domain.

According to Bandura (1997), there are the following types of self-efficacy. The most

significant and persistent basis for changing one's beliefs is mastery experiences, which are

direct, lived experiences of effectively completing tasks. Though their effects are relatively

short-term (simulated events, such as seeing peers with similar linguistic profiles who are

successful), social influence (encouragement from teachers or peers), and physiological and

affective states (interpreting anxiety-associated bodily signals, such as trembling or rapid

heart rate) also play a role. Based on Bandura's theoretical framework, the research has shown

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RICEd: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación, Vol. 4, No 8, julio - diciembre 2026, 76-92 82

that students' hesitation to participate in oral tasks is more related to strongly held opinions

about their own limitations as speakers than to deficiencies in their linguistic knowledge.

These assumptions have been shaped and reinforced by repeated evaluative experiences in

which mistakes are treated as failures rather than as essential elements of learning.

Furthermore, self-efficacy does not develop independently of metacognitive awareness.

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation (Zimmerman, 2000)

According to Zimmerman (2000), self-efficacy and self-regulated learning, that is, the capacity

to monitor, assess, and strategically adjust one's performance in the direction of the goal, are

closely related. For language learners, self-regulation can occur when they notice which parts

are problematic for them, what has improved, what they need to work on, and, most

importantly, what type of practice they need to do to turn that short-term self-assurance into

long-term verbal proficiency.

This relationship between self-efficacy and self-regulation underpins the third

question in each audio diary entry, which asks students to consider how their attitudes toward

speaking English have changed. The intervention was created to actively foster the self-

regulatory awareness that Zimmerman describes as essential for long-term competence

development in addition to passively reducing anxiety by encouraging this type of

metacognitive monitoring.

The Audio Journal as a Pedagogical Tool

From the Tradition of the Written Journal to the Oral Journal (Progoff, 1975; Vygotsky,

1978)

The audio journal was designed to serve as more than just a tool for data collection; akin to

Progoff's guided journals and Vygotsky's notion of mediated cognitive development, it was

created to provide students with a structured yet psychologically safe environment in which

speaking itself becomes an act of self-discovery rather than a mere accomplishment. This is

made clear by placing the audio journal within this longer humanistic and sociocultural

tradition.

The use of journals in language education is a matter of humanistic and sociocultural

sensibilities. From a humanistic perspective, journal writing is what Carl Rogers (1969) called

"psychological safety": a space where learners can express their feelings without fear of

criticism; error is knowledge, not failure. This framing is very much in line with Krashen's

(1982) Affective Filter Hypothesis, and it is no coincidence that learner journals became

increasingly popular in the 1980s with the rise of affective language teaching. Progoff's (1975)

intensive journal approach was a therapeutic practice that provided an early model for

guided, prompt-based reflective writing, which has since become so prevalent in language

learning.

The journal, in sociocultural terms, is what Vygotsky (1978) described as a mediating

tool: it enables the learner to develop new cognitive and communicative capabilities beyond

those of unmediated interaction. Writing language takes conscious thought: the writer needs

to explain what the speaker leaves implicit, organize what the speaker leaves associate, and

find words for what tone and gesture convey. This effort, rather than being a limitation, is

what Vygotsky attributed to inner speech - the internal dialogue through which thought and

language meet. This is borne out by research showing that learners who keep journals in the

target language are more aware of and more in control of their language development (Burton

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

& Carroll, 2001; Dantas-Whitney, 2002). The journal is not only a record of what the learner

knows; it is also the instrument through which she comes to know it.

Types and functions of audio diaries (McGrath, 1992; Ho, 2003; Brown et al., 1996)

Among McGrath's typologies, the current intervention is most similar to the audiotape journal

model, which emphasizes fluency-building and non-evaluative instructor feedback rather

than remedial assessment. The particular protocol choices outlined in the Methodology

section, such as the decision to exclusively offer content-focused feedback and to withhold

grades at every stage of the intervention, are rationalized by this typological foundation. As a

foreign language, audio dialog journals have been shown to enhance English-speaking skills

and to facilitate English practice outside the classroom.

