The Effects of Collaborative Learning on Young ESL Learners’ L2 Anxiety and Speaking Performance

Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is one of the issues of interest attracting researchers in recent decades. However, while collaborative learning introduced a prospective tool for FLA, it has not been much researched in the L2 classroom context, particularly in Vietnam. This paper focuses on using collaborative learning to reduce foreign language anxiety and enhance the L2 speaking performance of young learners at an English center in Ho Chi Minh City. A combination of tools, including Aydin et al.’s (2017) Children Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (CFLAS) for the pre-tests and post-tests, the teacher’s diary, and follow-up interviews, was used to measure the changes in learner’ FLA level and speaking performance. After five-week implementations, these learners’ FLA was slightly alleviated, and their speaking performance was improved using a collaborative learning approach. Moreover, learners were found to have positive attitudes and experience with learning in the new approach. These findings implied that collaborative learning could be a potential treatment to help L2 learners uncover their anxious selves and find more confidence in using the target languag

The Relationship between Students’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Their English Language Achievement

This study focuses on the influences of self-efficacy beliefs in English learning between male and female university students. There was a total sample of 128 university Non-English majors from Dong Nai Technology University in Bien Hoa city. The quantitative component used a questionnaire asking about students’ background and their self-efficacy beliefs in learning English. Ten students were individually interviewed to be able to clarify the reasons that affected their self-efficacy beliefs and their English performance. T-test was used to find out the gender differences in self-efficacy level and English achievement degree. The result showed that there was a positive relationship between self-efficacy and achievement. Differences between male and female students in their confidence levels and English learning performance were found. The thesis finishes with a set of recommendations for teachers to pay attention to the importance of self-efficacy because it influences learning English achievement