The natural offspring of the written journal practice was the audio journal, a self-

directed voice recording of students responding to an English challenge daily, made

autonomously and unconnected to in-class assessment. In response to the lack of

opportunities for real-world oral practice outside of the classroom, Ho (2003) developed the

audiotaped dialogue diary for Taiwan (university students), an EFL environment. The journal

tradition naturally gave rise to the audio journal. When Ho (2003) introduced recorded

dialogue diaries for Taiwanese EFL students, he found that weekly recordings of the teacher's

spoken remarks could encourage continued English-speaking outside the classroom,

something that was not feasible in traditional conversations. Brown et al. (1996) identified five

benefits: producing long talk; organizing ideas in English; practicing oral thinking; integrating

private journaling with classroom confidence; and enabling individualized teacher feedback.

As a result, in accordance with new findings, using audio diaries greatly helps

students learning ESL improve their communication abilities (Siyli & Kafes, 2012). According

to Dantas-Whitney (2002), reflective audiotaped journals helped ESL students connect course

challenges to their own experiences by providing a private space. This suggests that the audio

journal is not only a tool for managing anxiety but also a space where real, experimental

language use can take place. The learner is thinking aloud rather than accomplishing a task

when she speaks into a recorder in her own domain.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Methodological Design

The eight essential methodological elements and their alignment are summarized in the

following table:

Component

Description

1. Research

approach

Interpretive–constructivist (Creswell & Poth, 2018)

2. Research design

Qualitative case study (Yin, 2018; Stake, 1995)

3.Research

methodology

Reflexive thematic analysis — RTA (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2021)

4. Key informants

19 eighth-grade B1 EFL students, ages 12–14, Unidad Educativa Atenas,

Ambato, Ecuador

5. Relevant

information

152 audio journal recordings (8 × 19) + 19 post-intervention semi-structured

interviews

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RICEd: Revista de Investigación en Ciencias de la Educación, Vol. 4, No 8, julio - diciembre 2026, 76-92 84

6. Data collection

methods

(a) Weekly audio journal: 3 fixed reflective questions, recorded via mobile,

submitted digitally (b) Individual semi-structured interview in Spanish,

conducted after Week 8

7. Data analysis

techniques

Six-stage RTA (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2021); member-checking for credibility

(Lincoln & Guba, 1985)

8.Intervention

Eight-week audio journal protocol; non-evaluated; content-only teacher

feedback (see Table 1)

Research Approach and Design

Since speaking anxiety is a subjective, context-dependent affective experience that

quantitative instruments like the FLCAS (Horwitz et al., 1986) can measure in intensity but

cannot explain in meaning, an interpretive–constructivist approach was chosen. As opposed

to only confirming the existence of anxiety, this study aimed to understand how nineteen

teenagers perceive and comprehend it when speaking English. A qualitative case study design

(Yin, 2018) was therefore the most appropriate choice, allowing the researcher to analyze the

phenomena within its real-world academic context: the eighth-grade EFL classroom at

Unidad Educativa Atenas, a private school in Ambato, Tungurahua Province, Ecuador. The

entire group of nineteen B1-level students (ages 12–14) who took part in the eight-week

intervention serves as the case's boundary. Purposive selection was used because the group is

an accessible and representative example of the Ecuadorian secondary EFL learners whose

speaking anxiety this study examines.

Data Collection

Two complementary data sources were produced. Initially, eight weekly audio journals

totaling 152 were supplied by all 19 participants, responding to three preset prompts: (1)

feelings today and why; (2) an intriguing, humorous, or difficult occurrence this week; and

(3) current feelings regarding speaking English and whether they have changed. The affective

filter is lowered by questions 1-2, which elicit genuine speech on well-known subjects

(Krashen, 1982); prompt 3 allows for metacognitive self-monitoring of affective change over

time. Weekly recordings were uploaded to the class platform; in the early weeks, there was

no minimum duration demand. Teachers simply provided content-focused feedback, such as

acknowledging, noting fluency, and asking follow-up questions; grades were not assigned.

Second, to allow for unrestricted affective expression, each participant performed a semi-

structured interview in Spanish, their main language, following Week 8. Every interview was

transcribed verbatim after being audio-recorded, with informed consent.

The following six steps of reflexive thematic analysis were applied to all 152 journal

and 19 interview transcripts (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2021): (1) familiarization; (2) initial coding;

(3) topic development; (4) theme review; (5) theme definition/naming; and (6) composing the

analytic narrative. Because of its inductive flexibility and compatibility with intricate personal

narrative data, RTA was selected. A description of the four developing themes was presented

to a subgroup of participants for verification to increase trust (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The

researcher's English translation of each Spanish passage is enclosed in square brackets;

participant names are pseudonyms.

Intervention: Eight-Week Audio Journal Protocol

The technique was based on Ellis's (2003) task-based principles, Bandura's (1997) self-efficacy

theory, and Krashen's (1982) Affective Filter Hypothesis. The audio journal was created to

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

progressively reduce the emotive filter, develop mastery experiences, and promote

metacognitive self-reflection over the course of eight weeks by removing the social audience,

evaluative pressure, and time restrictions associated with oral assignments in the classroom.

Table 1

Audio journal intervention timeline

Week

Thematic focus

Expected length

Teacher

feedback

1–2

Introduction: daily routines, personal

feelings, likes, and dislikes

1–2 minutes

Encouraging, content-

focused

3–4

Personal experiences: a memorable

event, a challenge overcome

2–3 minutes

Noting fluency gains,

asking follow-up

5–6

Opinions and preferences: favorite

activities, future plans

2–4 minutes

Highlighting

vocabulary growth

7–8

Reflection: speaking in English —

changes, feelings, progress

2–4 minutes

Affirming growth,

open-ended response

Based on the lesson planning: All participants are adolescents (ages 12–14); prior to the study, verbal

agreement from all students, along with informed consent from legal guardians, was obtained.

Withdrawal had no academic implications, and participation was completely voluntary.

Findings

The thematic analysis of the audio journal transcripts and the nineteen post-intervention

interviews identified four interrelated themes that together described in a single narrative

how speaking anxiety manifests in this group of learners, and that the audio journal

intervention began, over the course of eight weeks, to restructure their relationship to oral

production in the context of English. These four themes include: (1) fear of social judgment,

which serves as the main cause of speaking anxiety; (2) linguistic self-doubt and a mismatch

of receptive and productive competence; (3) an evaluative classroom that creates an anxiety-

triggering context; and (4) the lack of opportunities for authentic and low-pressure oral

practice. Each theme is described below, along with representative quotes from participants

identified by pseudonym and data source. All Spanish-language extracts taken from

interviews and journals are supplemented by the researcher’s English translation in square

brackets.

Within the dataset, this theme was the most frequently detected cause of speaking fear.

In the Week 1 journal entries of 16 out of 19 participants (84%), embodied fear language—

such as trembling, breathlessness, cognitive blanking, and the urge to withdraw—appeared.

This was independently confirmed in 14 of 19 post-intervention interviews, in which students

recalled social exposure as their primary emotional experience when required to speak

English. This pattern's stability across both data sets and all ability subgroups within the

cohort suggests that fear of social evaluation is a structurally shared reaction to the classroom's

communication atmosphere rather than an individual psychological characteristic.

The instantaneous and physical nature of this anxiety is demonstrated by the following

Week 1 entries:“Cuando tengo que hablar en inglés, siento… no sé… como si todo el mundo

estuviera mirando mis errores. No puedo pensar. Solo quiero parar.”

[When I have to speak in English, I feel... I don't know... like everyone is looking at my

mistakes. I can't think. I just want to stop.] (Valeria, Week 1, Q3)

“Trato de hablar pero al escoger las palabras dudo y hago muchas pausas y veo a mi

profesor que me mira y empiezo a temblar y ya no puedo respirar y se me nubla todo.”

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[I try to speak, but as I choose my words, I hesitate and make many pauses. I see my teacher

looking at me, and I start to tremble, and I can't breathe anymore, and everything goes blank.]

(Santiago, Week 1, Q3)

The paralysis they describe — the cognitive short circuit that arrives just in time for

someone to experience social exposure — is strikingly consistent among many participants. It

also reflects a similar phenomenology of public speaking anxiety, making visible the physical

and cognitive symptoms that MacIntyre (2017) and Juríková (2025) have noted as being

indicative of high-FLA episodes in adolescents.

The fear of being ridiculed by peers, in particular, resonated repeatedly. For some

students, this fear functioned as an anticipatory social threat that made avoidance feel not just

preferable, but rational for its own sake:

“No quiero cometer errores y que mis compañeros se burlen; prefiero no participar.”

[I don't want to make mistakes and have my classmates laugh at me; I'd rather not

participate.] (Ximena, Week 1, Q3)

“Me cuesta concentrarme al hablar porque mis compañeros me están viendo y muchos

se ríen, y ya no me concentro y no sé lo que digo.”

[I find it hard to concentrate when speaking because my classmates are watching me

and many of them laugh, and then I can't concentrate and I don't know what I'm saying.]

(Sofía, Week 1, Q3)

Overall, in these reports, these accounts disclose that Horwitz et al. (1986) proposed

the fear of negative evaluation part of FLA works, in this cohort, in a particularly intense

manner in the peer over in the teacher dimension, a tendency in line with the results of

Juríková (2025), who found that peer judgment is frequently the most threatening aspect of

social evaluation in adolescent learners. The repeated deployment of embodied language —

trembling, not breathing, blanking, wanting to withdraw — indicates that speaking anxiety is

not only a cognitive appraisal but is also a physiological and somatic event that, in effect,

negates the learner’s current verbal competence.

Theme 2: Linguistic Self-Doubt and Receptive-Productive Gap

Linguistic self-doubt and the affective filter complement each other, as seen by the receptive-

productive gap discussed under Theme 2. According to Krashen (1982), the learner's

awareness of perceived or actual linguistic barriers activates the filter; in this case, that

awareness, especially regarding pronunciation and vocabulary, seems to have prevented

students from accessing language they otherwise could have understood receptively. This is

consistent with MacIntyre's (2017) description of a self-reinforcing loop in which students

avoid speaking situations due to fear resulting from perceived linguistic insecurity, which in

turn maintains and intensifies that same sense of discomfort. In an effort to break this cycle,

the audio journal's progressive mastery experiences—based on Bandura's (1997) self-efficacy

theory—allow students to accrue small, low-risk successes over an eight-week period rather

than confronting their productive gap in a single high-pressure performance. Emilio’s account

captures this gap with remarkable precision:

“Sé que puedo hablar un poco inglés, pero cuando no puedo formar frases o olvido

vocabulario por estar mal, no puedo hablar. No tengo ningún problema con la comprensión

auditiva.”

[I know I can speak a little English, but when I can't form sentences or I forget

vocabulary because I'm not well, I can't speak. I don't have any problem with listening

comprehension.] (Emilio, Week 1, Q3)

“No tengo suficiente vocabulario, eso dificulta hablar inglés.”

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

[I don't have enough vocabulary, that makes it hard to speak English.] (Camila, Week 1, Q3)

“Mi pronunciación no es muy buena y me da vergüenza con algunas palabras, y por

eso me cuesta hablar.”

[My pronunciation is not very good and I feel ashamed about some words, and that's

why I find it hard to speak.] (Mateo, Week 1, Q3)

“Intento usar la gramática y me confunde e intento aplicarla, pero como explican la

clase en inglés no sé qué realmente significa y no sé cómo usarlo.”

[I try to use grammar, and it confuses me, and I try to apply it, but since they explain

the class in English, I don't really know what it means, and I don't know how to use it.]

(Andrés, Week 1, Q3)

These self-reported receptive-productive asymmetries align with the FLA literature,

which consistently identifies speech production as the skill most affected by anxiety (Teimouri

et al., 2019). The second, more potent form of linguistic self-doubt that appears is

pronunciation: the recognition of phonological difficulty is compounded by the social shame

it triggers—a conjunction of linguistic and evaluative anxiety that leads to a reinforcing loop

of avoidance. These narratives demonstrate how cognitive, verbal, and emotive elements

interact. The emotive filter is activated by the learner's awareness of her perceived or real

linguistic limitations (Krashen, 1982). In this case, the affective filter reinforces the limitations

by blocking the learner's access to the available language. In a similar vein, MacIntyre (2017)

describes how this phenomena is self-reinforcing, whereby the anxiety resulting from

perceived linguistic insecurity makes the person avoid circumstances that call for language

use, which in turn creates more linguistic insecurity.

Theme 3 confirms Young's (1991) claim that the classroom itself acts as an anxiety-

inducing system: students were more worried about the task's evaluative implications than

its linguistic demands. This distinction is challenging for outside observers to discern because

the resulting hesitation and reduced fluency can be mistaken for a limitation in language

proficiency rather than a reaction to assessment pressure. The audio journal promptly

addressed this evaluative pressure by eliminating grades and corrective comments,

transforming oral practice from a graded performance into what students described as a low-

stakes, private act of expression.

“Me da mucho miedo hablar en público así sea de algo que me agrada, y cuando lo

hago en inglés es más porque sé que es por una nota y tengo miedo de fallar.”

[I'm very afraid of speaking in public, even if it's about something I like, and when I

do it in English, it's worse because I know it's for a grade and I'm scared of failing.] (Sebastián,

Week 1, Q3)

“Me preocupa no hacerlo bien y sacar mala nota y cuando lo pienso no me concentro

y hablo mal.”

[I worry about not doing it well and getting a bad grade, and when I think about it, I

can't concentrate and I speak badly.] (Daniela, Week 1, Q3)

The Methodology section's description of the structural limitations of EFL

instruction—large class sizes, textbook-based assignments, and little time for individual

speaking—is demonstrated in Theme 4. The audio journal's open-ended, personally relevant

prompts addressed students' qualitative disconnection from authentic communication and

their quantitative lack of speaking opportunities. Ellis (2003) argues that this distinction is

crucial for lowering performance anxiety because it concentrates attention on the social

purpose of language rather than its formal correctness.

“Usualmente no hay mucho tiempo para hablar en inglés, porque somos bastantes y

solo decimos frases que vemos en el libro, pero no las usamos en alguna cosa real, y cuando

intentamos conversar o dar una opinión me cuesta hablar y me paralizo.”

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[Usually, there is not much time to speak in English, because there are many of us and we

only say phrases we see in the book, but we don't use them for anything real, and when we

try to have a conversation or give an opinion, I find it hard to speak and I freeze.] (Lucía, Week

1, Q3)

The change seen in 10 of the 13 participants who identified this theme is captured in

miniature by this within-participant contrast: immobilized when asked to apply textbook

terms to feeling compelled to speak about personal experience. The main reason the audio

journal felt less stressful than spoken assignments in the classroom, according to their Week

5–8 entries, was because of its open-ended, personally relevant format. Students' own

distinction between "frases del libro" and anything "real" highlights a qualitative aspect of

practice that frequency alone cannot address; this is discussed further in the Discussion

section.

Table 2

Findings

Theme

Participants

(of 19)

Journal

weeks

Interviews

Change evidence

1. Fear of social

judgment

16 / 19 (84%)

Weeks 1–8

14 / 19

confirmed

Change observed

starting in Week 4

2. Linguistic self-

doubt

15 / 19 (79%)

Weeks 1–2

peak

9 / 19 persisting

Acute distress

decreased by.Week 7–8

3. Evaluative

classroom pressure

11 / 19 (58%)

Weeks 1–2

11 / 19

retrospective

8 / 11 corrected error

by Weeks 7 and 8

4. Lack of authentic

practice

13 / 19 (68%)

Week 1 +

Week 6

13 / 19 named

10 / 13 changed to

speaking with

motivation

Based on interviews

The distinction they make between frases del libro and algo “real” emphasizes a qualitative

aspect of the issue that is just as important as its quantitative one: students don't just speak

enough; when they do, it's in a register and for purposes so disconnected from authentic

communication that the activity doesn't foster confidence or fluency. The audio diary

simultaneously addresses the quantitative and qualitative aspects of this deficit by enabling

students to speak about their own lives, emotions, and experiences outside of the classroom

and without an assessing audience.

DISCUSSION

Speaking anxiety among these eighth-grade EFL learners in Ecuador is a systemically

produced response to four interrelated underlying conditions—social exposure, linguistic

insecurity, evaluative pressure, and the lack of authentic speaking practice—rather than an

individual characteristic, according to the study's four themes. Overall, the results address the

study's main research question by indicating that the audio journal addressed all four

conditions concurrently and led to significant changes in participants' affective relationship

to speaking English when used as a regular, non-evaluative, personally relevant practice. The

commentary that follows places each of these findings in the context of the literature, contrasts

them with earlier research on speaking anxiety and audio journaling, and highlights the issues

this study has addressed and those it has not.

For 16 of 19 participants, peer judgment was the primary cause of speaking anxiety,

thereby extending Horwitz et al.'s (1986) FLA model by demonstrating that peer evaluation—

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

rather than teacher evaluation—was the most important factor for teenagers. This trend was

also observed in Juríková (2025) and MacIntyre's (2017) avoidance-cycle framework. Findings

from Yoon (2012) and Wu (2007) were confirmed in a younger Latin American population by

the Week 4 shift toward increased fluency without a peer audience. This indicates that the

underlying mechanism—reduced social exposure lowering the affective filter (Krashen,

1982)—is effective across age groups and cultural contexts.

Participants made a distinct distinction between receptive and productive ability,

supporting the findings of Teimouri et al. (2019) that speaking is disproportionately impacted

by anxiety independent of actual competency. For 12 out of 19 participants, pronunciation-

related shame was particularly severe, which is according to Baranucarz and Lee's (2021)

compound-experience model. Dantas-Whitney's (2002) reframing effect is consistent with the

Week-7 pattern of speaking despite errors rather than withdrawing, but the current study

clarifies the mechanism: the change came from weekly successful task completion without

evaluation, a gradual mastery process in keeping with Bandura's (1997) self-efficacy theory,

rather than time alone.

Young (1991) and Zheng and Cheng (2018) confirmed that evaluative anxiety was

anticipatory, caused by grades rather than language itself. The current study adds qualitative

evidence from an Ecuadorian secondary context that was not included in those earlier works.

In the context of pedagogy, this means separating oral practice from formal evaluation. The

fourth theme, "lack of authentic practice," is similar to Siyli and Kafes (2012) and Ho (2003).

Ellis's (2003) theory that genuine purpose shifts focus from form to meaning is demonstrated

by the within-participant contrast between Lucía's Week 1 paralysis and Week 6 driven self-

expression. The value of this study lies in qualitatively explaining the transition through

participant narratives rather than test results, in contrast to previous quantitative

investigations.

The limitations of the study indicate three specific recommendations for future

research: (1) a full-academic-year longitudinal follow-up, with and without continued

journaling, to identify whether affective gains continue, decline, or correlate with independent

oral proficiency ratings; (2) mixed-methods comparative designs that triangulate qualitative

data with pre/post FLCAS scores (Horwitz et al., 1986) and include comparison groups

(video, podcast, or AI-based practice) to determine which audio-journal features drive the

shifts.

The study leaves four key limitations unresolved: first, whether affective gains persist

beyond Week 8 or depend on continued low-stakes practice remains unknown without

follow-up. Second, reduced anxiety was documented only through self-report, not through

measurable gains in accuracy, fluency, or complexity. Third, without a comparison group, the

observed shifts cannot be attributed specifically to the audio journal rather than to a novelty

effect. Finally, the sample—19 participants at one private school in Ambato—limits

generalizability to public schools, other CEFR levels, or different Ecuadorian provinces.

CONCLUSIONS

Speaking anxiety's multiple causes among these eighth-grade EFL students, speaking anxiety

is a multi-causal and socially rooted phenomenon that results from four congruent

determinants: linguistic apprehension (perceived inadequacy of vocabulary, pronunciation,

and grammar), social fear (fear of peer judgment), evaluative peer pressure (academic

consequences of oral performance), and structural limitations (restricted opportunities for

authentic, non-graded oral practice). Speaking nervousness is not a sign of weakness or lack

of confidence for the nineteen B1 eighth graders at Unidad Educativa Atenas. It's a totally

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logical response to the circumstances people find themselves in, and those circumstances have

a shape. The worry comes from four interrelated factors that are all related to the way their

English sessions are organized:

1) Fear of obtaining negative feedback from others.

2) That continuous sense that "I understand more than I can say"—the discrepancy

between what they can comprehend and what they can immediately generate.

3) Stress in the classroom due to oral competence grades.

4) An ongoing lack of authentic, stress-free opportunities to simply communicate—

the kind where mistakes are not penalized, and no one is marking you.

These complaints weren't unusual. When we looked at what students told us on their own,

the results were unexpected: 84% mentioned peer judgment, 79% mentioned the

understanding-speaking gap, 58% mentioned graded speaking assignments, and 68%

mentioned the lack of safe speaking practice. These four themes were evident in both the

interviews conducted after the intervention and the private audio journals that we listened to.

This is the main point: the study's goal was to identify the factors that contribute to

speaking fear in this situation, and the solution is obvious. It's not mainly about "anxious

learners" who require individual attention. It has to do with a system. That nervousness is

caused by the way oral English is taught and evaluated. We can't simply focus on students'

attitudes or give them relaxation techniques if we want to actually lower them. The structural

circumstances that first make speaking feel so dangerous must be rectified.

The impact of the audio journal, in which three elements of its design specifically

addressed the four structural causes of worry that characterized the course over eight weeks

and 152 recordings. First, the key social stimulus was abolished by removing the live peer

audience; students expressed satisfaction at not being "on stage," and starting in Week 4, their

fluency significantly improved. Second, the kind of low-stakes practice that produces what

Bandura (1997) dubbed mastery experiences was established by weekly, non-evaluated,

personally relevant activities; by Week 7, students were speaking through their mistakes

rather than remaining mute. Third, the evaluative dread that Young (1991) identified as a

structural driver of classroom anxiety was eliminated by fully separating speaking from

grading; eight out of eleven participants said that the lack of a grade completely altered their

connection to errors. When combined, these three strategies did more than simply reduce

anxiety. Each one directly addressed sub-question (i) by making an intentional design

decision that targeted a specific cause. It was a built-in consequence, not an accident.

The aspect related to students' comments and their implications for practice. Students

did not generally give the audio journal credit or give imprecise credit. In the post-

intervention interviews, students identified three key features that distinguished the diary

from their usual classroom speaking assignments: the absence of classmates observing and

assessing them, the flexibility to discuss personal experiences rather than textbook content,

and the confidence that there would be no grades. These categories came straight from the

students and offer a clear response to sub-question (ii); they weren't forced by the researcher.

The conclusion is evident: those circumstances led to the journal's accomplishment,

not the other way around. It works as planned if it is consistent, not evaluated, and focused

on personal content. The very type of assessment pressure that the entire design was intended

to eliminate is reinstated - the instant grading, peer presentation, or correction is included.

The logic is thrown down. This points to something beneficial to EFL instructors and

curriculum designers in Ecuador and other secondary Latin American contexts. Audio diaries

are a practical, theoretically supported instrument for weekly oral practice, not simply an

aesthetic concept. But rather than being dressed up as another speaking exam, they must be

regarded as a low-pressure, reflective area.

Reducing speaking anxiety thanks to the implementation of audio journal activities

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